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The M9 as a Landscape camera

Really enjoying everyone's wonderful work. A real pleasure. I can't wait for the trip to Jackson Hole. Hope to have something worthy of these. (Not till June alas)....Peter
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Don how does your M9 and Leica glass compare to your P45+ images in terms of resolution (not size), dynamic range, color, smoothness of tones, etc. Just wondering! eleanor
Eleanor, all very good questions and some of the same as I have. I just returned home yesterday afternoon and have a lot of work ahead of me. (16 days 3 cameras and well over a 1,200 images; not to mention the 3,800 miles driven). I carried my 17” laptop with me on this trip which was color calibrated however I never truly trust any image till I see it on my studio monitors. I can saw that the resolution of the M9 compared to the P45+ is amazing. This question reminds me of an image I took from tunnel view with both cameras where I could see (in great detail) a small waterfall far off on the right side of the image. I shot those images with a 120mm Schneider short barrel lens on the Cambo WRS/P45+ and a 90mm f/2 on the M9.

I hope to be able to post a more definitive answer later this month with samples on my blog. Give me a PM if you need anything specific.

I will say here that I’m very pleased with the images and level of detail I’ve gotten with the close to 1,000 images. Everyone at Carmel had a chance to try out the camera and even those that weren’t used to a rangefinder system was able to capture great images.

Don
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Really enjoying everyone's wonderful work. A real pleasure. I can't wait for the trip to Jackson Hole. Hope to have something worthy of these. (Not till June alas)....Peter
Peter - are you going in June? Sandy & I will be in Jackson Hole for 3-weeks in October.

Don
 

eleanorbrown

New member
Don I've been reading your blog on the M9 and am tempted to at least "consider" getting one. So many times my medium format back set up is too heavy to pack around. How did you get yours so quickly? no one has them in stock anywhere! eleanor

Eleanor, all very good questions and some of the same as I have. I just returned home yesterday afternoon and have a lot of work ahead of me. (16 days 3 cameras and well over a 1,200 images; not to mention the 3,800 miles driven). I carried my 17” laptop with me on this trip which was color calibrated however I never truly trust any image till I see it on my studio monitors. I can saw that the resolution of the M9 compared to the P45+ is amazing. This question reminds me of an image I took from tunnel view with both cameras where I could see (in great detail) a small waterfall far off on the right side of the image. I shot those images with a 120mm Schneider short barrel lens on the Cambo WRS/P45+ and a 90mm f/2 on the M9.

I hope to be able to post a more definitive answer later this month with samples on my blog. Give me a PM if you need anything specific.

I will say here that I’m very pleased with the images and level of detail I’ve gotten with the close to 1,000 images. Everyone at Carmel had a chance to try out the camera and even those that weren’t used to a rangefinder system was able to capture great images.

Don
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Don I've been reading your blog on the M9 and am tempted to at least "consider" getting one. So many times my medium format back set up is too heavy to pack around. How did you get yours so quickly? no one has them in stock anywhere! eleanor
I was speaking to Dave Gallagher for what I termed as a need of a small companion camera to my medium format. Something that would give me great image quality and allow me to print larger than 11x14 all the while knowing I'd not be able to compete with the sizes I print with the P45+. While I haven't as yet done any actual printing (I hope to do the first within a couple days) I can see a great amount of detail on screen.

That's the long round about answer; the shorten version is from Capture Integration. Dave is a brand new Leica dealer and as such a lot of folks haven't noticed him yet for either the M9, X1 or S2 so when I called the wait was very short; much shorter than I ever expected.

Don
 
Peter - are you going in June? Sandy & I will be in Jackson Hole for 3-weeks in October.

Don
Yes Don, last week of June I believe, too bad we won't overlap. Looking forward to sharing images thouigh. I plan at least 1 day in Yellowstone as well. best...Peter
 
C

Chris_R

Guest
Jono,
The bridge photo is remarkable, the reflected image is like a watercolor.

Cheers
Chris
 

steflaurent974

Active member
My contribution , with the M9 and summicron 28mm :

First is a 6 vertical frames pano stitched in Pshop :




Second is a single shot with the 28mm as well :



All taken with no tripod : definitively a landscape camera !
 

thrice

Active member
Stef,

I really like the detail in those shots, and the dynamic range. Do you expose for the highlights and push the shadows up? It doesn't look like you have a grad filter on the lens in the second shot. Otherwise, have you discovered a post processing workflow that gives drastically more headroom in the highlights? Or is the light naturally low contrast in that scene?

I struggle with bright days :)

All the best.
 
Excellent work Stef. I'm very pleased to see the 28 cron in this regard, it draws the landscape beautifully in your capable hands....Peter
 

steflaurent974

Active member
Daniel, I try to expose to the right and push for the shadow after. But wit these scenes, I had the chance to have beautiful skies and the end of an afternoon light coming under the sky ; it was really beautiful.
I then have developped the DNG in lightroom 2. The result was taken to photoshop where I used a glimpse of Topaz Adjust wich brings up microcontrast and gives an HDR like touch to the scene. the big tree on the left and some rocks has been dodge too...So as you can see there is post production on this picture but the material was there in the DNG !!
 

steflaurent974

Active member
Innerimager : the summicron 28mm is truly a beautifull lens with the M9 ; following Jonos advices I use it most of the times without its big lens shade : so it becomes a tiny marvell !
I can tell you I did not miss the big Alpa Kit (regardlsss the M9+28) on this trip.
 
C

Chris_R

Guest
Great work, Stef. The 3d effect and colors really make the images pop.

Cheers
Chris
 

steflaurent974

Active member
Don : thanks, I have to admit I had a thought for your work in this place, as I am often staring at your incredible pictures from the Grand Canyon.
Thanks Chris.
 
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