A few more questions

[TRSmith]

I'm having a blast learning the M8 and discovering its unique talents. Clearly, in my case anyway, the Leica "way" is providing a tremendous amount of potential that I aspire to live up to. I know there's no real shortcuts, but if you nice people don't mind, I have a few questions and some perceptions that would benefit from your input.

1. I've been playing with Capture One LE and seeing a difference in the M8 captures from what I get with the same files in Lightroom. Some of that might be because I'm still waiting for my IR cut filters and so installed the camera profiles into C1 from Jamie Roberts(?). That might be what's throwing off my Lightroom experience.

I had a similar experience with my Nikon and their Capture NX software until I tweaked Lightroom and learned how to achieve similar results in PS. But perhaps there's something different about C1. Should I consider upgrading to the full C1 software? I did upgrade with my Nikon to the full Capture NX but now I never use it. I hate to waste the money and time to learn another software if PS and Lightroom can be made to work as well.

2. Is there any reason I should not use my Nikon SB800 flash on the M8? It's a bit large for the camera, but is otherwise a pretty nice flash. I just don't want to fry anything in the M8.

3. Perceptions I have that may or may not be typical:

I've noticed a lot of dust on the sensor. More than what I would call typical considering I've only had my lens off and back on twice. Is this something I should be aware of? Or is it something that happens during a break-in period?;

Auto White Balance is a crap shoot. I've started using manual in almost every situation. Is that something that improves with the IR/cut filter?

How many of you carry hand light meters? Just curious.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any insight you have on these issues.

 

[Jack]

As respects the M8, I prefer the tonality from ACR/LR conversions, but prefer the color from C1.

If the SB flash s low trigger voltage, then it should be fine on the M8. High trip voltage flashes (like the old Vivitar 283) can fry the delicate internals.

Dust is a fact of life with digital cameras. In the end, you need to learn how to clean your sensor, either by blowing or using sensor swabs and Eclipse 2, OR a sensor brush.

AWB on the M8 is a crap-shoot. Shoot raw so you can choose any WB you want after the fact. It will NOT improve with the IR filter. What will improve is getting purple shades showing up on black fabric.

I find the in-camera histogram is a far superior light reading tool to any hand-held light meter --- and I shoot Large Format and use a light meter for that.

Cheers,

 

[Terry]

IIRC I thought people initially had dust on the sensor because of some sort of lubricant but after the first cleaning it wasn't any worse than other cameras with interchangeable lenses.

 

[Steen]

TRSmith asked: (...) "Should I consider upgrading to the full C1 software? I did upgrade with my Nikon to the full Capture NX but now I never use it." (...)

I would also be interested to learn what other members know about this.
I bought the upgrade from the Capture One LE version (C1 LE) to the PRO version. I liked the colors from C1 much better than the colors from Lightroom, on the other hand C1 LE didn't have all that many features. You can only do a few very basic things in C1 LE. That was actually why I upgraded in the first place.
But I was very surprised and rather disappointed to see that there doesn't seem to be all that much difference between C1 LE and the Pro version apart from a very useful feature for freestyle gradual rotation in the Pro version.

Here are a couple of screendumps of the two C1 versions.

 

[Maggie O]

My M8 had a bunch of dust and lubricant on its sensor when it was new, but it was easily cleaned with Visible Dust swabs (the green ones) and some VD Sensor Clean. Since that initial swabbing out, all I've had to use is VD's Arctic Butterfly dry brush.

 

[TRSmith]

Thanks everyone. I do have the full sensor cleaning outfit and will follow through with that. And based on the info in this thread and others, I'll probably wait on upgrading the C1.

Tim

 

[TRSmith]

Just a follow up on the Capture One LE thing. While lurking around the LUF I discovered that Capture One v.4 is free for C1 LE owners. Simply download the software from the Phase One site and use the serial number from the LE disc to activate it.

Apologies if this is not news to any of you, but hey, "free" is good.