Douglas, many people use Sandisk without problems. I must have done something wrong, like turning off the camera while it was still writing the files, or something like that. However, the Transcend cards only cost like 13$ and I can be less careful when shooting with them, and not worry about loosing shots.
That's exactly what happened to me Got my M9 with lux 50 1.4 & cron 28 2.0 while ago after looking at those wonderful shots posted by many excellent photographers here. Still learning from them.
dbehrens wrote:
Nice set. I got to stop looking at this thread - its going to cost me a lot of $$$.
Ron, I like your recent sets very much: Especially the ‘Nautilus’ shot in previous page, great eyes find such a nature beauty.
Edward, I seldom use filter. Your result is impressive indeed.
Adam, like Ron said, you have a group of nice looking friends.
I have had problems with my 8G sandisk extreme pro, (two cards damaged), and my 16G sandisk extreme pro at the same time I bought my M9 so far still going strong. I also have about 10 4G sandisk Ultra, four 16G Ultra, and two 8G ultra, none of them have any problems so far. I usually use 4G during shot day trip. (Don’t want put all the eggs in one bucket.) After I failed two 8G mentioned above, I never let my battery run out or close to run out. I never have any issue since then. I believe the latest firmware does the same thing to do better Power management.
As for exposure to left, I personal don’t like it if I can control, especially when I take portrait, I’d prefer to blow the highlight to keep correct exposure on face. (Though, most of the time, I don’t have time to set correct exposure.) I never really like the skin tone push afterward, at ISO320, chrome/lumi noise can be easily seen from M9’s file. The same thing will happen with push. The leica is really not a good tool for low light IMO. Web present picture looks fine even with ISO640, not to mention if you shoot BW. But, which else modern camera can’t do that?
Since I always use soft release, means I can’t even lock exposure.(So lots of time, I have to do push after) at fixed or close to fixed lighting condition, I usually use manual exposure. Leica is the best tool for manual exposure. Some time I use aperture, some time I use shutter to do quick EC. For landscape, I check histogram so that right close to touch the limit if DR is high. Otherwise (LDR), just set to correct exposure. I guess that means I am belong to ‘exposure to the right’ group. I believe that is still best process to capture as much information at first stage.
I am not very impressed with Leica file at high ISO, mainly because I come from D700, still one of the best sensor I ever seen. And I feel D800E and NEX7 have even better shadow recover without make color looks funky.
No more talking. Here are few more from Shanghai.
All 35cron
Gary, excellent snowscapes! Just love the last 2 shots
Ron, superb B&W architectural shots!!! Who needs the M-M
Bruno, very nice angle on this street shot.
Edwin, nice set
Edward, nice street captures I agree quite often I will grab a shot through the window of a taxi, and it is sharp and contrasty. Better than missing the shot
Micheal, very nice set of compositions and placement of colour! Last shot seems to have a difference in exposure on the left.
I have tried Panasonic and Sandisk, and I have had lock ups with both. I now just record DNG's. Like Ron, I avoid viewing the shots while the buffer is still downloading the files to the card. This has resolved most of the issues, other than specific cards that are problematic, which I then put aside. I always keep a spare card on hand, as once it has happened, I do not reuse the card again.
zhangyue - Great shots with the 35cron (I like the first two best).
Gary, I like the first picture, better then your other mountain picture. You guys are gonna make me buy a 21SEM and I'm trying to sell off most of my gear!!
Sebboh, Adam, Charles, thank you for your comments.
Charles, I did lots of recover on the last shot as my exposure was under. Thus, the color became funky and noise if very high.
Now here are a few more from
Wuzhen (zheJiang province) about 1 hour drive from Suzhou or Shanghai. Highly recommended place if you guys ever been around. I took about 300 picture in one day trip. don't forget I have to take care of my little one at the same time. otherwise, I may get more
All by 50cron:
And some of my kids pic I took during that day all 50cron:
Yellow
At ticket office
In front of gate
They both looks pretty tired because of time difference
Wow Gary, really like both and when did you get the SEM?
