[Leica] Shout out to SonC and others for software suggestions.

[Christopher Crawford]

Don,

I don't know if you ever convert your color digital images to B&W; but if you do, the Topaz B&W plugin is one of the best ways I have found to get good B&W from digital. Most conversions are too flat in the midtones, and simply increasing contrast means losing highlight and shadow detail. The Topaz software increases midtone contrast without losing highlight and shadow detail.

-- 
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-437-8990

https://chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio

https://crawfordphotoschool.com Learn From Me

On 8/4/22, 5:35 PM, "LUG on behalf of Don Dory via LUG" <lug-bounces+chris=chriscrawfordphoto.com at leica-users.org on behalf of lug at leica-users.org> wrote:

    Many on this list have been quietly promoting Topaz labs products.  SonC
    showed me what their products could do on a motion blurred image which
    convinced me of their value.  I waited until there was a bundle sale and
    just acquired the bundle.
    
    So, money very well spent and now suggestions.  The denoise works extremely
    well,  owning 2.8, 3.5, or 5.6 lenses is not a limiting factor on newer
    cameras that go up over 50,000iso.  The noise can be drastically reduced
    without sacrificing image detail.  A little motion blur can also be worked
    with effectively.  Basically, if a lens is good but slow you have a nice
    light package that will work in almost any light.
    
    This also makes the use of my M9 practical again as I have been fighting no
    dof in dark places to try to keep shutter speeds up.  Now, the AI programs
    will mostly eliminate motion blur and I can get the dof I believe I want.
    
    So, thank you to all those on the list who have been suggesting better
    software.  Also, I believe this will work on scanned film so with a
    convoluted work system you could shoot HP5, scan it in, de noise the grain,
    then output to a large format "negative" and contact print on real
    emulsions.
    
    -- 
    Don
    don.dory at gmail.com
    
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