Calzone
Gear Whore #1
This is an interesting question. Another question is the costs. I believe the lab is in England.
Cal
peter_n
Mentor
Yes and I only made the comment that they don't look like film because someone in the thread made the point that they were persuasive enough to go to digital and leave film behind. I assumed that he/she saw some kind of connection but now I see that it's the difference that's persuasive, not any perceived similarity.
The pictures are extremely vivid and I'm not sure that I see with such clarity, and I have 20/20 vision. To my rather untutored eye they are too vivid as if sharpness has been over-emphasized without the artifacts. It reminds me a bit of the over-saturation you see in color everywhere. I can imagine though that these shots printed big from a RAW processed file would be very interesting to look at on a wall.
__--
-
The M-Monocjrom is a great camera. Better than the M9 for B&W? Yes! Better than film? It depends. One could say it's better than film in the sense that most people on Leica forums say the Summilux-50 ASPH is better than the Summilux-50 pre ASPH, but I much prefer the properties — shall we say "character"? — of the latter. In the same way, many people will prefer film. However, the M-Monochrom files are so robust, and have so much dynamic range from the what can be recovered from the shadows, that you can process them for a wide variety of look. And processing is very easy in LR4, particularly the way the Black and White sliders work.
My own interest in the M-Monochrom right now is to be able to produce the type of high-contrast prints that I like while maintaining midtone gradation as in the following pictures — I often shoot in the harsh ("mad dogs and Englishmen") light of noon in Thailand:
Chiang Mai [Summicron-28]
Chiang Mai by Mitch Alland, on Flickr
Chiang Mai by Mitch Alland, on Flickr
—Mitch/Chiang Mai
Bangkok Hysteria (download link for book project)
My own interest in the M-Monochrom right now is to be able to produce the type of high-contrast prints that I like while maintaining midtone gradation as in the following pictures — I often shoot in the harsh ("mad dogs and Englishmen") light of noon in Thailand:
Chiang Mai [Summicron-28]
Chiang Mai by Mitch Alland, on Flickr
Chiang Mai by Mitch Alland, on Flickr
—Mitch/Chiang Mai
Bangkok Hysteria (download link for book project)
icebear
Mentor
Peter,
the files from the MM do provide just a starting point. What people do with contrast or clarity slider in LR4 to achieve what they like, is very much a personal preference. The downsizing to jpg for posting will increase certain aspects of the process.
If you prefer a more subtle approach to contrast, no big deal. The information is all there.
Here is an example straight from the camera, no corrections what so ever, just down sized for posting:
To evaluate the capacity of the MM you will need to shoot the MM yourself and load the orginal files on your own desktop and use a calibrated monitor. Everything you see on the web is nothing more than a nice teaser. Even the Leica examples on their website or what has been shown at the Monochrom workshop in NYC (Macbook via projector to screen) was not really convincing. I did not really understand their argument the MM is "100% better than the M9" until I saw the files on my monitor at home.
Satijntje
Member
Bought and sold MM
Bought and sold MM
On the German Ebay, there is currently a 5 days old MM "for sale" for 1000 Euro above the official price here in Germany.
It seems that somebody intends to make money out of it:bang:
John
Bought and sold MM
On the German Ebay, there is currently a 5 days old MM "for sale" for 1000 Euro above the official price here in Germany.
It seems that somebody intends to make money out of it:bang:
John
Vince Lupo
Nobody's Mentor
Just got an email today from my Leica 'source' -- I should have a Monochrom this week!
Now I just have to justify its ownership by making good photos......
Now I just have to justify its ownership by making good photos......
Vince Lupo
Nobody's Mentor
Oh yeah!
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Oh yeah!
Congrats.
It seems Leica closes down for a Christmas to New Years break. I'm number 4 on a list, and it seems more and more likely my MM will come in January.
Cal
NicoM
Well-known
Oh yeah!
I'm a little jealous. Just kidding, I'm very jelous! Enjoy your now camera
Vince Lupo
Nobody's Mentor
The challenge now is to justify its ownership and make some worthy photos.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Vince Lupo
Nobody's Mentor
Just got the Monochrom all set up and registered. Strange for me personally how they give you a very nice leather strap, but this morning I switched back to my well-worn Gordy strap, and switched out the baseplate for the grip/baseplate I was using on the M9. Yes, even with an $8k camera, you still want to personalize it.
Big question now is whether I should mat and frame the Jacob Aue Sobol print that came with the camera!
Big question now is whether I should mat and frame the Jacob Aue Sobol print that came with the camera!
borge
Established
The included "Leica Premium Leather strap" is crap!
A Gordy's is much, much better in every way. I tried to age the Leica leather strap and the neck pad split in two because it was glued with a crappy glue and not stiched. The strap itself feels a lot better after some twisting, stretching and abuse but the Gordy's strap I paid about $30 for is much, much better... And Leica wants $150 for the original MM strap if you want it replaced
Silly really.