A few photos from my M8...

[StuartR]

Hello all,

I got an M8 a few weeks ago and so far I have been very happy with it. I have not had any real problems. The magenta cast is often apparent without filters, but I received a 46mm and a 49mm filter from Tony Rose shortly after I bought the M8. As far as I can tell, they completely remove the IR problem. I have had two or three photos where they have caused problems -- 2 cases of flare, and one or two where an extreme highlight has been reflected into another part of the photo...these are situations where any filter can act up, but while annoying, it is not a deal breaker for me since it happens so rarely and it is preventable by removing the filter or changing the camera position.

Anyway, I have found the camera superb to work with and very similar to a film M in use.

This image was taken at ISO 320, and the lack of grain and resolution are amazing to me.

All those were ISO 320, with the coded 35mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH and an 486 IR filter. I believe it was at f/2.8 for the first ones, and f/1.4 for the last one.

Here is a 100% crop from the first image:

Here is an ISO 160 shot with the voigtlander 28/1.9 and no filter:

ISO 1250:

And the obligatory mirror self portrait. Also ISO 1250:

 

[triplefinger]

very good looking stuff! thanks for posting.

 

[back alley]

nice stuff stuart, as usual.

joe

 

[StuartR]

Thanks guys! I am having a lot of fun with it, which is the point right?

 

[back alley]

Thanks guys! I am having a lot of fun with it, which is the point right?

despite your obvious talent, you will never get anywhere with THAT attitude!!

 

[LichMD]

Very nice Struart!

Very nice Struart!

Great photos!
Where in Brooklyn is this?
Same place as your Assassins shoot?

 

[StuartR]

Yes, the same place (even the same booth) as the assassins shoot. It is a diner called Relish in Williamsburg. I love shooting there...

P.S. for the others, the Assassins shoot was a band I photographed there:

 

[usccharles]

nice photos ^^

 

[LichMD]

I like the light in this place, I see why you go back.
Very nice.

 

[Gid]

Very nice shots. Glad you are enjoying the M8.

 

[bottley1]

Lovely pics. Nice to hear of a positive experience with the M8. Still waiting for delivery of a chrome M8. Had all my lenses 6-bitted in anticipation.........

 

[iml]

These are good, especially the first portrait. Lovely model too

Ian

 

[Richard Marks]

Stuart
Way to go!
Please post some in the M8 gallery where they will hang for prosperity!
Richard

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Nice shots, Stuart.

Richard: everybody else on this forum is a better photographer than me, I wouldn't want to ruin the M8 gallery with my shots!

 

[ywenz]

Stuart: Congrats. You're using the M8 to its potential, and thanks for posting these great examples.

The last B&W shot looks great, very film like. The other B&W shots look poor, in a very-digital type of way. Did you process them differently?

Hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of making one of your color shot B&W, Let me know if you like the results.. I applied Gradient Map twice, using a black to white gradient, and then using the Levels tool, I adjusted until the appropriate contrast is achieved..

 

[StuartR]

Thanks Ywenz, I like your conversion. When you say the last shot, do you mean the last shot of the first post (of me in the mirror), or the shot of the group in the restaurant. That one is Tri-X, which would explain why it looks more film-like. As for the others, I am still learning how to convert digital to black and white, and I am certainly not that good at it yet. I have mostly been using the black and white function is CS3. I have never used the gradient map tool...can you explain the function of it?

 

[Matthew]

Stuart, have you tried using Alien Skin Exposure? The B&W conversions are really nice. It's not inexpensive for a plug-in, but works well.

 

[StuartR]

No Matthew, I have not tried it. I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

[ywenz]

Thanks Ywenz, I like your conversion. When you say the last shot, do you mean the last shot of the first post (of me in the mirror), or the shot of the group in the restaurant. That one is Tri-X, which would explain why it looks more film-like. As for the others, I am still learning how to convert digital to black and white, and I am certainly not that good at it yet. I have mostly been using the black and white function is CS3. I have never used the gradient map tool...can you explain the function of it?

Oh I meant the group shot, which I guess makes sense!

For my conversion, Once you have your image in Photoshop, From the layers menu, go to new adjustment layer and choose gradient map. Then once in that dialog box, chose a black to white gradient. Do this twice if you want, and then add a new Levels adjustment layer and adjust the level as you like.

I did another B&W conversion for you. This one involved a few more steps..

 

[StuartR]

Thanks ywenz, the only issue that I can see is that the gradient map seems to sacrifice a lot of shadow and highlight detail. That is something I would rather do (or not do) in levels or curves than in a black to white conversion. I suspect that the best results might be had in using the black and white function (basically a souped-up channel mixer), and then using curves. Of course, I am not an expert at this, so that is just a thought.