rscheffler
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Thanks guys!
rscheffler wrote:
I thought I read somewhere that the degree of edge correction applied by the M9 is ISO dependent, with less applied to high ISO images because it minimizes edge noise/artifacts. So, this could be a downside of the ISO-less approach with lenses that require stronger edge corrections, such as many wide angles.
douglasf13 wrote:
Howdy, Ron. To follow up on this post about vignetting correction, you are correct. I believe it was the first firmware fix that decreases the vignetting correction as the ISO goes up. Of course, if one stays at ISO 160 in all types of light, like I've been doing, there may be issues when pushing 4 or 5 stops, because, due to the vignetting compensation, the vignetted areas may be pushed more like 5-6 stops, and things get ugly and blotchy around the edges sometimes. On the flipside, if you use CornerFix, it may be advantageous to use a single ISO, because the variable vignetting correction makes profiling difficult, so it's technically necessary to use a different CornerFix profile for each ISO if you code your lens.
Like Edward mentioned, I was considering just not using any coding at all with my 50 Summicron collapsible, but, after doing that for a few days, I've come to realize that there is a noticeable (to me) amount of color shift, even though it is a 50mm lens.
Since I don't want to mess with CornerFix, I think I'm going to use coding with the 50 collapsible. I think I'm still going to shoot ISO 160 most of the time, when I only need to push anywhere from zero to a few stops, but, when I go into obviously dark environments, I'll raise the ISO to something like 1250 (haven't decided exactly which ISO to use) and keep it there.
p.s. it just hit me that Lightroom has that new flat field plug-in, so I may consider turning off coding and just use that. hmmm...
Thanks for confirming this is the case. I definitely agree as it's one side effect I'm seeing with the ISO-less approach to the M9, but more so for some of the wider lenses, which of course, makes perfect sense. The solution would be to disable lens coding and apply Cornerfix, LCC or Adobe Flat Field correction, but is a bit of a hassle too. And completely agree with your observations regarding coding and the 50. I noticed this also with a number of lenses. It was particularly a problem with my hand-coded ZM glass, where from time to time the camera wouldn't read the coding and I'd get sequences where half the images had coding applied and the other half didn't. Invariably the uncoded images had considerably different color quality - typically much colder/bluer. I've also seen this with 50mm lenses. One of the lenses I got to try from Andrew's inventory was the 75 Lux, but it was uncoded and I didn't bother to set it manually (because I would invariably forget to switch it back). Compared to shots with my 50 Lux ASPH and other lenses in the same locations, its WB was consistently more greenish. So it's not just a matter of vignetting and edge color shift correction, but also overall color tweaks. And I think this is one slight disadvantage of using ZM or CV lenses on the M9 - if one wants in-camera corrections, it means making due with the closest good enough Leica profile, which in some cases might not be all that perfect of a match.
Based on initial suggestions on LUF from some of the beta testers, it appears much of this will no longer be an issue with the M240. But, I'm now a bit concerned about whether Leica will be able to figure out how to eliminate the banding we're seeing in their official preproduction samples, when those files are aggressively adjusted in post.
Re: Noctilux. I agree with Carsten. For these kinds of 'technical' non-people photos, the Nocti isn't necessarily being put to best use. But it definitely adds its own flair to image rendering in any situation. What surprised me most, perhaps, was that it's technically very good wide open at farther distances. For example, at near infinity, it's quite sharp in the center of the frame and doesn't seem to have obvious purple fringing issues in high contrast light, that other, cheaper, fast lenses do (such as the CV50/1.5, 75/1.8). Unfortunately, during our Toronto meeting, I didn't use the Nocti in any situations that really would have made it sing, as we've seen many times in Charles's street portraits. Maybe for the price of a 50/1.0, I might be more inclined towards the 50AA.  Actually, while money put towards lenses tends to hold better over time, I'm more inclined to apply that sum towards the M240...
Ryan - great set, especially the last one! I also enjoyed the set you posted a few pages back.
Allen - nice details. Seems your photos have recently shifted away from people on the street - just mixing it up a bit?
lenticular11 - Andrew's a great guy! He mentioned he has sold most of his Contax N inventory now... I overlooked your post on the previous page - congrats on the 50 Cron and off to a good start with it!
Thanks Cal - don't blame you for wanting to stay in. A few times, while sitting along the ridge in the woods with the wind blowing across, I almost couldn't feel the shutter release because my fingers were so cold! I also didn't have any snowshoes and by the end of the day my legs were feeling like lead from having to plow through ~30cm of snow all day. Nice set. I was reading the page from the bottom up, and when I saw #2, for some reason I had the feeling it was in Ontario, before I saw your name. I also went out today, but compared to yesterday, it felt so undramatic. Maybe the actual experience of being out in the storm biased my opinion. Today it was more about details, such as patterns in the snow, than overall scenes (I'll get to those photos eventually).
In the meantime, some more from Toronto around Union Station:
90 Summarit:
50 Nocti:
21 SEM:
Here's one with the 50 Nocti that, as I mentioned above, impressed me for it's wide open performance at farther distances. In the full-rez file, sharpness is really good centrally, without any fringing, etc. Was done with a polarizer in order to be able to shoot wide open.
But then, I suppose one could use 'any old' 50mm lens for this...
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Snow is tricky.