burancap
Veteran
Which is exactly why I'm happy with Leica's decision to stand behind it indefinitely...
Indefinitely? At least until the sensor stock is depleted? Is this sensor still being manufactured?
Which is exactly why I'm happy with Leica's decision to stand behind it indefinitely...
Indefinitely? At least until the sensor stock is depleted? Is this sensor still being manufactured?
I really love the Nikkor glass and even have a beauty of a 105 ltm for my M cameras. I tried to find a clean 35 1.8 ltm but struck out. I think Nikkor glass is first class. The millinium 50 1.4 is one of if not the best all round 50 Ive ever used. It's every bit as sharp as the 50 asph summilux and smoother in tone. It's a real winner.
In my mind, I find the CCD vs CMOS bit hilarious, considering that CCD rendering in the M9 is a product of its limited dynamic range. In fact, as CCDs go by, the one in the M9 is far behind the best in CCD technology. CCDs used in scientific apparatus are far better than the one used in the M9.
People complain that pictures out from CMOS look "flat" but that's because the files record more color information and are far more malleable than the ones out from the M9. I could achieve similar "look" just by upping the contrast, which in a way, clamps the dynamic range.
Fidelity I guess is how you guage superiourity.
I think film is a product of its limited dynamic range, yet many like its rendering.
I offer no bias: I plan on keeping my Monochrom; and if the MM-240 rumor is true I will also get one. No doubt they are different, but to say one is inferior or superior due to how it handles its dynamic range I would not say. Highly subjective is it not?
Cal
We each have our own criterion for good.
IMO the M9 has a pretty sorry dynamic range compared to the current top end CMOS cameras like the D810 and D610 with over 14 stops. I'd guess the M9 might have 8-9 stops but that's a guess.
I wound up selling my Hasselblad digital because my D800 had over two stops better range. I do a lot of architectural work for commercial contractors and architectural firms. That extra range was quite a help when doing interiors.
As to dynamic range of film, many color neg films will give 14 stops and many B&W can do the same with proper development. It's color transparency that's has very limited range at 6 - 8 stops at best and Velvia has even less.
That snap in the image with the M9 comes from the contrast / limited dynamic range and internal processing. The thing about a broad dynamic range is you can compress it and get that snap but if you have limited range you can never expand it. The same thing is true with a contrasty film vs flat and a contrasty lens vs flat. Give me flat any day for more control of my image.
That is exaclty what I mean. The more we move on with digital the more trouble we seem to have, or maybe we are just discovering the start of the problem after a couple decades of digital sensors on the market.
Which design elements contribute to more flare with m240, I cannot say.
Here is a pro who is shooting the 240 all the time describing it.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/920070/1093#12745035
He was talking about "veiling flare" with the ZM18 in an earlier post, which really surprised me, since that lens is very resistant to flare with the M9, far more so than the 28 cron.
Here is Edward trying to get the colorshift correct with the ZM 35/2 on the 240:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/920070/1092#12741933
This is a lens which needs no profile at all on the M9.
Same here. And I'm still using my M9. A lot will depend on what sort of thing you shoot.. . . All my equipment has to earn its keep and must be reliable. If it doesn't then it's gone. . .
When my M9 was working I did like the look. It produced images that looked much like the Hasselblad. The Hasselblad has a considerably broader to al range and color depth. The color depth was second to none which comes from a true 16 bit capture. Honestly I don't know why manufactures of 35 format digicams don't capture in 16 bit. The difference is like watered down paint vs concentrated pigments. It's more than just saturation, there's something that's hard to put into words. And yes, there is a different look to a CCD capture vs a CMOS.
Until recently the typical ADC bit depth, 12, for "35 format digicams" adequately represented all the analog information in the signals. The information content is limited by the sensor's signal to noise ratio and by how carefully the photographer chooses shutter time and aperture (exposure). The signals' information from very best possible exposures was not compromised by 12 bit digitization. In fact, clever, lossy compression can selectively suppress (filter) photon noise components in the signals so even 12 bits are not needed. Leica and several other brands offer(ed) lossy compression for this reason.
With continual improvements in sensor signal to noise ratios we now find a 14 bit ADC will make a difference for optimum exposures.
Sensors with larger full-well capacities record more signal (even though they may have higher read noise levels). In this case even 16 ADCs would be useful.
In one case the noise is decreased while in the other the signal is increased. But in both the increased information content (higher SNR) justifies ADCs with more bit depth.
I guess I'm different than many of the leica users. I don't care how sexy, cute, beautiful or how cool I look with it.
Pretty M9.
Actually, my hiking and skiing camera of choice is my Fuji GA645i which, interestingly enough, weighs within a gram or two of a fully equipped M9 with the Summicron 35.
Of course, I have to pack extra rolls of film...but you have to pack extra batteries. Like XRay said, everyone develops their own preferences.
A sample of my most recent trip this fall. Not enough snow to go skiing yet. 🙁
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Indefinitely? At least until the sensor stock is depleted? Is this sensor still being manufactured?
It will be hard to implement their solution without producing more sensors. Do you read the bulletin at the start of this thread?
Yes, I read it. And I just reread it again, as well as the same thing at the corporate site. I see no where any discussion of indefinite production of the sensors. I must have missed that?
20 bucks says there is another production run. 🙂
You in?
OMG seriously?If it is "indefinite" you win. Otherwise, you lose. You in?