Joakim, another very nice set. The last B&W shot is excellent! The crane composition is also very cool!
Edward, you must think I'm repeating myself again, but those ZM50 shots are lovely, full of color and pop! Excellent especially like #1 and 3.. I'm also very impressed by the ZM50P, the rendering is Zeisty! (excuse my use of US spelling for "color"). As for the test shots, I prefer the first one, the second is too yellowish for me. You choose a lighting condition that almost all cameras and software will have difficulties rendering skin tones The thing I like about LR4 is that although not as precise as Photoshop, I can make quick and reversible edits quickly and it works most of the time. For instance in your test shot above, I could just go onto the WB and saturation brush and quickly remove the blue cast on the hair if needed (but the blue does make for a nice hair light accent to match the t-shirt). I could also quickly brush over the pinkish blotches on the face and warm up the WB and make it more green and balance it off.
Douglas, I'll give ISO160 a try this weekend when I have a chance. Pushing in software rather than M9 firmware seems to work better for both noise and color. This recipe might be just what I need for fast shooting in changing light conditions and preserve highlights especially on the Monochrom. As for banding, I've gotten used to it at all ISOs, just part of the quirks of the camera but I'll try Ron's tips and try not to chimp. I normally use my LCD to review histogram for blown highlights but if I can shoot and underexpose, it might help that I don't need to chimp as often.
Here is another test shot from yesterday. This was shot at f/2 not f/2.8, the exif info from LR4 is incorrect.
ISO 800
pushed 2.25 stops in LR4 with no other adjustments
pushed 2.82 stops (almost ISO 5000?). Adjusted for contrast (+75), slight clarity (+3), spot WB adjustments to pinkish skin tone blotches, added slight Umask sharpening. Luminance NR 10pt. Color 50pt. I kept the overall WB setting as in the original ISO 800 shot.
This is quite remarkable, at least for me. It requires some adjustments on some of the skin tones to remove the M9's magenta cast (you can see it on the 2nd picture without adjustments) but I won't mind the effort. In the past, I would have kept the camera in the bag when it exceeded ISO1600 but now I may have options to keep shooting. Granted, I had a 90Cron AA which probably helped to keep the micro contrast and details on the shot? I also used a whibal card to help with initial WB. The lighting was warm CFLs/ incandescent indoors with a mix of diffused lighting from the windows and the back of the kids, not exactly easy to WB but good for a color test. The colors seems really nice and still quite accurate considering this is way above the camera's ISO2500 limit and the mixed lighting. I would have to do more test with other lenses to see how it works. Don't want to be fooled by the magic dust of the 90Cron AA
Edit: I accidentally deleted the pic on my hosting site. All three pics show show up now.
Yeah, it seems that both chimping and/or shooting a few shots in succession can lead to banding, so, in low light, I'm trying not to shoot more than two shots back to back until the camera is done working.
I've really been liking the freedom of shooting at only ISO 160, as its like pushing film, but I'm able to push every pic instead of every roll. Granted, if you're a high volume shooter, you may not want to deal with a bunch of black pics in Lightroom that all need adjusting. You're right about highlights, Joe. I barely have to worry about them, except when shooting in lots of light.
I'm sure this "ISO-less" thing (a misleading term) isn't for everyone, but I dig it.
p.s. I should mention that I shoot uncompressed raw. A guy on the Leica forum tested this for compressed, and it worked, but not quite as well. I haven't tried it myself with compressed raw, so I don't know.
Thank you very much for your comments Joakim, RM, Joe.
Joakim, beautiful set that really conveys the cold. Well executed.
RM, I assure you it's not my abilities, but the combination of the M9 CCD and the rendering of the Zeiss lenses.
Joe, thanks for the tips. I should try them asap. Of course I purposefully selected an image with a challenging unusual light source, just to show how the same converter interpolated the pixels differently according to the profile. As for the Planar, definitely a great performer. Unfortunately innever owned any Leica lens to compare it to, but I'm pretty happy with it. Another very nice shot by the way
edwardkaraa wrote:
Thank you very much for your comments Joakim, RM, Joe.
Joakim, beautiful set that really conveys the cold. Well executed.
RM, I assure you it's not my abilities, but the combination of the M9 CCD and the rendering of the Zeiss lenses.
Joe, thanks for the tips. I should try them asap. Of course I purposefully selected an image with a challenging unusual light source, just to show how the same converter interpolated the pixels differently according to the profile. As for the Planar, definitely a great performer. Unfortunately innever owned any Leica lens to compare it to, but I'm pretty happy with it. Another very nice shot by the way ...Show more →
Good point. I wonder what Leica will lose with their move to CMOS.
