Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/09/02

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Subject: [Leica] About to take M8 plunge - but worried about blown highlights...
From: imagist3 at mac.com (Lottermoser George)
Date: Tue Sep 2 09:03:24 2008
References: <200809020336.AWF59279@rg4.comporium.net> <93642647159018605813317929417096646172-Webmail2@me.com> <C8DF4E7A-CB74-4543-A255-219DEE000A1F@mac.com>

P.S. My comments are all based on working with RAW files.
on Sunday I inadvertently set the M8 on jpg/fine while resetting the  
ASA (I was on grandpa duty at the beach and had to watch my 3 year  
old Sophia, as she ran to the water, more than what I was doing with  
the camera); and the results, while useable and interesting in their  
own way, had none of the workable dynamic range that the RAW files  
do. Lesson learned. RAW only!

Fond regards,
George

george@imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist



On Sep 2, 2008, at 10:54 AM, Lottermoser George wrote:

> In my experience:
> The M8 set to -2/3
> (which is how mine is set 24/7 for all conditions)
> will preserve highlight detail in "most" situations.
>
> As Tina indicated digital imaging is much more like transparency  
> film than negative film.
> Yet, the M8 displays very good, useable dynamic range compared to 5D.
> Software allows for successfully reclaiming highlights (to a point);
> and what can be pulled out of a shadow from an M8 file continues to  
> drop my jaw.
>
> Obviously if one is photographing available light within a room  
> with sunlight outside a window; any film or sensor will be strained  
> to hold detail throughout 14 -20 stops.
>
> As Daniel mentioned - taking a trip to a dealer and working the  
> camera near a window would quickly answer your concerns. If you do  
> this, be sure to bracket in one third stop steps and then spend  
> some time with the files in Lightroom. If you don't have experience  
> with Lightroom - find someone who does - so that you can truly see  
> everything within the image file. You will be amazed at these files.
>
> Fond regards,
> George
>
> george@imagist.com
> http://www.imagist.com
> http://www.imagist.com/blog
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist
>
>
>
> On Sep 2, 2008, at 4:10 AM, Wyndham Pulman-Jones wrote:
>
>> The one thing that has held me back from buying an M8 is my  
>> dislike of the look of blown highlights in digital photos. Almost  
>> all of my shooting is of people interacting in social and working  
>> situations - and I always expose by taking incident readings for  
>> people's faces and letting everything else fall where it may. This  
>> frequently means that lighter exteriors visible through windows or  
>> doors are overexposed - but when using fast colour negative film  
>> there is almost always some tone and character to the overexposed  
>> area. The same also applies to highlights on people's hair when  
>> strongly backlit.
>>
>> When I have used digital (Epson RD-1, Canon 1Ds) I have not liked  
>> the totally white blown out highlights, fringed with un-natural  
>> looking chromatic aberation, that often result from shooting in  
>> this way (when you are not able to worry about exposinig for areas  
>> of the photo not carrying the narrative interest, which might end  
>> up significantly overexposed.)
>>
>> Does the M8 suffer from this just as much as any other digital  
>> camera? If so, what's the best technique for stopping those  
>> 'outside the scene' highlights from blowing out? Or is it just not  
>> possible with the M8 to 'set and forget' exposure in the way that  
>> you can with incident metering for the latitude of negative film?
>>
>> (I found some M8 DNG samples which show totally blown out 'through  
>> the window' highlights which have the digital look that just  
>> doesn't look right to me: http://rpo.eranet.tv/)
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Simon.
>> Cambridge, UK.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


In reply to: Message from images at comporium.net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] IMG: Playing with Fire)
Message from simonpj at mac.com (Wyndham Pulman-Jones) ([Leica] About to take M8 plunge - but worried about blown highlights...)
Message from imagist3 at mac.com (Lottermoser George) ([Leica] About to take M8 plunge - but worried about blown highlights...)