M8 Pics with IR cutoff filter

[gseitz]

Hi, I posted this at the leica user forums but was asked by another member to post them here as well...

Just got my M8 today and happen to have a tiffen standard hot mirror filter laying around. Enclosed are some pictures of a couple of household items I had that show the IR problem. The first picture is from the Canon 5D, the second is the M8 without filter, and the third is with the hot mirror filter attached. You can see significant improvement in the blacks although the purple is not completely gone (notice the lining of the upper boot)...

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Thank you.

Well...actually, you've brought the ePrey IR-cutoff filter prices up, but at least it'll calm the non-IR-cutoff-filter-impaired users 😉

 

[MP Guy]

Greg,

Thanks for posting these pictures. As an owner of the M8, is this something that you can live with or is it too much of an inconvenience for a 5K camera?

 

[ClayH]

I think this IR problem is insane to have to deal with in a $5K camera. And to be told to buy a filter to fix it after dropping that kind of coin on a camera that makes a tuxedo look like a 70's wedding flashback? Fuggedaboutit. Mine is going back.

 

[gseitz]

Greg,

Thanks for posting these pictures. As an owner of the M8, is this something that you can live with or is it too much of an inconvenience for a 5K camera?

Hi Jorge,

Well I've been wresting with that question. I've been using digital SLRs for years but I'm pretty new to rangefinders and absolutely love the handling, build, and method of photography with the M8 - it's an incredible machine. Having said that I was fine with the banding issues because I felt I at least had a chance to work around that while waiting for a fix from Leica. However I was very concerned when the first posts about the IR cast showed up. My gut feeling is I'm probably going to return the camera since to be honest it just doesn't feel like it's terribly close to being fully ready for prime time. As much as I like the M8 I don't want to spend what will most likely be many hours tweaking and testing to get things to a level I'm comfortable with. If I do return it and leica does provide a fix that lets me focus on using the camera as I currently do with my digital SLRs I would purchase it again in a heartbeat.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[willie_901]

Good job with the test.

 

[harmsr]

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of magenta in the tiffen case, the dart board, etc... even with the filter.🙁

 

[blakley]

Regarding the price of an IR cutoff filter - it would be nice not to have to use one of these, but .... how many rolls of EIR or HIE would you have to buy before you'd spent more on film than on the filter which disables the IR sensitivity of your M8?

 

[jaapv]

I'm a bit in a daze - photographers have been using filters to balance the rendering of colour on film since the middle ages - and now, all of a sudden in the digital age this is the mortal sin? I would have preferred not to - but I can accept it, like I need a warming filter in the mountains, or a light blue one when shooting tungsten.

 

[Nachkebia]

Jaap : Tree dougnuts in your pocket and banding will be also solved! in the middle ages it worked at least 😀

 

[Andy Aitken]

Thanks for the illustration. It shows how bad the problem really is.

Nice shooting - how far away were you standing when you threw the darts 😉

 

[jaapv]

Yeah - but seriously, Vladimer, how much of this whole hullabuloo is inspired by the "technical marvels will take us to paradise whilst we are sleeping" mentality of the digital age?

 

[jaapv]

I'm probably going to be shot for this, but I like the filtered M8 better than the 5D in this comparison....

 

[rover]

Wow that is bad.

 

[Nachkebia]

Anyhow, Sad thing is leica lost almost 40% of brand value and the good thing is, I knew it would happen.... if ever there will be M9 I think it will be good enough to pay $2500 for it 😀

 

[jaapv]

Don't worry, only a small percentage of photographers are active on internet forums....

 

[Nachkebia]

And another small percentage of good photographers shooting digital..... 😀

 

[Rich Silfver]

Anyhow, Sad thing is leica lost almost 40% of brand value and the good thing is, I knew it would happen....

How did you calculate the 40%?
I know my way fairly well around intangible asset valuation - both book and tax values - and I wouldn't be able to make such a statement.

 

[pmu]

Ummm.... I have tried to find the "problem" from that non-filtered M8 image but I can't figure out what it is? Is it the slight color cast or...?

 

[KM-25]

Greg,

Thanks for posting these pictures. As an owner of the M8, is this something that you can live with or is it too much of an inconvenience for a 5K camera?

I shot an election story for a big national magazine yesterday, had one 5D and one M6 w/ Kodachrome in it. I really wished I had a digital M, even would have settled for the 1.33 crop M8. But, not with a single issue that has popped up. None.

Banding, blooming, IR color shift? Not with my 5D. I can put a good roll of film stock in my M6 and won't have to deal with any of those issues. That is what I expect from a digital M as well.

I am baffled at how it has become that none of this was discovered by top pros as it most likely would have been. Instead, the major portion of the feedback is by hyped up internet gear testers who test and test and test and miss the magenta, the banding, the blooming and test and write about those tests, test some more, reply to fan letters in public, and test and test and test.......

WTF is going on Leica??

I am sure the Magnum shooters ran into this stuff. Did Constantine Manos shoot and black velvet garments turned grape?

You NEED this camera to work like we expect it to in order for you to subsist any further, period!