[Leica] LUIS CASTANEDA and the Tri Elmar

["Fantoni, Ernesto" <Fantoni@PHIBRED.COM>]

LUGgers,

we are just back from Milan where we've met the Leica photographer Luis
Castaneda at the Leica showroom. Luis attended the presentation of his
exhibition "Venice in black and white" with photos taken during the
Carnival, one of the most famous in the world. The exhibition is very
beautiful and really worth the visit:he picked up the "heart" of the
Carnival , surprising people while having fun with original masks.All
the pictures were taken with M cameras, 35 Summilus ASPH and Noctilux
(the ones taken with the Nocti are very impressive, as during the
Carnival life has no stops in Venice). We've had a long conversation
with Luis:he's  a very nice guy with an immense experience that easily
has shared with us.He's been using the new Tri Elmar for a while and
it's suddenly become his favourite M lens.He said the sharpness is
astonishing and the color rendition absolutely the same of the 35 Summi
ASPH, a lens he loves;he didn't expect the performances to be so good.It
also seems to be almost flare free. It takes a while to get used to (28
and 35 are at the edges of the ring, 50 is in the middle, but if you are
at 28 and you want to pass to 50, you need to go to 35 first, then you
can go to 50 and the proper frames will appear), but once you are on
board, it's faster than a zoom. His favourite M combo is now Tri Elmar
and Noctilux for available light.In the showroom we've had the
opportunity to play with a Tri Elmar:it's very compact and the mechanic
seems to be at the usual very high Leica standard.The ideal M lens to
travel light and for reportage.
The next prey of the M Superfan...

Guido and Ernesto

PS:Best regards to Donal Philby from Luis.