Leica Monochrome, test shots up.

Hood · Expire: 2013-09-16

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/05/11/my-one-hour-with-the-new-leica-monochrome-by-steve-huff/

interesting...

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

wow! he made a bunch of pics in just 1 hour, now I understand why it cost 8000$ Very Happy

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

i like steve's blog. i think he tries to be balanced. he is a real leica fan, so it was heartening to hear a little disgust in his voice over their pricing.

you know, its hard to judge the actual quality of this camera's files from his blog. as much as i tried, i just couldnt put my finger on any special quality or look from them that i havent seen hundreds of times before. anyone feel differently? it could be the weird choice of lens he used, of all the lenses to bring to a major leica event, an slr magic?! so i guess we'll need to see more to judge the cameras performance. but surely with their pricing, they have set the bar near an impossible height.
tony

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Category: impossible dream. Smile

But the lucky ones are surely going to totally dig it.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

orio, what did you think about the test shots?

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

The test shots are quite impressive but impossible to tell from that size if there is any difference from the output of any good digicam such as a NEX-7, NX200, X-Pro1 turned to BW.

I honestly think the difference in fine detail it supposedly has will only be apparent if you pixel peep or print the files at huge sizes.

It's a nice camera no doubt, but let's not forget it's just a crippled M9 with a few firmware tweaks.

Probably overpriced by about 5 grand.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

a while back i heard a rumor ricoh was going to come out with a b&w module for their gxr series. when coupled with their M mount module, thatd be pretty cool, and you could buy twelve of them for this price! but now you cant buy any because they never came out with it, did they...lack of competition breeds price inelasticity.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

which shows a hidden truth about the whole thing: rangefinder photography, as we know and love it, it's simply a niche thing nowadays.
So it's no wonder, in my opinion, that Leica delivers elite products and price them consequently.
The masses want digicams or even better camphones, and to share photos on facebook instantly, etc.
We are in a weird position because we are an elite in terms of aesthetical taste and culture, but not in financial terms, so we can only sit and watch Smile

BRunner · Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 705 Location: Czech Republic

Four full size samples can be downloaded from Leica here
http://us.leica-camera.com/photography/m_system/m_monochrom/download-192_5.html

The Notre Dame and fisherman shots looks great to me.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Hood · Expire: 2013-09-16

I was doing a bit of a quick little write up about this new Leica M9-M for my blog, when it occurred to me that I had seen great B&W images previously from owners of Leica M8′s and M9′s. I wondered if these were all just post processing conversions done in Photoshop. So after doing a bit of a google around I came across articles on forums from Leica M8 and M9 users raving about the vintage B&W setting in the camera and the files they got from using it. They also all reported much higher usable ISO’s.
Here are some examples of the great in camera B&W from the M8 that I found they had shared:
http://www.e-mager.com/blog/files/7caa1f3ab9c5479556148d0809997c6c-4.html
http://www.e-mager.com/images/m8/L1021483.jpg

and here is a whole folder of work done in this setting on the M9 by Alex Es:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexes/5867917565/in/photostream/

I find it interesting how similar the rendering seems…

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

thats a good point josh. when i was using the high iso deficient ep2, i often shot in b&w because i got a couple of extra useable stops...there is a certain amount of 'IQ' advantage one gets friom any digi cam shooting b&w.
tony

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

There seems to be some confusion about the name.
That cam is not called "Leica M9 Monochrom" but "Leica M Monochrom", although it is based on the M9.

ForenSeil · Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 2726 Location: Kiel, Germany.

The new monochrome has visibly higher resolution and visibly better high ISO than the M9-P Smile

.
Resolution looks like large format Smile

My NEX-5N looks like sh*t against that.

Watch that in 100% view!
http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_6707.JPG
Way better than Silver Efex B/W conversions or

But 8000$ are indeed to high for my taste Shocked

This is a camera for professionals

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

You must have special eyes, the difference in resolution is very hard to see, not surprised it has better higher iso performance as the M9 is not good in that regard and the missing colour filter means more light gets to the sensor.

I still think the difference between a BW shot from this and a conversion are so small they will only be apparent when pixel peeping (meaningless in the real world) or if you print very large, and 18mp isn't enough to get very large anyways.

