Thanks Adam. I should try to find another M9 to compare mine against. The streaky banding really only is visible if files are pushed a couple stops or more, at least most of the time. For most normal situations it's unnoticeable. It just really freaked me out last week with the blatantly bad banding I posted... Problem with the M240 is finding one. Too impatient to wait, too lazy to actually look for one. Saves me $7000 too. While I think it will be a pretty big improvement in usability over the M9, the little quirks you're reporting, and other things I read, are taking some of the shine off it. Seems to be somewhat more compromised than I'd like, but then, I should actually try one.
Interesting your thoughts about the 28 Cron on the M240... some of the images I've seen from that combo have a lot less vignetting than I'm used to seeing from that lens on the M9, which is part of its character. or at least the character I'm used to seeing from it.
Thanks for the comments Ryan, Allen, Ron and Phil! Good clouds or any clouds for that matter has been hard to find around here lately so yesterday afternoon when I had some fine clouds I decided to go out and shoot even if the light wasn't perfect. That turned out to be a good choice because later in the evening they were gone again.
Ryan, the Canon 100/2 looks like a fun lens to use.
Ron, thanks for the info on handling greens. Great photos of the kid, I like #3 in the first set and also the first one in the last set because the excellent use of the wide angle lens.
Phil, another beautiful photo from the Japanese garden.
Michael, I missed to answer your question: it's the latest version of the 35 Summilux I have.
Thank you Ron. Very nice sets above. The leaves color and tonality is amazing, and the last portrait set has a beautiful punchy rendering. It's very frustrating not to be able to post photos, let alone comment on the wonderful images in this thread. I have no way to convert my raw files during my trip, (and so far I have nothing really interesting), and commenting on the images on the iPad is very time consuming, so I will postpone both until I'm back to Bangkok
Luka, another great set. my favorites are #2, #5 and #7
Mitch, regarding clarity I use it very often but also very conservatively and I am extra careful when shooting with a thin dof to protect the oof areas as you also mentioned. I think it's a great tool in small amounts . I agree with you that the diversity in style and motives is one thing that makes this thread so excellent.
Thanks Joakim. Regarding clarity slider, I only use it on occasion for one purpose: enhancing clouds. I don't apply it on the whole picture but as a graduated filter. I can sometimes follow it up with a selective sharpening in PS after resizing.
Here is an example - I've overcooked the image with the effects just to illustrate it better. I did it quickly and crudely - you can get better looking results with a bit more effort.
Original:
Clarity + contrast grad filter in LR:
Sharpen in PS (manually using the sharpening tool):
Yes, clarity and contrast is a very good way to enhance clouds together with the graduated filter or brush tool. For brighter clouds than in your example I often use the Highlight slider as well to get some more detail in the brightest parts of the clouds.
rscheffler wrote:
Thanks Adam. I should try to find another M9 to compare mine against. The streaky banding really only is visible if files are pushed a couple stops or more, at least most of the time. For most normal situations it's unnoticeable. It just really freaked me out last week with the blatantly bad banding I posted... Problem with the M240 is finding one. Too impatient to wait, too lazy to actually look for one. Saves me $7000 too. While I think it will be a pretty big improvement in usability over the M9, the little quirks you're reporting, and other things I read, are taking some of the shine off it. Seems to be somewhat more compromised than I'd like, but then, I should actually try one.
Interesting your thoughts about the 28 Cron on the M240... some of the images I've seen from that combo have a lot less vignetting than I'm used to seeing from that lens on the M9, which is part of its character. or at least the character I'm used to seeing from it.
Think it's settled, I'm getting the 21 SEM, Ron your fault, so I'll send you the bill in the mail..
Now that you mention it, I actually do think that's the problem with the 28cron, it's to well corrected in camera. Maybe I should try turning off lens corrections and see if that helps?!
Honestly, there are a lot of small frustrations with the camera, the slow startup is the worst of them.. But I think it's just because I sold off the M9P a few months back, so I've been using D4/D700/D800 and they're all faster then necessary cameras. The other thing I'm having problems with, is actually going out and using it (so uninspired where I live). But to be honest with you, I don't think the colors are going to be an issue, I mean, I don't think that CCD vs CMOS is as big an issue as people make it out to be. HOWEVER, I do think that if you don't need the 2 stops of ISO, then why bother buying the M240 (biggest selling point in my opinion)... Unless you love the rangefinder focusing, and you you want a more precise mechanism. I can definitely attest to the fact that it's a heck of a lot easier to focus the M240 then the M9 or M9P. Honestly though, I think I've used live view twice, and movie mode was used once (accidentally) at my wedding, by one of my drunk guests.
adamdewilde wrote:
Think it's settled, I'm getting the 21 SEM, Ron your fault, so I'll send you the bill in the mail..
