Borrowed Leica M8 --> Disappointed

[user237428934]

Since going digital with a Canon DSLR (40D) my long time companion (M6) lies unused in the cupboard. But I still like the idea of a rangefinder so i borrowed a digital m8 last week with a summilux 35 from a local dealer to see how it performs. I took all the pictures in DNG-Format but at home I was soooooo disappointed with the results.
In Lightroom all the colours looked wrong, especially of the indoor fotos. And it was not enough to play with the white balance control. It took me quite a long time to correct all the fotos.
When I load RAW Files of my Canon DSLR in Lightroom, colours are most of the time very good. If not,it is enough to correct white balance. I would expect that from a Leica too.
Can you tell me, what's wrong here? Do I have to use the Raw-Converter that ships with the M8? Do I need a special preset for lightroom? (btw. I use a calibrated monitor)

 

[Keith]

It would be interesting to check and make sure the camera has the latest firmware version ... it seems unlikely that it wouldn't but you never know!

While I wouldn't rate my M8's WB performance as great I'm surprised you had such poor results. I don't think the camera lends itself to these short test sessions ... it definitely needs time to grow into it and come to terms with some of it's quirks and shortcomings! 🙂

 

[JWW]

On my M8 I use Capture 1 version 4 and daylight colors are 100% great, indoors sometimes can be off. Sounds like in your case something is not right. Is your M8 set to manual color balance (daylight) or is it to AWB? If your dealer has C1 on his computer, you may want to see how it looks on it. Also good point about using latest firmware since that corrected much of the AWB.

Jan

 

[jaapv]

No IR filter I suppose? That will play havoc with your colours. The M8 has no IR filter in front of the sensor for technical reasons, unlike all other digital cameras. As any digital camera needs such a filter, with the M8 you must place it in front of your lens. As soon as you mount an IR cut filter (B&W 486) the colours are amazing. Much like Kodachrome. AWB on firmware 1.201 is about the best in the market. The best RAW converter is Capture1, both LE and 4.0.

 

[HenningW]

Since going digital with a Canon DSLR (40D) my long time companion (M6) lies unused in the cupboard. But I still like the idea of a rangefinder so i borrowed a digital m8 last week with a summilux 35 from a local dealer to see how it performs. I took all the pictures in DNG-Format but at home I was soooooo disappointed with the results.

I'm assuming you used an IR/UV blocking filter. If so, the colours should be quite accurate. If you didn't, you'll get a lot of IR contamination, especially indoors and the colours will not be correctable.

I've used various converters, and now use Lightroom almost exclusively. It works well with Leica DNG's.

I also shoot Canon, and have a 40D as my 'crop' camera. It's quite decent, but the overall image quality is not generally up to that of the M8.

Henning

 

[kittyphoto]

Try C1 v.4 instead of LR.
It makes a lot of difference.
If you don't believe try to download eagle head sample DNG file from

http://en.leica-camera.com/service/downloads/rangefinder_cameras/m8/

Develop on C1 and LR. Don't forget to download the .jpg too.
You will see with the right RAW converter makes big different output.

kitty

 

[Ronald M]

The colors specified by the Leica engineers are more natural and less punchy than what you get with N and C.

Just change the default settings in ACR.

 

[user237428934]

Thank you for your feedback. Indeed, there was no IR Filter in front of the lens. I know about the IR problem, but I thought it would only be visible under rare circumstances. So probably I should borrow it again with an IR Filter and retry it.
I would not be happy to have an extra software (Capture One) just for this camera. I want to do all my development and picture management with lightroom.

@RonaldM: Thank you for the tip with the default settinges. In Lightroom I discovered the feature with the camera specific calibration.

I hope the next time I will be much more satisfied with the results. 🙂

 

[infrequent]

aperture is killer for non-destructive editing.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I wonder if on car forums people complain that the motorcycle they just bought doesn't have a DVD player?

 

[user237428934]

I wonder if on car forums people complain that the motorcycle they just bought doesn't have a DVD player?

???? Sorry, but I did not understand your post. ????

 

[user237428934]

So many advices here to use Capture One. So I just downloaded the trial version of Capture One 4.1.1.

What a difference!!!! Pictures look much better now, even with the standard development settings.

 

[kittyphoto]

Glad to hear that you see the difference. Aperture is also good for M8.
Don't forget to check the latest firmware 1.201 + UV/IR + C1 or Aperture.

 

[Cindy Flood]

I download all of my photos into Lightroom. If I have a photo that warrants printing, I re-process it using C1 v4.
My guess is that most of your problem is in the fact that you did not have an IR filter on.
You should not be disappointed in the M8. Borrow that M8 again and give it a try with a filter and a coded lens. Make sure IR detection is set correctly.

 

[former member]

> The M8 has no IR filter in front of the sensor for technical reasons,

The sensor has an IR Cut filter built into it, just a weaker one than most other cameras. It is comparable to the ones used in first-generation DSLR's in the 90s. A Silicon CCD has half of it's sensitivity in the IR.

NOW: if it did not have ANY cutoff filter in front of it, Infrared photographers would really jump on it.

 

[RObert Budding]

The colors specified by the Leica engineers are more natural and less punchy than what you get with N and C.

This is a joke, right? Surely you're not serious!

 

[Ben Z]

So many advices here to use Capture One. So I just downloaded the trial version of Capture One 4.1.1.

What a difference!!!! Pictures look much better now, even with the standard development settings.

Tom, when I got my M8 it came with Capture One LE, which I tried and didn't like at all, not the interface and not the results, so I started doing everything in ACR which I found to be much better. Then I attended a shooting event sponsored by a Leica dealer not far from me, and he showed me stuff he'd done and I was just blown away. He convinced me to download C1/4, and he gave me a copy on my SD card of his personal M8 profile which he made with corrected studio lights and an expensive color checker, and told me how to set it up so it was the default M8 profile in C1/4 (renamed Generic to Generic Old, then his profile renamed to Generic). What a difference! Also, the latest firmware really made a giant improvement in the auto-WB. I also have a Canon, a 20D, and it pretty much always gave me great results out of the box, so I too was a little annoyed with having to get in deeper to get the M8 to sing, but sing it does.

BTW, in my taste I happen to like the film profile originally called something like "extended range" or something, so I made it the default. (Renamed "Film Standard" as "Film Flat" and then renamed the extended range to "Film Standard").

 

[cmogi10]

MMMM

M8 and color

M8 Versus 40D!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[user237428934]

Just some current information to this thread:
first of all thank you for your tips and advices. After using Capture One for Development I was very pleased with the colours and not disappointed anymore!
After two more weeks of thinking and rethinking I decided that I want one and now I am a proud owner of a M8.

 

[tmfabian]

Just some current information to this thread:
first of all thank you for your tips and advices. After using Capture One for Development I was very pleased with the colours and not disappointed anymore!
After two more weeks of thinking and rethinking I decided that I want one and now I am a proud owner of a M8.

Yup, the m8 is funny like that. Leica put the control of how the pictures look in the photographers hands, not the cameras processor. Because of that it takes a wee bit of break in time to tweak your own personal post processing to make the image look how you want. But once you do and set up a dandy little preset, my lord, I wouldn't trade this camera for anything on the market right now.