No one needs a hasselblad... just the three amigos.

[Dan Daniel]

E3 75mm Planar, Tele-Rollei 135mm Sonnar, Wide-Rollei 55mm Distagon. It's taken a while, but no need to buy another Rolleiflex ever.

which is good because I need to save up for the chiropractor...

 

[ic-racer]

The holy trinity…

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Lady bug shutter releases, I love them! Is your E3 awaiting new leather covers.?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Wearing all three on straps around your neck is the ultimate blink!

 

[Dan Daniel]

Lady bug shutter releases, I love them! Is your E3 awaiting new leather covers.?

The Match-Technical 10mm soft release shape is really nice on a TLR- softly rolling sides so easy to bring a finger in from the side and find a good release.

Oh, hey, I paid good money for the look of that E3!! I am told that it is a one-of-kind version specially done by Lenny Kravitz a la mode of his camera for Leica.

Leica ‘Correspondent’

kravitzdesign.com

 

[Ben 4]

Super chouette!

 

[mshchem]

Very nice.

 

[mshchem]

El Guapo!

 

[Kodachromeguy]

How is your 135mm Sonnar doing? Is this the lens that reportedly often experiences some balsam degradation? Were the Tele- and Rolleiwide bodies based on the E3 body, the one with a removable hood? Regardless, nice precision instruments.

 

[Arthurwg]

Eugene Smith traveled with this set.

 

[warden]

E3 75mm Planar, Tele-Rollei 135mm Sonnar, Wide-Rollei 55mm Distagon. It's taken a while, but no need to buy another Rolleiflex ever.

which is good because I need to save up for the chiropractor...

That’s a lotta glass! Very nice indeed.

 

[mrosenlof]

The 55, 80, 135 is a great set on my Mamiya TLR also. I'll admit the Mamiya feels more like a Maytag than a Porsche.

 

[Dan Daniel]

How is your 135mm Sonnar doing? Is this the lens that reportedly often experiences some balsam degradation? Were the Tele- and Rolleiwide bodies based on the E3 body, the one with a removable hood? Regardless, nice precision instruments.

There's a little separation on the Tele. Maybe 1-2mm for one-third of the circumference. Shouldn't affect images; I've used other Tele-Rolleis with more separation and didn't notice any effects.

Both the Tele and Wide are built on the first E body. I base this on the wide lower spool knob, and on what I've read. The E3 is built on a late F body. This means that there are a couple of minor mechanical differences (focus travel limiter and other details in the focus/meter/DOF assembly for example). And the body has all the mounting bosses and such for installing a full coupled metering system. Put simply, the E3 is a stripped back F while the others are baseline Es with a new lens scabbed on front.

The 55, 80, 135 is a great set on my Mamiya TLR also. I'll admit the Mamiya feels more like a Maytag than a Porsche.

I like this selection. For some reason I am shooting short telephoto lengths more than I ever have before. The way I shoot, I rarely change lenses in the middle of a trip. So taking the size and weight hit for the Mamiya's interchangeability doesn't make sense for me.

 

[MFstooges]

Nice. But don't you need to staggered them.

 

[Pioneer]

I am doing good to get one Planar out of the house for a walk around the block. I may never get off the porch with a trio like that!!

 

[Mark Crabtree]

And not a meter in sight. I sure wish I could find some of those non-meter inserts for the focus knob.

I saw a nice picture once of Walker Evans with his 3 amigos one time, but couldn't find it when I searched last year. Pictures of the cameras are easy to find because they auctioned them a while back, but this was him in the field. I think William Christenberry was with him so may have taken the picture. I think it showed him taking the normal lens camera from the trio case. His was an 80 I believe, and maybe a standard E that didn't take the prism.

 

[Dan Daniel]

Nice. But don't you need to staggered them.

Honestly, I think that if I tried to walk more than five steps with all three around my neck I'd throw out my back, staggered or not!

 

[jvo]

a hat trick!!! (given your northern clime, fan or not...) congrats.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Rather than having three TLRs I am much happier with my Hasselblad 503 CX, Hasselblad 903 SWC and a collection of Hasselblad lenses. Enjoy your cameras.