A question regarding calibration: the previous set was taken with my newest lens the 28 Summicron and I thought many of the shots was out of focus so I did a test this evening and it does back-focus quit a bit. If I send it in I need to send in the camera with it as well right? Do they only calibrate the lens or do they change the camera as well? I ask because while I was at it I checked my other lenses as well and my 50 Lux was spot on and I want it to remain that way
I used the LensAlign kit for my tests, any other way to test focus in case I want to double check my results?
Here's how the 28 Cron placed the plane of focus when I focused on the left sign:
Justin - great moment!
Joakim - I'm partial to the two B&Ws. Sorry to hear about your lens back focusing. Based on the test shot, it sure looks to be. This is kind of a tricky situation. Ideally, I think sending everything in is best, but it might be worth trying just the lens at first so it doesn't put you completely out of commission for a few weeks. My experience with this was when I needed the 50 Lux calibrated, I initially sent it only with the body, which resulted in issues with my other lenses... Sending everything in got the 50 Lux perfect and subsequent Leica lenses I purchased new - the 28 Cron and 21 SEM - have both been good too... but my 21 Lux and 90 Summarit both back focus, despite being sent in with the camera and 50 Lux. The 21 Lux I can live with because the depth of field is not excessively narrow, even wide open, and I can compensate in the rangefinder on the fly. The 90 is a bit more problematic, but I don't use it that much and when I do it's often near infinity stopped down landscapes, and the infinity hard stop is accurate...
Congrats on the 28 Cron! Is it new or used? If new, I wonder if there is an option to exchange it. From what the guys at the Munich Leica store told me, even if it's used, so long as it's a 6-bit coded lens, Leica will recalibrate it at no charge... at least that's what I remember and my German comprehension isn't perfect, so can't promise 100%. Also, for US area readers, I'm not sure if Leica USA honors this.
Regarding focus accuracy... I think a few of my lenses are starting to drift to back focus as well, and I suspect the camera. But the funny thing is, today while out in about -10˚C weather, all of my wide open shots at distance but not near infinity were pretty much bang on. A while ago in the summer, someone suggested temperature might be a factor when I was starting to notice focus issues with the 50 Lux. Maybe there's something to it?
Joe, looks really good considering how much you've pushed the file, and nice job canceling out that magenta shift (probably caused by the weak daylight mixing in).
Edward - love the fence and barbed wire!
We had a nice, sunny and cold day, so went out for a bit of a walk across the frozen nearby marsh and found this pile of tires that were pulled from the water during a recent cleanup, as the sun was setting...
Justin, beautiful shot indeed.
Ron, very nice set. 1st is the best IMO.
Joakim, as far as I'm concerned, I have previously sent 2 out of 5 lenses back to Zeiss due to front focusing. Both came back spot on. The other 3 were spot on from the factory. My M9 is very accurate and up to specs. If I understand it correctly from other users reports, even if you send in both camera and lens to Solms, Leica will not calibrate them together. They will adjust each separately to specific predetermined measurements, and they should work well together. So better to send the lens only, unless you have reasons to suspect the camera is off.
Thanks Edward. That's also what I've heard about how Leica calibrates (and Canon for AF), but the guys at the Leica store insisted I send the camera with the lens when I first sent in the 50 Lux... It would be nice if Leica posted a service FAQ on their site to resolve some of these questions.
Ron, I somehow understand the store position. Even for experienced users, it is not always possible to determine for sure whether the camera or the lens is out of calibration. If you have several other lenses that work well, then most probably it's the lens. But it's not impossible to have both faulty camera and faulty lens working well together, and you send the good lens for adjustment
Nice shots, everyone. I am traveling to FL for three days. Will post some pics once back.
As for service, when I send my body and 50lux, leica NJ suggest me send whole kit in, and they recalibrate my 90elmarite lens for free, a 10+ year old without code.
Just FYI.
I can confirm Ron's statement: "From what the guys at the Munich Leica store told me, even if it's used, so long as it's a 6-bit coded lens, Leica will recalibrate it at no charge..."
The lens is new and 6-bit coded so that shouldn't be an issue, I also found that my 35 Summilux did back focus and also my 24 Elmar but since I shot that mostly at infinity or hyper focal I am not sure I will bother with it. Since I bought my M9 and the mentioned lenses at the same dealer I'll talk to him but it sound like only sending in the lenses is the way to go.
I guess it was only a matter of time before I run out of luck with calibration but the up-side is that I finally tested most of my lenses carefully so I know how they handle now.
Thanks for the calibration info. Good stuff everyone. WOW. I'll say this again its always good to come here in the morning with a cup of coffee and to see all tis wonderful work. Love the warm light in those photographs Ron....
The thing I like about LR4 is that although not as precise as Photoshop, I can make quick and reversible edits quickly and it works most of the time. For instance in your test shot above, I could just go onto the WB and saturation brush and quickly remove the blue cast on the hair if needed (but the blue does make for a nice hair light accent to match the t-shirt). I could also quickly brush over the pinkish blotches on the face and warm up the WB and make it more green and balance it off.