Michael - great Shanghai set and love the first one. I see you posted more while I was writing this one - these are really great too. There's a certain color consistency going on here. I love the last two. The rendering of the Cron here is great. I can see a bit of Lux happening, but with more character in the out of focus rendering...
vovkinson - same with me, but glad I could also help you spend your money!
Edward - nice depth to that image.
Edwin - very scenic and great to see you here again!
Bruno - interesting image and depending on one's interpretation, perhaps a bit disturbing...
I'm still using firmware version 1.176. Even though I usually change the battery by the 50% point, I was kind of turned off by the likelihood that the current firmware might shut down the camera sooner than expected depending on battery condition. IIRC, there's also a quirk with that firmware when using the silent/soft release mode, which I do... some kind of random delay?
Doug - I stopped shooting RAW+Jpeg because of the longer write time than RAW alone. It's around 7-8 seconds for RAW+Jpeg and about half for RAW alone... but that's because I'm impatient.
Michael - I'm allergic to blown highlights. If I think it will work I will try to preserve them. But if I can expose correctly without blowing highlights, then I naturally will. While even at ISO 160 there is some granularity to the M9 files, one has to keep in mind how insignificant that granularity will be with printed images. While I'm allergic to blown highlights, I'm not allergic to grain/noise. One thing I've learned browsing these forums is that many people are really, really sensitive to ISO noise performance, rightly or wrongly...
I still have some more Munich photos to come, but had to go out to reacquaint myself with an 'old' favourite that arrived in the mail the other day...
If it wasn't already obvious, these should give it away...
Ron, awesome nikkor lens, great bokeh effect. I have a 50 1.5 LTM canon, never really used it, but I might attempt to now that I've seen your shots. Wonder if it'll render OOFA similar.
zhangyue - Last two shots of your kids are fantastic, (I know I've asked before) but what 50cron are you using again? The bokeh seems a lot nice then from what I would get with a current 50cron (non-apo).
Thanks Michael, Adam, Ron, and Derek for the comments. I traded my ZM18 (plus cash) for the 21SEM and couldn't be happier. This lens is probably the sharpest one I own and is a great FL for landscpae work. I am excited to get out and shoot with it some more.
Ron - you bought a Nikkor? Glad you managed to find one as they can be difficult to find in good shape and in ltm mount. That lens draws so nicely wide open. Such character....
Thanks Edward - very modern rendering from the Biogon!
Adam - wow - apparently the Canon 50/1.5 LTM is quite difficult to find now, so don't sell it to just anyone! It renders very similarly to the Nikkor. This comparison test is what got me interested in these vintage 50s back about six months ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/starpucks/6503951171/
It's a pretty good bokeh comparison between the Nikkor SC 50mm f1.4 ltm, Canon 50mm f1.5 ltm, Summarit 50mm f1.5 ltm, Zeiss ZM 50mm f1.5, Summilux 50mm f1.4 pre-asph
Gary - yeah, happened to come across an ad for it on GetDPI and couldn't resist. It's not anywhere near perfect condition, but works fine, which is about all I want, though for some reason the 43mm filter thread is too loose for all my 43mm hoods. According to KR, the thread pitch is different from the norm on this lens. Are you able to thread 43mm accessories on your copy? For the time being I've gaffer taped a hood on. Glad you're enjoying the SEM. I'd pick it over the ZM18 as well if the wider angle of view wasn't important. It's so much smaller. Now I'm waiting for Leica to release a 14/4 at the same price point.
Ron - that third last shot is pretty neat. I bought a cheapo metal vented hood off fleabay which seems to thread on no problem. My UV/IR filter also works nicely....
Gary, another excellent set! Congrats on the 21 SEM
Michael, great series! Very nice and love the PP'ing
Edward, nice lighting
Ron, congrats on the 50 LTM !!! Beautiful shots, and love the gentle rendering. Next I would expect the older 50 Nocti to be in your collection
Got my M9 with lux 50 1.4 & cron 28 2.0 while ago after looking at those wonderful shots posted by many excellent photographers here. Still learning from them. 
