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: philippe.amard at tele2.fr (Philippe AMARD)
Date: Tue Sep 2 12:53:20 2008
References: <200809020336.AWF59279@rg4.comporium.net> <93642647159018605813317929417096646172-Webmail2@me.com> <9DAAF99B-7736-401E-AE12-120C5383594B@frozenlight.eu>

For Digital, Ditto Tina, Nathan and others - slide like underexposure 
and address the rest of it when processing your RAW. BTW much better 
than slides or film in terms of "adjustment range' whatever the D-gear.
Have fun with the new toy  :-)

Notes: I'm using a Panathing Mark I plus, which I love. Yet, here is a 
"global warning" though- depending on the camera brand and if using LR 
you might be disappointed if you convert RAW to DNG - my experience, 
which I can document for anyone interested in that.

Yours
phx



Nathan Wajsman wrote:

> While I have no experience with the M8 beyond fondling it and 
> drooling  on it, I do have extensive experience shooting several 
> models of Canon  and Olympus DSLRs. I completely agree with the 
> comments from Tina and  others: if you shoot RAW and expose as if you 
> were shooting slide  film, you will have better dynamic range than 
> with film. But the key  is to do both of those things. If you shoot 
> JPEG, you WILL have blown  highlights and artifacts of the type you 
> mention.
>
> Nathan
>
> Nathan Wajsman
> Alicante, Spain
> http://www.frozenlight.eu
> http://www.greatpix.eu
> http://www.nathanfoto.com
>
> Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0
> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
> Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog
>
>
>
> On Sep 2, 2008, at 11:10 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
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>

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 photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] About to take M8 plunge - but worried about blown highlights...)