We're talking a lot of money for very little improvement indeed. I could perhaps forgive the huge price tag more if Leica had actually improved the camera in other ways, an unarticulated 230k screen is ludicrous on a camera that costs this much, you can buy a 200eu Samsung with a 930k fully articulated screen...

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Whole image:

100% crops:

The M9 monochrome will have to visibly (i.e. with simple eye vision and no measuring instrument) beat this level of detail
(using my same lens Biogon 2/35) to support the claim that it has "visibly better resolution" than the M9.

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

I would leave discussion regarding 8K USD price for someone else

STEVHUFF's examples? I think they're pretty cool, I must admit.

...gradation curves, chemicals, papers, developers bla bla ...
too much stuff to use, too much time to spent plus impact on environment.

Looking at the pictures taken with Leica Monochrom - the gradation is quite cool.

It definitely looks different from a common digital and following PP.

One really interesting comment on Steve Huff's site is that a user of M9 is saying he wouldn't buy it because of this:
...it won’t make me a better photographer and I doubt anyone would ever be able to tell the difference at normal print sizes between the two.

We live in a digital era and there's no time for developing film, right?

So, the question is - are we really missing our lovely grain on pictures?

I think that film still remains 'better' regarding grain.

but from a pre-press operator's (or photshop retoucher) point of view:
grain is not a benefit - you would hate a grain on your pictures when editing them in photoshop.

i.e. - grain was extremely a bad issue in printing industry until digital came over here
I do remember when we discussed all these issues with photographers regarding grain;
they hated (photographers) a grain on pics, we hated (retouchers) a grain on scans
who liked a grain on pictures? - to be honest, no one.

well - one of the first digital pictures were totally funny and unusable Smile

but nowadays - we trying to re-create and imitate a grain with digital cameras - oh no!
Because some love it? Retro?
Rich people want to see nice GRAINY PICS in their wedding albums trying to explain their friends:
'Look, we've got pics taken with Leica Mono. They're so nice, aren't they?'
...and people around want to have the same pics in their albums
Is this is a purpose?

We are moving backwards Cool

..

People hated grain even ISO 400 looked pretty nasty sometimes..

Now? ISO400 is nothing to certain digital cameras

If I were about to create some sort of grain on my pictures - I would use a film camera and not a digital sensor.

Grain on film is natural and it can be very nasty. Smile

tf

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I see no problem in liking grain, but to people who do, I always say "shoot film" instead of adding fake grain in Exposure or Silver FX Pro.
No problem with any position in general, but it's important from all sides not to underestimate and not to overestimate either.
If I had 8000 Eur I would be very happy to buy a M Monochrome, but I would not feel urge to justify the expense by making exaggerated positive reports.
I would buy it just because I like it and it would not feel diminishing to me if I wasn't able to demonstrate that it resolves visibly more than a normal M9, unless it wasn't true.
On the other side, I don't have the money for an M Monochrome but this would not push me to say that it's wasted money and grossly overpriced etc. etc.
The product is there, people who have the money can buy it, people who don't can buy something lesser, we live in a competitors' market so if the M Monochrome (or M9 for that matter)
is largely overpriced as someone says, then it would be easy for the competitor manufacturers to produce the same camera at a largely inferior price.
If they don't, then maybe it's a reason for the critical ones to start thinking that maybe it isn't as easy as it seems, and that the camera is not really overpriced after all.
In the end, just enjoy the tools that you have, I have an M9 and am super happy of it, but this does not prevent me from enjoying a lot doing and printing my own B&W film with equipment
that is largely inferior in price and quality to the M9. This shows that enjoying photography is not reserved to those who can buy an M9 or a M Monochrome.
End of the story, for me.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

On the higher resolution thing, don't forget it's the same sensor, they just removed the colour filter, that one small change means that the resolution cannot be more than a small fraction better, to be much better resolution it would have to have a better sensor. The improvement is merely that gained from not having a filter. So why is it more expensive than an M-9? I can't see any reason for it to be more expensive, surely it should be the same price as it is the same camera after all, just got a couple of minor tweaks.

sichko · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 2475 Location: South West UK