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Fun with the Leica M Monochrom

RF_Licks

New member
Thanks Ash, Dan and everyon else for the kind words!

Yes, Ash I got one and loving it! Looks like you are having fun with yours too. The 50Cron rigid rendering looks really nice.

Joe
 

tele_player

New member
I think that used to be my Rigid Cron - once I saw your photos with it, I regretted selling. Fortunately, I located another one, this one's not getting away.

I just wish you wouldn't make the Monochrom so tempting.

-Robert

Hi Dave,
The "vintage" shot was taken with a 50 mm f/2 Rigid Summicron (chrome), probably my favorite vintage lens (since I am generally a 50 guy)

As for wider croppage, here you go (wasn't wide enough to get all of the chairs):

 

downstairs

New member
Today I got Aperture and the Photomatix plugin. This was a tethered 3-shot jpeg tone map. Four minutes from start to finish.

A detail from the jpeg above...

Unfortunately Aperture won't read Monochrom DNGs.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Daure - I owe you. Thanks! Here's the party shot with lens correction turned off. No Newton's rings!

The problem seems to surface in high ISO files and is aggravated by further handling (like downsampling).

 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Today I got Aperture and the Photomatix plugin. This was a tethered 3-shot jpeg tone map. Four minutes from start to finish.

A detail from the jpeg above...

Unfortunately Aperture won't read Monochrom DNGs.
Remarkable image. this could turn into an important body of work for you.
 

Daure

Member
Daure - I owe you. Thanks! Here's the party shot with lens correction turned off. No Newton's rings!

The problem seems to surface in high ISO files and is aggravated by further handling (like downsampling).
You are welcome. Apologize for my very very bad english.
Depends of the lens and the lens correction wich "should" be applied too.
(wide angle and/or lenses with large apertures knowed to vignet)
Next step : test to turn off the automatic lens detection on the camera, to avoid corrections made by the firmware, wich, for my taste, is a little bit too much a copy and paste of the one of a M9/M9P(color cast - !!! - and/or vignetting)
Next step for me : check if it is better with the last version of LR : LR 4.2
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
You are welcome. Apologize for my very very bad english.
Depends of the lens and the lens correction wich "should" be applied too.
(wide angle and/or lenses with large apertures knowed to vignet)
Next step : test to turn off the automatic lens detection on the camera, to avoid corrections made by the firmware, wich, for my taste, is a little bit too much a copy and paste of the one of a M9/M9P(color cast - !!! - and/or vignetting)
Next step for me : check if it is better with the last version of LR : LR 4.2
Let us know how this works out!
 

downstairs

New member
Thanks Woody!
Skimmel, 'tethered' means shooting from the computer screen via an USB cable attached to the Leica (not Monochrom territory, but my MF is out for repairs). Tethering saves detaching the Leica from the tripod to get at the memory card. It also saves shooting spurious variations.
 

skimmel

Member
Thanks Woody!
Skimmel, 'tethered' means shooting from the computer screen via an USB cable attached to the Leica (not Monochrom territory, but my MF is out for repairs). Tethering saves detaching the Leica from the tripod to get at the memory card. It also saves shooting spurious variations.
Thanks. That's what I thought you meant -- does it work OK?
 

jonoslack

Active member
Unfortunately Aperture won't read Monochrom DNGs.
Aperture will support it, but not for a little while (not Leica's fault I think) As I understand it (which could be wrong) it needs an OSX update to accomodate RAW files taken with a camera without a Bayer filter.

I must admit, that I ended up using jpgs in Aperture rather than DNG files in LR - they seemed to be at least as good (sometimes better), and much easier to handle. The only real disadvantage seems to be the bit depth. I think your lovely shots rather prove the point!

I'm missing my Monochrom :cry:
 
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jonoslack

Active member
It is not an OS issue--I have used monochome images from scientific cameras on all kinds of computers and OSs. Image processing is not an OS problem.
Actually, supporting RAW file conversion is, at least it is in OSx (I don't know about Windows . . .)

Monochrome bit maps aren't a problem clearly (jpg,bmp,tiff-whatever).

all the best
 

borge

New member
OS X doesn't support the MM files yet - hence - no application that uses the operating systems raw decoder supports it either.

The monochrome dng files that the MM creates are very unique, and does not follow the regular dng specification. Apparently Adobe and Leica worked on this together.

It shouldn't be a problem for Apple to provide support for it though. It requires zero demosaicing so it should in theory be easier to support the MM (and provide as good as possible conversions) than for other sensors that has color filter arrays.
 

jonoslack

Active member
OS X doesn't support the MM files yet - hence - no application that uses the operating systems raw decoder supports it either.

The monochrome dng files that the MM creates are very unique, and does not follow the regular dng specification. Apparently Adobe and Leica worked on this together.

It shouldn't be a problem for Apple to provide support for it though. It requires zero demosaicing so it should in theory be easier to support the MM (and provide as good as possible conversions) than for other sensors that has color filter arrays.
That's what I understood - and that it should be coming around Christmas time.
 

downstairs

New member
This is a single MM shot done with RPP. The Lightness/L* settings produce an RGB(!) which gives a little more satisfaction than the 3-shot jpeg tone-map.
It seems the only way to get respect for greyscale is to import the dng directly into Photoshop CS6. However The RPP developed RGB/L* is easier to work with.
 

downstairs

New member
Skimmel, the simplest tethering setup is the ImageCapture utility on Mac. It read Leica DNGs straight onto a folder and lets you see the results as you shoot.
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
I think that used to be my Rigid Cron - once I saw your photos with it, I regretted selling. Fortunately, I located another one, this one's not getting away.

I just wish you wouldn't make the Monochrom so tempting.

-Robert
Robert, great to hear from you, and Yes, this was your lens! I love and adore it, and I am glad that you found another. For me, it's the 50 to have, for rendering, OOF, sharpness, macro/microcontrast, and build. It's a fantastic lens, and seems to stay reasonably priced. Thanks again for the sale...nearly 2-3 years ago now, no?
 

jonoslack

Active member
Robert, great to hear from you, and Yes, this was your lens! I love and adore it, and I am glad that you found another. For me, it's the 50 to have, for rendering, OOF, sharpness, macro/microcontrast, and build. It's a fantastic lens, and seems to stay reasonably priced. Thanks again for the sale...nearly 2-3 years ago now, no?
Oh Bah . . . how old? is it a recent 'cron?
I'm currently being haunted by dreams of the new 50 'cron asph. But my grannies are restless in their graves!
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Oh Bah . . . how old? is it a recent 'cron?
I'm currently being haunted by dreams of the new 50 'cron asph. But my grannies are restless in their graves!
Old. Late '50s early '60s. It's called the rigid chron because the model that preceded it was collapsable. Same optics as the dual range summicron. These lenses have the most satisfying finish and build quality of any lens that I know of. There are a lot of them on ebay right now. Prices have roughly doubled in the past year. The Dual Range summicron has the advantage of a close focus range (which you'll be able to use on the M(no number) with the EVF) but you have have to have the close focus cam machined off (DAG can do it for a reasonable price) or it won't fit on a digital M body. It defines (to me) the classic Leica rendering. At f5.6 and above contrast and acutance are on a par with modern lenses corner to corner. At F4.0 really good. At f2.0 kinda dreamy. It has a tendency to flair but that may be the key to the look.
 
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