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Fun with the Leica M Monochrom

lookbook

lookbook

Well-known member
pegelli said:
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
Click to expand...
Congratulations on this beautiful camera.
I haven't had it very long either, but it has quickly become my favorite camera.

The files are large enough and the dynamic range is great.
The pictures taken with the 246 easily approach the quality of my photos taken with medium format cameras.
The camera is fast enough for the way I work.

I really enjoy the electronic viewfinder.
I practically only work with it and with the spirit level turned on.
The scrap is minimal with this way of working.

I wish you much fun with the camera

Uwe

P.S. I often work with full auto at aperture priority and minus 0.3-0.7 EV.
I have never used filters before.
 
pegelli

pegelli

Well-known member
Thanks Uwe, I indeed find the camera addictive to use. I also have an EVF-2 (from my former Olympus days) that fits and operates perfectly (exactly the same as the one with LEICA printed on it). For my 35 and 50 mm "coupled" Leica lenses I mostly use the rangefinder (to not have the "bump" on top of the camera) but anthing longer (even coupled Leica) I use the EVF-2. I'm thinking about buying the 1.4x rangefinder loupe to also use the rangefinder for my 90 and 135 mm leica lenses but the price of that petite gadget is quite stiff :confused:.

For wide angle I have a Minolta MD and Olympus OM to M-mount adapter for lenses from 17 to 24 mm and obviously they solely rely on the EVF-2, but coupled rangefinder lenses in that range would still need a stick on wide viewfinder anyway, so there using the EVF-2 is not a drawback.

Here's a shot I took in Antwerp along the river last week that I liked


M246M + M-Elmar 50/2.8 + yellow filter
 
lookbook

lookbook

Well-known member
pegelli said:
Thanks Uwe, I indeed find the camera addictive to use. I also have an EVF-2 (from my former Olympus days) that fits and operates perfectly (exactly the same as the one with LEICA printed on it). For my 35 and 50 mm "coupled" Leica lenses I mostly use the rangefinder (to not have the "bump" on top of the camera) but anthing longer (even coupled Leica) I use the EVF-2. I'm thinking about buying the 1.4x rangefinder loupe to also use the rangefinder for my 90 and 135 mm leica lenses but the price of that petite gadget is quite stiff :confused:.

For wide angle I have a Minolta MD and Olympus OM to M-mount adapter for lenses from 17 to 24 mm and obviously they solely rely on the EVF-2, but coupled rangefinder lenses in that range would still need a stick on wide viewfinder anyway, so there using the EVF-2 is not a drawback.

Here's a shot I took in Antwerp along the river last week that I liked


M246M + M-Elmar 50/2.8 + yellow filter
Click to expand...
... I also have the EVF from Olympus -

I bought it used, like the camera and I use it with all the lenses I use - also very much with very large angles like the heliar 15mm.
The picture above of me, around church, was also taken with the lens and the EVF as portrait.
I often take this approach to save myself a shift-objectiv
.
 
PeterA

PeterA

Well-known member
pegelli said:
Thanks, but 100% luck I would say
Click to expand...
People should perhaps take a sentence to say something about the shot they make - I'm always interested. A fair amount of effort goes into making something and then deciding to post it- the story can be as interesting as the photo.
 
pegelli

pegelli

Well-known member
Happy to describe my process Peter:

I found it too hot yesterday to go out for a long walk or bicycle ride, so I sat down in the shadow to practice some panning of cyclists passing on the road before me. But a base ISO of 320 and smallest aperture of f16 it still called for some more measures to get the shutter time long enough. So I screwed on my yellow + orange filter to slow down another 3 stops and managed 1/45th sec. I would have liked a little longer but I didn't have any more or darker filters. Of the > 25 shots I took 18 were binned and this was probably (technically) the best from the remaining 7.

Here's another one that I liked, but it's not as sharp as the one posted above


Spotted:
 
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