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Fun with the Leica M Monochrom
- Thread starter bradhusick
- Start date
pegelli
Well-known member
Since two days I'm the proud owner of a M246M which I bought in "Good" condition from mpb Europe. I find they are extremely conservative in their assessments and except for a tiny bit of brassing on a corner of the bottom cover I'd call it "near mint". Also all photo's on their website are from the actual piece of equipment you're buying from them.
Here's some first tests, taken at the redoubt of Schilde
First test: dynamic range with strong sun/shadows at base iso (320):
My conclusion from this (and other shots) is that typically Adobe Lightroom can recover less detail in (near) blown highlights vs. images from my Sony colour sensors, so more care should be taken not to blow highlights.
Second test: high iso (push 25000), and look for the infamous "banding" in the shadow area
My conclusion is that indeed the dark shadows show banding when lifted, but also found that Topaz Denoise AI can do a very good job on this banding, but removes "character" in the lighter areas by making the picture very smooth and almost plasticky. So stacking/blending the denoised and undenoised versions and layer mask so that the dark areas are denoised and the light areas untouched gives a very satisfactory result (imo)
Looking forward to further contribute to this thread as I start learning this camera more.
Both photos with a 1962 Summaron 35/2.8
Here's some first tests, taken at the redoubt of Schilde
First test: dynamic range with strong sun/shadows at base iso (320):
My conclusion from this (and other shots) is that typically Adobe Lightroom can recover less detail in (near) blown highlights vs. images from my Sony colour sensors, so more care should be taken not to blow highlights.
Second test: high iso (push 25000), and look for the infamous "banding" in the shadow area
My conclusion is that indeed the dark shadows show banding when lifted, but also found that Topaz Denoise AI can do a very good job on this banding, but removes "character" in the lighter areas by making the picture very smooth and almost plasticky. So stacking/blending the denoised and undenoised versions and layer mask so that the dark areas are denoised and the light areas untouched gives a very satisfactory result (imo)
Looking forward to further contribute to this thread as I start learning this camera more.
Both photos with a 1962 Summaron 35/2.8
KeithDM
Well-known member
Congratulations on your new acquisition, Pieter. Monochroms are highly seductive cameras!
Your are absolutely right regarding highlights - with just a single channel a blown highlight is exactly that - gone never to be seen again!
My default EV setting is -0.3 and sometimes -0.7 or even -1. I look forward to seeing more of your photos as you explore the camera's wonderful capabilities.
John Black
Active member
It's the same shutter - I had both, still have the M10-M. It's a very nice shooting experience. There is shutter shock with longer lenses (90APO, 135 APO, etc.), so even on tripod those lenses need their shutter speeds ~2X. That's on a 5-series Gitzo and Arca Swiss Cube before somebody tells me to get a better tripod.
I much prefer the shutter experience of the M10-M / M10-R / M10-P (they all have the same shutter) vs that in the Leica M11. The Leica M11 has electronic - which is great for the long tele's, but Leica had to muck up the shutter for every other shot...
Somebody else wrote that the M11's shutter sound like stapler punching through a stack of paper. It's a very apt description. Not in terms of the level of noise, but the cadence of it. If you want to know how the M11 sounds & feels, put the M10-P / M10-R / M10-M in LV mode and fire a shot. Bingo. They sound the same. Cadence is the same. I know people say it's sped up, but I'm beginning to doubt that.
Anyways, enough bitchin'. Love the M10-M. Keeping hoping Leica does a special edition or something in something in silver.
pegelli
Well-known member
Further learning my M246M
I took it out with my oldest lens (an Elmar 50/3.5 collapsible from 1949) and I really need a yellow or orange filter for it, I do have a 36 mm clamp on yellow filter somewhere but still haven't found it, I have to keep looking
But here's two shots that didn't suffer too much from a blown blue sky
Sluice bunker in the anti-tank canal around Antwerp
Entrance gate to Fort Oelegem
I took it out with my oldest lens (an Elmar 50/3.5 collapsible from 1949) and I really need a yellow or orange filter for it, I do have a 36 mm clamp on yellow filter somewhere but still haven't found it, I have to keep looking
But here's two shots that didn't suffer too much from a blown blue sky
Sluice bunker in the anti-tank canal around Antwerp
Entrance gate to Fort Oelegem
Last edited:
PeterA
Well-known member
lovely scene - I don't have any coloured filters am I missing out?I found my box with yellow and orange filters
Secondly my adapters to use OM Zuiko and Minolta MD lenses arrived
So that called for a bicycle ride this afternoon
Land- and cloudscape
M246M + OM Zuiko 21/3.5 + Yellow filter, Microsoft ICE stitch of four photo's
pegelli
Well-known member
Thanks Peter. "missing out" might be an overstatement, but a yellow or orange filter allows you to make the blue sky stand out more against the clouds and sometimes allows you to better balance a blue sky and foreground without the need to underexpose further to avoid a blown sky. But if there's lot of shadows in the foreground they will get darker as well, so sometimes underexposing without a filter is a better way to go. It all depends, probably my early upbringing with black and white film makes me reach for a filter more often with my digital monochrom camera as well.
pegelli
Well-known member
I had to be in Delft (Netherlands) yesterday and took the opportunity for more training (and fun) with my "new" M-monochrom
I heard the new railway station was impressive and while not as large as I thought I liked it a lot
Escalators
Staircase and escalators
Looking inside and out (on the left is the reflection in an outside window of the former (old) railway station, on the right I was close enough to the window to look inside)
Pano of the staircase and escalators, with people moving this was a challenge for the stitching software, and I apologise for several people losing body parts (head/feet/legs)
All M246 monochrom, first and last with M-Summaron 35/2.8, second and third with Minolta MC Rokkor 17/4
I heard the new railway station was impressive and while not as large as I thought I liked it a lot
Escalators
Staircase and escalators
Looking inside and out (on the left is the reflection in an outside window of the former (old) railway station, on the right I was close enough to the window to look inside)
Pano of the staircase and escalators, with people moving this was a challenge for the stitching software, and I apologise for several people losing body parts (head/feet/legs)
All M246 monochrom, first and last with M-Summaron 35/2.8, second and third with Minolta MC Rokkor 17/4
