First week with an M8

[szekiat]

So i finally resisted and picked up an M8... one week later, i don't know why i ever hesitated. Even with uncoded and unfiltered lenses, i'm still getting results that i'd be more than pleased with. previously on my m2, i'd avg about a roll/week. Now i shoot about as many shots in a day! Just thought i'd share some stuff.... 😀

28mm f1.9 Ultron

15mm f4.5 Heliar

28mm f1.9 Ultron

15mm f4.5 Heliar

15mm f4.5 Heliar

28mm f1.9 Ultron

Overall, i'm more than pleased with what i'm seeing. The vignetting effect from the 15mm is very apparent, but quite pleasing for most of my shots. However, i am noticing some serious banding in my underexposed shots, or those at high ISO. Its not quite like the normal green band described, but i get it even shooting in b/w jpg (see last shot). I'm not doing much if any post processing at all. Should i send this in for a fix or is this normal?

 

[martin s]

I love those, the third one is _great, the lady looking at you made me smile.

martin

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Nice shots.

 

[jaapv]

The M8 does not take kindly to underexposure at high Iso. Better to go to manual and get correctly exposed shots. Expose for the shadows.

 

[szekiat]

The M8 does not take kindly to underexposure at high Iso. Better to go to manual and get correctly exposed shots. Expose for the shadows.

so the banding is normal then? i will keep that in mind... its just rather irritating cos i wanted to under expose on purpose....

 

[Silva Lining]

Nice range of shots, Is the second one the Thames at Petersham/Richmond???

 

[dirojas]

Those are very nice shots, I like the natural colors you are getting out the M8. My favorites are the 2nd and the 3rd.

Regarding the banding in the last shot, this is one the things that concerns me about getting a M8 (I am thinking about the idea). I have to disagree with jaapv, the banding line appears over zones with good exposure (at the left of the subject´s neck) as well as in zones with shadows (the neck itself). I think the exposure of the shot was spot on. IMHO.

 

[figfoto]

I have my M8 for about a year now. Thought it would be a passing phase with digital then go back to film.
I haven't put the M8 down since I got it.
I still love film, but I only load the Xpan or my MF gear.
BTW nice pics.

 

[noimmunity]

Yes, the banding seems unavoidable at 2500 ISO unless there is more or less even lighting across the frame. It makes me wonder if dynamic range isn't a factor, too.

It's much more disappointing to me than the high chroma noise (I'll just convert to B&W).

Lovely shots and a great camera, especially suited for colour below ISO 800(640). But I have had some shots at 1250 and 2500 that have been very pleasing, too.

 

[szekiat]

Nice range of shots, Is the second one the Thames at Petersham/Richmond???

Indeed... Richmond from the foot of Richmond Hill

 

[colker]

great pictures indeed.
digital is liberating. the right now results are intoxicating. as much as the color saturation and having your computer as the main media.
but as soon as you start printing color on high definition inkjet you will have a true epiphany; you have never seen color like this before. 😉🙂

 

[robklurfield]

Lovely shots. Very reassuring to see, as I traded my M4, M6 classic and a couple of older lenses (cron 35mm canadian, dr 50 cron, tele-elmarit 90mm) for an M8 panda with an elmarit 28mm asp.

I am already addicted to my new toy. I feel freed from all the things that were stealing the fun with film (lab expense and poor lab quality high on the list). I am pleasantly surprised about the quality and love return of the long-lost rush when I first shot with M4 25+ years ago. The camera gets out of my way and lets me be creative (well, as creative as my skills will allow). It handles so easily and quickly.

My wife is happy, too, as she gets my digilux 2 out of the deal.

 

[Grober]

That CV 15mm Heliar is a kick in the pants, isn't it?

One fun suggestion: mount a small pocket tripod under your M8 + 15mm and go capture some long exposure night shots around town. Working at f8, you rarely even need to mess with the focusing: set it and shoot!

-g

 

[jaapv]

so the banding is normal then? i will keep that in mind... its just rather irritating cos i wanted to under expose on purpose....

Bear with me, it is quite possible to make underexposed high-iso shots with the M8 albeit counterintuitive. First you must know that the vast majority of info in an M8 file, due to the way the DNG is written, is in the shadows. So those must be right. You start off with the sort of shot you are considering. A high contrast shot, expose exactly and for the shadows, a low-contrast shot can even be given quite a bit of overexposure.

In RAW conversion (ACR) you can do one of two things (or a combination of the two)

1. drag the exposure slider to the left
2. drag the blacks and recovery sliders to the right.

The most elegant way is to use photoshop, make a layer and set the mode to "multiply"
Repeat as often as needed and adjust opacity.

Because of the M* data writing algorithm you lose hardly any dynamic range doing this, as opposed to all other digital cameras.

 

[Harry S.]

Lovely shots...I dont think Ive ever appreciated the M8 as much as I do this moment. You should work for Leica.

 

[myM8yogi]

Lovely shots!

Jaap, do you have a link to a more complete guide for the "overexpose, correct in post, and multiply layers" technique? I see some really nice high ISO shots around here - far beyond what I'm seeing from my M8. Although I shoot in RAW, I only use Adobe Bridge and CS2, so my conversion software may be a factor....

 

[Nigel Meaby]

Good to see you are enjoying the camera. I'm sure you don't regret loaning that telephoto lens now 😉

 

[jaapv]

Lovely shots!

Jaap, do you have a link to a more complete guide for the "overexpose, correct in post, and multiply layers" technique? I see some really nice high ISO shots around here - far beyond what I'm seeing from my M8. Although I shoot in RAW, I only use Adobe Bridge and CS2, so my conversion software may be a factor....

You're fine with that software and you can use all the techniques I described in most Photohop variants. Just make a new layer (>control-J) go to the layers palette (>F7) and change the mode to ">multiply" If that is not enough, do it again and again- etc. If the last one is too much, just lower the opacity.
You can even do it on Jpegs, even the RAW conversion controls in ACR. Open a Jpeg as ">Open as >>camera RAW(CRW,NEF,......etc)"

If you want to learn more about CS2, try to find Scott Kelby"s CS2 book second hand.

 

[szekiat]

Good to see you are enjoying the camera. I'm sure you don't regret loaning that telephoto lens now 😉

not too sure about that... i have been birding a lot less recently...

 

[SteveRD1]

Nice shots, the 28 Ultron suits you.