Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/06/01

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Subject: [Leica] IMG: Back from shopping
From: boulanger.croissant at gmail.com (Peter Klein)
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2015 20:52:41 -0700
References: <CAFU3ovLcjzh8Ugk686kge92kQfqo6vNOs9Lw0rdN5DnS_xqjjw@mail.gmail.com> <DEADD145-DD14-42B7-9FB7-A89A0F34FD38@icloud.com>

 George: I picked up the MM a few days ago. I'm still learning. I'd had a
chance to try Jay Burleson's MM last December (thanks, Jay!). Plus I've
looked at a lot of pictures and files, and read lots of reviews by people I
respect. All of which convinced me that this was the camera for me. Thanks
to the release of the M246, people started upgrading, MM prices dropped
from [expletive] insane to merely expensive, and it was time for Peter to
get one.

 The image quality is superb. I've made very nice B&W out of M8 files, but
this is on a whole different level. The dynamic range is significantly
wider than the other CCD digital Ms. The shutter is quieter than my M8. ISO
320 and 640 are virtually grainless. 1250 has a little texture, but less
than most films, and even 2500 is less grainy than Tri-X. At 2500 and
above, you do see grain, but it's like fine pepper rather than coarse
sandpaper. No degradation from Bayer interpolation. 5000 is quite usable,
like Tri-X in Accufine. 10,000 is pushing it, but still usable in a pinch.


 The MM handles just like the M8 or M9. The files are flatter out of the
camera, so they usually need some sort of S-curve (or at least a shoulder
in the high values). The flexibility is amazing. You can take a picture
where the shadow values look almost black out of the camera, then dodge
them up to near medium values, and it looks great.

 The DNG files are big. 34.7 megs big. This is actually a good thing,
because they are not compressed. Having seen the difference between
uncompressed raw and compressed DNG in my M8, I'll deal with the size. It
matters a great deal at higher ISOs. This does mean that if you take four
or five shots in quick succession, the buffer fills up, and you can't shoot
until it clears sufficiently.

 I've shot a bit with a yellow filter, and a bit with no filter. Nothing
conclusive yet. Other people have reported good results, typical of what we
got with film, using green, orange, and red. Some have reported that the MM
with no filter is like film with the yellow filter.

 A big disappointment of both the M8 and M9 was that they were not true
available light cameras. A skilled person could make them work that way,
but it was a stretch. So half the reason that people historically bought
Leicas was missing. The MM doesn't have color, but it has the available
light chops as well as the resolution for the Panatomic-X and tripod crowd.

 It's nice to do available light with some depth of field. All my 50 mm
lenses are begging to go out and play.

 Black-and-white is my first photographic love. I look forward to
re-exploring it with such a fine tool.

--Peter


On Monday, June 1, 2015, George Lottermoser <george.imagist at icloud.com>
wrote:

>
> On May 29, 2015, at 10:43 PM, Peter Klein wrote:
>
> > <https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563 at N04/18253781151/>
> >
> > Leica MM (yeah!), 50/2 tabbed Summicron
>
> nice snap
>
> when did the MM land in your hands?
>
> and
>
> your thoughts on the camera and image files?
>
> Regards,
> George Lottermoser
>
> http://www.imagist.com
> http://www.imagist.com/blog
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>


Replies: Reply from rgacpa at gmail.com (Bob Adler) ([Leica] IMG: Back from shopping)
Reply from grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey at mchsi.com) ([Leica] IMG: Back from shopping)
In reply to: Message from boulanger.croissant at gmail.com (Peter Klein) ([Leica] IMG: Back from shopping)
Message from george.imagist at icloud.com (George Lottermoser) ([Leica] IMG: Back from shopping)