M9 with Summilux 35 and 50 pre-asph lenses?

[Alex Krasotkin]

Guys, who is using M9 with Summilux 35 and/or 50 pre-asph lenses? Do the pics reflects vintage charachter of these lenses?
In addition:
What type of card do you reccommend for using with M9?
What is the best processing software to use with M9? CS5?

many thanks,
Alex

 

[maggieo]

I have a 1st version 50mm Summilux that I use on my brand-new M9-P and I think it is lovely. Here are some photos I've taken in the first three days of ownership:


Jackson, September 28, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Birdhouse, September 27, 2102 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Amelia Pond, September 28, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Wildflowers, September 27, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Bedroom Totems, September 28, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Reading, September 28, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Scooter, September 27, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Jackson, September 27, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

I'm using Aperture to process the DNG files and Silver Efex Pro2 to do the B&W conversions. I've got a Sandisk eXtreme 32GB card in the camera. I think they all work very well together.

 

[icebear]

Hi Alex,

just an unscientific impression w/o any side by side comparisons :

The digital processing (most likely already in camera with manually selected lens profiles or 6 bit code) but also post processing will diminish lens "character" and will produce files that are closer to optical "reality". If you nail focus and exposure, the M9 will produce amazing files and you will just forget about lens character.

I use Lexar Pro 16GB SDHC cards (133x and 400x) both never gave me any trouble. Format in camera !

For post processing I use LR4.1

 

[Richard G]

Lexar Platinum II, no problems. I didn't upgrade to the latest firmware as I don't want to lose discreet mode for shutter. Supposedly they have fixed the SanDisk issues. I won't ever find out about that. No longer have a Summilux.

 

[collum]

i use the older lenses (preasph) specifically for their character
all on the M9


50mm preasph lux

35mm preasph lux

50mm preasph lux

35mm preasph lux

 

[collum]

Processing, I use Lightroom, mostly for broad global changes to many images, as well as asset management. I use Photoshop CS6 for more detailed processing, and Nik's SilverEfex Pro almost exclusively for b/w conversions (i have a few split tones i've pre-defined there)

 

[sepiareverb]

I love the 35/1.4 pre-ASPH on the M9. Beautiful rendition. Do note that this lens can not be coded. I'm sure there are many here who know better than Leica NJ, just reporting what what I was told. I dial in "35/1.4 pre-ASPH" with the manual setting.

I've printed this one 21" high with crisp detail all the way out to the corners.

And this one was blown up to 40" high with Perfect Re-Size. Still stunning. Amazing what a lens designed so long ago can do on digital.

I use Lexar and Samsung 2 GB cards. I find the smaller cards simpler to deal with as they are closer to a few rolls of film (I get about 100 images per card, DNG only) and usually cover my shooting over the course of a day.

 

[Monochrom]

Hi, i´ve used the 50mm lux v2 on my m9, very impressive, terrific lens....of course at 1.4 shows focus shift...the black version is beautiful..

Also used pre asph 35mm lux....i wouldn´t recommned it just don´t think it worths the money...better is the 35mm summicron in any version...but i do prefer the v3...exquisite contrast and colour...the king of bokeh is too flary which is not the v3...sorry about this...the psot was about the lux´s...

 

[marc sery]

Hello, here are some M9 + 50mm Summilux v3 all shot at f/1.4!

 

[Richard G]

Alex,one of the best things about the M9 was learning to use Lightroom. I never came to grips with even the file management in Aperture, but maggieo is no slouch with the processing (see her X100 black and whites too) and there are others who get all they need out of Aperture. It now shares the library with iPhoto. Since moving to Lightroom it's tedious to get pictures onto my iPhone or even setting the desktop picture on my Macs.

The one other thing I would say on processing is have a look at the M9 jpegs, black and white. They can look great and I have had some challenging shots where I cannot match the M9's jpeg with any amount of fiddling in Lightroom. I have set the camera to DNG+jpeg fine black and white as a profile with the Zeiss 21 4.5, for which I have coded it 21 2.8 pre ASPH. That coding just about gets rid of the purple fringing entirely. I will probably make the DNG+ jpeg fine the default for all my profiles.

 

[Alex Krasotkin]

Many thanks, guys. Richard, I was advised to use RPP (Raw Photo Processor) on Mac. Any experience with it?

 

[Alex Krasotkin]

Another related question. I still keep my M6 0.85 silver with Summilux 35/1.4 pre-asph. As I understand this lens will be a problem to use on M9. Perhaps it is better to switch to Cron V4 (king of bokeh) only in case I can maintain the character of the lens..?
Another potential switch is from 50/1.4 pre-asph to asph version? I am not sure if it worth it? Any thoughts..?:bang:

 

[mfunnell]

Some good photos shown in this thread

Thanks to all of you. (I'm not in the market, just liked looking at the photos.)

...Mike