Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/01/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]We were visiting the East Coast. Washington DC to be precise. I could not avoid the Leica Store. My wife went the street to the Cow Girl Creamery... a place for serious cheese heads. so I was alone to paw the goodies. I asked the salesman to try out the MM. He allowed me to try out his MM with my 50 Summilux. I had my M9 with me. I used 2 different memory cards, but otherwise everything else was about the same.. Of course, the native mode ISO 250 (M9) vs 320 (MM) was slightly different.... I took a picture of the display window from the inside of the store... Then converted my M9 shot to B+W in LR4. All settings for exposure and contrast were zero'd out. What I saw on my computer screen, at 1:1, is that the M9 +LR4 does a pretty incredible job of replicating the MM at this ISO rating. There were very small differences in the shadows... The Salesman had B+W 16x20 prints of the M9 ( could have been the M-E, but that is a quibbling point) ( how did they get to a B+W image? Were these FF or cropped? Same lens? I do not know) vs the MM at various ISO. Comparing the 2 at higher ISO's shows considerably lower noise in the MM. At the ISO drops to the more normal 250 or so, the images were pretty identical. This is a test I was very interested in. Results showed that while I lust for a B+W M, my M9, for me, will suffice. Asked to see the 50 ASPH Summicron.. they did not have one. I will try this again next year.. Walked out with all my money intact, and a free Leica Pen as a present... The Cheese stop cost me dearly.. Note: I was surprised to note that the Store actually sells Leica stuff. M, S, and P+S. I thought it was a show and tell store only. and if my Wife had known the truth, I would probably not have been allowed to visit it..! Frank Filippone Red735i at verizon.net