High ISO Monochrom Pics

[Timmyjoe]

Would anyone be interested in posting a pic from their Leica (original) Monochrom, that was shot above ISO 6400 (like ISO 8000 or ISO 10,000)? I keep hearing that the noise in the images looks like film grain, but from the images I have seen on the web (on sites like Steve Huff's), I think the noise looks like noise.

I figured if anyone has come up with a way to make the noise look like film grain, it would be one of you folks.

Thanks.

Best,
-Tim

 

[airfrogusmc]

Hey Tim this is a test shot I did some time back. 10,000 ISO original MM

 

[Timmyjoe]

Thank you. That's helpful. The noise/grain looks better than the stuff I've seen so far.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Thank you. That's helpful. The noise/grain looks better than the stuff I've seen so far.

Check out this..
http://blog.mingthein.com/2012/05/27/leica-m-monochrom-vs-d800e/

 

[f16sunshine]

Check out this..
http://blog.mingthein.com/2012/05/27/leica-m-monochrom-vs-d800e/

Thanks for the link.

From the final comparison, all I could think was the Apo summicron is a massive waste of cash.
Hard to be un-biased about any other comparison conclusions ....

 

[Jager]

iso 6,400...

iso 8,000...

iso 10,000...

 

[Timmyjoe]

Sweeeeett Jeff! Thank you. Really nice work.

Were those taken with "regular" Leica glass like my 50 Summicron, or the exotics like Noctilux and 50 cron APO?

 

[Timmyjoe]

Check out this..
http://blog.mingthein.com/2012/05/27/leica-m-monochrom-vs-d800e/

Thank you. Informative article.

 

[rodt16s]

Don't have any above 6400 to hand

This is at 6400 though.. very early and misty morning

ALMS by Redt16s, on Flickr

 

[Jager]

Timmy, the first was taken with an f1 Noctilux. Second with a 35 Summilux ASPH (ver 1, non-FLE). Third and fourth with a 50 Summicron APO.

The Noctilux gives an extra stop (over a Lux), of course, along with its unique signature. But beyond that it doesn't affect grain or noise in an image. And the 50 Cron APO, while a superlative lens, doesn't improve the last two images over what you would have seen had I mounted my non-APO 50 Cron, imho.

I think all Leica lenses are pretty exotic!

 

[airfrogusmc]

3200 ISO

ISO 6400

Enlarged section from above 6400

 

[Timmyjoe]

Very nice.

If I might ask, what is your post processing workflow? Are you using Silver Effects Pro, Lightroom, Aperture, Photoshop, . . . ?

 

[airfrogusmc]

CS6. To me it is more like the way I would work in a darkroom. Never warmed up to LR or SE. Both SE and LR came with the MM. Just never liked working in either. Just personal preference and I get exactly what I am looking for from each image.

I start with converting from DNG to tiff. I usually adjust contrast, (MM files are usually a little flat and dark. So much stuff in those shadows.) density and other basic adjustments in raw converter before I save as a tiff. I always save the tiffs in a separate folder from the DNGs. I always keep the raw/dng files the way I would negatives.

I then fine tune everything in CS6. I sometimes use quick mask to bring up or bring down specific areas. Fine tune contrast and density in CS6. On the images I really like I will then make a print and make final adjustments after judging the print.

I hope this helped.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Very helpful. Thank you.