Jump to content

M246 Tri-elmar lens detection


dritz

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I have the 28-35-50 3E without coding. It appears I have to set the lens correction separately for each focal length? Why not one setting and then let the cams do the rest... after all, the frame lines change so why doesn't it utilize that information?

 

Am I missing something?

 

Thanks.

Dean, Seattle USA

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have the 28-35-50 3E without coding. It appears I have to set the lens correction separately for each focal length? Why not one setting and then let the cams do the rest... after all, the frame lines change so why doesn't it utilize that information?

 

Am I missing something?

 

Thanks.

Dean, Seattle USA

You need to have the lens coded and the correct fremline, for the camera to know what lens is mounted.

 

It is not enough that the frame lines are correct...

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

You need to have the lens coded and the correct fremline, for the camera to know what lens is mounted.

 

It is not enough that the frame lines are correct...

I do manual setting, and perhaps that's my problem. The list of lenses breaks the 3E into three different lenses. I would have thought it would provide a single combined one, and then used the cam settings to apply the correct focal length to the EXIF.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I do manual setting, and perhaps that's my problem. The list of lenses breaks the 3E into three different lenses. I would have thought it would provide a single combined one, and then used the cam settings to apply the correct focal length to the EXIF.

 

Well back to Erik's point. The lens has to be coded, otherwise the camera doesn't know you have the Tri-Elmar on it. A manual setting is just that, it ignores any coding (if present) no matter what's lens is mounted, and no matter what focal length the RF linkage identifies. The way the algorithm works for the Tri-Elmar is the code is read if present, and the RF linkage identifies which focal length is set.

 

Although it's plausible that Leica could have made lens identification the way you would like it to, it would be inconsistent with the behavior used otherwise, which is to manually override whatever code is present, irregardless of the rangefinder linkage. For example, I could (if I had some reason to), mount my 6-bit coded 75 mm Summilux and manually override it to a 21mm Asph.  People with older non-6-bit support Leica lenses and 3rd party lenses will sometimes experiment with different lens profiles to maximize their own experience. Although perhaps counterintuitive, it's also consistent with keeping things simple. Manual setting means manual setting, not semi-automatic.

 

My recommendation, send the Tri-Elmar to someone to 6-bit code it. DAG Camera in the US does it for less than half of what US Leica charges, and in about 1/6 the amount of time. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Advertisement (gone after registration)

hello,

 

Even if they do the slight lens adjustment with the coding the results may not be as pleasing as they are on film. I have a friend who is not happy with the results and his lens was calibrated and coded at Solms. Tri-elmar is a very complicated design, one coding for three lenses , almost impossible to pull that one off I think. I saw the results myself, both sharpness and tonality were bad compared to the summicrons and a few elmarits. 50mm gave the worst results. Come to think of it I don't know why the tones weren't as rich, sharpness suffering is easy to understand. Little overall flare maybe?

Edited by patrick parker
Link to post
Share on other sites

Well back to Erik's point. The lens has to be coded, otherwise the camera doesn't know you have the Tri-Elmar on it. A manual setting is just that, it ignores any coding (if present) no matter what's lens is mounted, and no matter what focal length the RF linkage identifies. The way the algorithm works for the Tri-Elmar is the code is read if present, and the RF linkage identifies which focal length is set.

 

Although it's plausible that Leica could have made lens identification the way you would like it to, it would be inconsistent with the behavior used otherwise, which is to manually override whatever code is present, irregardless of the rangefinder linkage. For example, I could (if I had some reason to), mount my 6-bit coded 75 mm Summilux and manually override it to a 21mm Asph.  People with older non-6-bit support Leica lenses and 3rd party lenses will sometimes experiment with different lens profiles to maximize their own experience. Although perhaps counterintuitive, it's also consistent with keeping things simple. Manual setting means manual setting, not semi-automatic.

 

My recommendation, send the Tri-Elmar to someone to 6-bit code it. DAG Camera in the US does it for less than half of what US Leica charges, and in about 1/6 the amount of time.

 

Thanks. It's off to DAG. Got too frustrated with leaving "lens detection" on manual and having the wrong lenses associated with my images. Alas!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

hello,

 

Even if they do the slight lens adjustment with the coding the results may not be as pleasing as they are on film. I have a friend who is not happy with the results and his lens was calibrated and coded at Solms. Tri-elmar is a very complicated design, one coding for three lenses , almost impossible to pull that one off I think. I saw the results myself, both sharpness and tonality were bad compared to the summicrons and a few elmarits. 50mm gave the worst results. Come to think of it I don't know why the tones weren't as rich, sharpness suffering is easy to understand. Little overall flare maybe?

It shouldn't be that way. Results from the lens are similar to the primes of the period. The coding is not more difficult than a single focal length; the coding selects the lens, the frameline selection the focal length.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

 I saw the results myself, both sharpness and tonality were bad compared to the summicrons and a few elmarits. 50mm gave the worst results. Come to think of it I don't know why the tones weren't as rich, sharpness suffering is easy to understand. Little overall flare maybe?

not so for all copies. some earlier tri-elmars were very prone to flare & loss of contrast especially at 50mm & this was rectified in a later model which replaced the front lens element with a different type of glass, or something like that. if you have the older, affected model i think Leica may still fix this issue for you. otherwise, try adding the metal petal hood for greatly improved contrast. the tri-elmar should & (mine) does give stunning results at all three focals which easily equals or surpass the summicrons/summarits.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

not so for all copies. some earlier tri-elmars were very prone to flare & loss of contrast especially at 50mm & this was rectified in a later model which replaced the front lens element with a different type of glass, or something like that. if you have the older, affected model i think Leica may still fix this issue for you. otherwise, try adding the metal petal hood for greatly improved contrast. the tri-elmar should & (mine) does give stunning results at all three focals which easily equals or surpass the summicrons/summarits.

Thank you brill, I was not aware of this . This lens is the older version like you have guessed. Nikos The owner of the lens uses an A58 hood on this lens, If that is the major reason for the low image quality he will be a very happy to hear this. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

It shouldn't be that way. Results from the lens are similar to the primes of the period. The coding is not more difficult than a single focal length; the coding selects the lens, the frameline selection the focal length.

I'm confused. If the firmware in MM is advanced enough to recognize the chosen lens setting on the tri-elmar, why would we need coding at all?  As far as I know the camera is not aware of the type of lens used ,unless it reads the coding or we introduce it to the firmware manually. I'm guessing  the most can be done by the coding is either to target one setting on the lens ,let's say the 35mm and calibrate the firmware to this particular lens and sacrifice the image quality of 50 and 28 or sacrifice all three in order to get an even but not so wonderful results. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...