Now that you mention it, I actually do think that's the problem with the 28cron, it's to well corrected in camera. Maybe I should try turning off lens corrections and see if that helps?!
Honestly, there are a lot of small frustrations with the camera, the slow startup is the worst of them.. But I think it's just because I sold off the M9P a few months back, so I've been using D4/D700/D800 and they're all faster then necessary cameras. The other thing I'm having problems with, is actually going out and using it (so uninspired where I live). But to be honest with you, I don't think the colors are going to be an issue, I mean, I don't think that CCD vs CMOS is as big an issue as people make it out to be. HOWEVER, I do think that if you don't need the 2 stops of ISO, then why bother buying the M240 (biggest selling point in my opinion)... Unless you love the rangefinder focusing, and you you want a more precise mechanism. I can definitely attest to the fact that it's a heck of a lot easier to focus the M240 then the M9 or M9P. Honestly though, I think I've used live view twice, and movie mode was used once (accidentally) at my wedding, by one of my drunk guests. ...Show more →
I'm still wondering why so many users of the M240 report that it's easier to focus. What might be the reason for that? I don't have an explanation so I'm wondering if this is really the case I'm afraid.
Ron, a few great sets, love the colors you got from the 21 on the prior page with the kid at the playground
Luka, another fantastic set! Really like #3 and #6. Travel business or pleasure? You going to start having time to shoot again? We miss the images!
Mitch, like the shot. Regarding clarity I think I do what Luka does. I hardly ever apply to entire image. I pick the places that I want sharpened and clarity enhanced and locally apply. Clouds ALWAYS get a clarity adjustment
few more with the Voigt Nokton II....and yes, VSCO is now my starting point
rsolti13 wrote:
....and yes, VSCO is now my starting point...
rsolti13, like your colors a lot. I take it that VSCO is a lot more useful than Nik Color Efex. Would you mind answering some questions? Can you indicate what VSCO does for you? What type of files is it best to feed into VSCO: should they be of relative low contrast and saturation? Which VSCO film presets to you use?
Mitch, never really liked Nik Color Efex. I like Silver Efex...but with VSCO I find myself using Silver Efex even less for the B/W I do. I am finally starting to get comfortable processing B/W in LR.
With VSCO, it really doesn't matter if you start with high/low contrast files. For instance, for Kodak Portra (which I use the most) VSCO has one-click options for high contrast, low contrast, low clarity, etc. It literally has 5 different presets for just Portra 160....for each NC and VC. I use that as the starting point, from there I will adjust as needed. I find more than anything, VSCO gives you an idea of how the image best looks. There are over 100 different samples you can click on to get an idea of how your final image will look, which I find very valuable. I will say, I use VSCO Film 01 and 02 for 90+% of the time I use VSCO presets. There are rarely times when 03 is used. That being said, 03 has some of the most dramatic adjustments...such as the look below (I think PX-70 Warm)
Go here to see what they offere - http://vsco.co/film. I use Portra and Superia mainly for color....Neopan and Tri-X are usually my starting points for B/W
Went on another hike today but this time to the country side and rainforest. First two taken with the 35 lux and the others with WATE. I like the files coming from the M but I feel they look more digitalesque if that even makes sense. I've never had an M9 though so maybe its a problem with my PP style, I can't seem to get what I like to see from the M9 with the M.
rsolti13 wrote:
Mitch, never really liked Nik Color Efex. I like Silver Efex...but with VSCO I find myself using Silver Efex even less for the B/W I do. I am finally starting to get comfortable processing B/W in LR.
With VSCO, it really doesn't matter if you start with high/low contrast files. For instance, for Kodak Portra (which I use the most) VSCO has one-click options for high contrast, low contrast, low clarity, etc. It literally has 5 different presets for just Portra 160....for each NC and VC. I use that as the starting point, from there I will adjust as needed. I find more than anything, VSCO gives you an idea of how the image best looks. There are over 100 different samples you can click on to get an idea of how your final image will look, which I find very valuable. I will say, I use VSCO Film 01 and 02 for 90+% of the time I use VSCO presets. There are rarely times when 03 is used......Show more →
rsolti13, thanks. I agree Color Efex is only useful if you want some extreme effects. If you apply the Kodachrome preset, for example, you have to then desaturate the reds. As for Silver Efex, for M-Monochrom files, I also prefer to process in LR.
VSCO looks very interesting and I'll have to try it.
Saves me $7000 too. While I think it will be a pretty big improvement in usability over the M9, the little quirks you're reporting, and other things I read, are taking some of the shine off it. Seems to be somewhat more compromised than I'd like, but then, I should actually try one. 
