Yes, I don't have the M8 back yet, but I hope to get it tomorrow, since it was promised to me for the 23rd, where I was unable to pick it up. I am content to wait with the sale of the 5D until I have done some decent tests. Unfortunately, all I can compare is the 5D+80 Lux with the M8+50 Lux Asph. I will probably shoot at f/5.6 to remove the 80 Lux's much softer wide-open performance from the equation. The 50 Lux Asph is probably actually 52mm, like previous Leica 50mm lenses, so it is nearly 70mm on the M8. My 80 Lux is actually 79.5mm, so with a few steps forwards and backwards, I ought to get some similar images. I will avoid infinity to side-step infinity-focus problems.
Sounds fair. You could shoot a street scene, such as buildings from the other side of the street. Something short of infinity would do best to keep infinity focus with adapters out of the equation. Also, if you get too far away, the details get to be too fine for the sensors to distinguish. I am thinking of a scene similar to what Uwe posted in his M8 test.
Then find a good looking model or two and shoot with both systems. It is sometimes nice to see how the skin tones look.
Rob, can you define what YOU mean by overall image quality?
If I am quite frank, I must say using Zeiss and Leica lenses on my 5D is a bit like for my girl eating bio. I might have a benefit but I have to look out for it
bathman wrote:
Rob, can you define what YOU mean by overall image quality?
Andy, I think it is self explanitory. It is sort of like asking somebody why they like the painting on the wall. Their explanation may or may not satify you, but they are satisfied that they like the painting on the wall.
Here are two images, one shot with a 5d and the new 70-200mm f4 IS, the other shot with a DMR and 105-280mm. I like the DMR shot, some might like the 5D shot.
I like the stronger colours, general pop and sharper bottle necks of the second shot. Then again, post-processing could make a large difference here. What are the details?
carstenw wrote:
I like the stronger colours, general pop and sharper bottle necks of the second shot. Then again, post-processing could make a large difference here. What are the details?
Both were shot at f5.6, the Canon zoom was at 200, the Leica at about 200mm. A tripod was used for both. Both processed in lightroom, I think I white balanced off the Vodka bottle. The Leica had the exposure decreased by .2 to match the rgb values of the Canon shot. Just standard Lightroom conversions, 25 sharpness, 0 soften, 25 denoise for both files. No other exposure or saturation adjustments. I made a crop of each to give the identical framing. In an ideal world, I would have had two tripods and the both cameras set up side by side to match the framing in camera.
The new Canon lens is very sharp. If I had a Canon, I would not hesitiate in buying the new 70-200mm F4 IS.
The Canon is the first picture, the Leica, the second.
Edited by robsteve on Dec 26, 2006 at 09:23 PM GMT
Just for mindless fun I wanted to try out the IS feature of the Canon lens. Both of these are handheld with the 5D. The Canon lens had the IS turned on and AF single spot on the label. The Leica lens was on the 5D and just had mass to its advantage and the higher shutter speed, no IS. I took a few shots with each combo and picked the sharpest of each.
One of these is the lens at 200mm and 1/25th and the other is the Leica 105-280mm mounted to the 5d at 200mm and 1/50th. The 5D was on auto and musn't meter correctly with adpated lenses. On my 1D if I set the camera to f1, the metering was correct. In post processing, a exposure increase of .48 got the RGB levels of the barcode lable on the beer bottle to the same levels as the other shot.
These are full frames, just resized to 900 pixels.
http://www.robsteve.com/FM/_MG_0063.jpg
http://www.robsteve.com/FM/_MG_0067.jpg
Edited by robsteve on Dec 26, 2006 at 09:47 PM GMT
When you do your 5D-M8 comparison, some beer bottle shots like this might give an idea of how they render 3D objects. You will have to empty them first so we have the clear glass
German beer is great, really high quality and very tasty. However, Rob has spotted one of my all-time favorites, the Newcastle Brown Ale. I am partial to draught beer, but apart from that. English ale is in my mind the best beer of all.
carstenw wrote:
German beer is great, really high quality and very tasty. However, Rob has spotted one of my all-time favorites, the Newcastle Brown Ale. I am partial to draught beer, but apart from that. English ale is in my mind the best beer of all.
Samuel Smith's rules!! Oatmeal Stout!! Yorkshire!! Tadcaster!! ('nuf said)
Now back to photography. As for the pictures of the Newcastle Brown Ale, the second appears better to my eye in a number of different ways. I then wondered why 2 pictures comparing performance on a 5D were being posted to a thread called "Hands-On Leica M8"... (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Lotusm50 wrote:
Now back to photography. As for the pictures of the Newcastle Brown Ale, the second appears better to my eye in a number of different ways. I then wondered why 2 pictures comparing performance on a 5D were being posted to a thread called "Hands-On Leica M8"... (not that there's anything wrong with that).
They were in reply to Andy's question about why I like the Leica image quality. I didn't have a M8 to comparison shot, so the first two (on the previous page) were to illustrate that some people may prefer one image over another even though they are essentially the same. The next set of pictures was just for mindless fun.
Incidentally, you picked the Leica image.
Edited by robsteve on Dec 27, 2006 at 12:15 PM GMT
Have you guys tried Japanese beers ? ( This is very relevant to the thread because I believe what the engineers drink affect the quality of the Cameras that they build )
Pondria wrote:
Have you guys tried Japanese beers ? ( This is very relevant to the thread because I believe what the engineers drink affect the quality of the Cameras that they build )
Yes. The ordinary Sapporo and Asahi or good examples of their type, but some of the specialty Japanese beers are outstanding. Try one of the ones made with red rice for a nice treat...
I'm fairly sure that the beer ingested has a a direct influence on the bokeh of the lens. With beer, as with lenses, it is the quality of the blur produced that is important.
