Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/15

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Subject: [Leica] Question about M8 exposure
From: hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (Geoff Hopkinson)
Date: Thu Jan 15 00:42:24 2009
References: <D01FE636-BEAA-45DB-BD07-F7A38FC6B7F6@frozenlight.eu><DD73D55A85F34A48A3C69D850D22B171@dadquad> <61C21A23-271E-4832-A0E4-3B5D6655DFB2@frozenlight.eu>

Nathan I think that it is an on-topic discussion and very much worthwhile. I 
did mention that I may be the single LUG member that thinks that way on the 
exposure method. ;-) May I suggest that you try for yourself based on your 
metering practices and style of M8 photography? I have no experience nor 
comment on other digital camera brands. The approach that I endorsed is 
advocated in 'Real World Camera Raw'. It makes perfect sense to me.  As I 
mentioned the other practice is clearly valid.
You can easily demonstrate for yourself that the clipping warning on your 
LCD exceeds that on a DNG when you open it in your convertor. That is prior 
to any possible recovery. Recovery, I think, is an additional discussion.

I'm sure that you have the latest firmware installed. Try this, shoot a 
frame with a specular highlight in it, DNG or jpg. Watch the preview image 
when first displayed. You will see the colour and tone update itself in the 
preview. If you select the histogram display you will see the clipping 
display change as well. What is it displaying a preview of?

Note that I never advocated deliberate overexposure, only trying to fill the 
histogram and not deliberate underexposure to avoid throwing away 
information needlessly when it might be useful.

Cheers
Geoff
 http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e
 http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/
 Pick up your camera and make the best photo you can.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nathan Wajsman" <photo@frozenlight.eu>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Question about M8 exposure


> Thanks Geoff, I did not mean to start a discussion, just a genuine 
> question.
>
> Cheers,
> 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 Jan 15, 2009, at 7:24 AM, Geoff Hopkinson wrote:
>
>> Here we go, the discussion starts again now ;-)
>> I'm of the 'do not routinely underexpose' school. I think I am a  school 
>> of
>> one here.
>> I try to keep as many of the highlight tones as possible. When the 
>> linear
>> capture is adjusted by the gamma curve to approximate human vision,  some 
>> of
>> those tones are pushed down into the mid-tones and darks. Remember  that 
>> half
>> of all the possible tones are used to represent the first  (brightest) 
>> stop
>> of your dynamic range. The more tones you start with the better for 
>> maximum
>> possible quality. Also my experience has been that under-exposure  can 
>> make
>> for more noise in the shadows, especially with higher ISOs.
>> Lots of people here will prove to you that -1/3 or more will still  give 
>> you
>> great results. I respect all of their opinions and experience. I  like to
>> start with the biggest possible tonal range in the DNG. Remember  that 
>> the
>> clipping warning on your camera LCD is only an approximation based  on 
>> the
>> jpg settings.
>>
>>
>> Cheers
>> Geoff
>> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/
>> Pick up your camera and make the best photo you can.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Subject: [Leica] Question about M8 exposure
>>
>> I have noticed that most of the M8 images posted here have exposure
>> compensation of -1/3 stop or -2/3 stop applied to them. Is there any
>> particular reason for doing that? I have not noticed any tendency  for my 
>> M8
>> to overexpose (I shoot on aperture priority and auto ISO most of the 
>> time).
>>
>> Cheers,
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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In reply to: Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Question about M8 exposure)
Message from hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (Geoff Hopkinson) ([Leica] Question about M8 exposure)
Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Question about M8 exposure)