Tom A
RFF Sponsor
I had a chance to use a M9 Monochrome for 72 hours this week. Interesting experience for a confirmed black and white shooter.
I simply set the camera to 320 iso first, stuck my M-Nokton 50 mm f1.5 on it (and a Summilux 50f1.4 Asph in the pocket for comparison shots) The MM's menu is blessedly simple - just dial in the iso and go forth shooting.
Not being a digital user, I never bothered looking at the screen and I found out that I instinctively stopped after about 36-38 shots! Fifty years of film shooting shows!
What was amazing was the quality of the files from the MM. Very good quality - even without any post processing. The "dynamic" range is amazing - at least on the computer screen.
As usual no camera is perfect though: battery life is limited - even fully charged, it was down to less than 50% after one of my "rolls" of 36-38 frames. Could be a dud battery - but it made me a bit nervous using it without a back up. The "buffer" kicks in quickly and suddenly you are standing thee waiting for the camera up load the files.
It is quiet, a slight "burp" when you fire it - finder is bright and clear - particularly after the front glass was cleaned! The screen on the back picks up finger prints and nose prints quickly - but as I never "chimped" it made no difference. Like the M8/M9 the body feels a bit odd in the hand - but 50+ years of using regular M's has probably shaped my hand to fit.
I did one set with the M-Nokton and Summilux Asph at 320 - switched to a Heliar 50 mm f3.5 and jacked up the speed to 1250 iso and finished off with an older vII Summilux 50f1.4 at 2500 iso. Further testing got side tracked by a rather vicious gall stone attack yesterday - I was all set to to do the Nokton 50mm f1.1 and 5000/6400 iso!
I admit, that if I did not have 10-12000 ft of film in stock and my own darkroom I would be very tempted by it. Maybe one day in the future - but not now. I still like the physical sense of cutting and editing film - and the process of developing it.
I still haven't figured out how to upload more than 1 shot at the time here - so bear with me on that.
Link to all pictures is at
www.flickr.com/photos/rapidwinder/tags/trialswithdigitalblw/
I simply set the camera to 320 iso first, stuck my M-Nokton 50 mm f1.5 on it (and a Summilux 50f1.4 Asph in the pocket for comparison shots) The MM's menu is blessedly simple - just dial in the iso and go forth shooting.
Not being a digital user, I never bothered looking at the screen and I found out that I instinctively stopped after about 36-38 shots! Fifty years of film shooting shows!
What was amazing was the quality of the files from the MM. Very good quality - even without any post processing. The "dynamic" range is amazing - at least on the computer screen.
As usual no camera is perfect though: battery life is limited - even fully charged, it was down to less than 50% after one of my "rolls" of 36-38 frames. Could be a dud battery - but it made me a bit nervous using it without a back up. The "buffer" kicks in quickly and suddenly you are standing thee waiting for the camera up load the files.
It is quiet, a slight "burp" when you fire it - finder is bright and clear - particularly after the front glass was cleaned! The screen on the back picks up finger prints and nose prints quickly - but as I never "chimped" it made no difference. Like the M8/M9 the body feels a bit odd in the hand - but 50+ years of using regular M's has probably shaped my hand to fit.
I did one set with the M-Nokton and Summilux Asph at 320 - switched to a Heliar 50 mm f3.5 and jacked up the speed to 1250 iso and finished off with an older vII Summilux 50f1.4 at 2500 iso. Further testing got side tracked by a rather vicious gall stone attack yesterday - I was all set to to do the Nokton 50mm f1.1 and 5000/6400 iso!
I admit, that if I did not have 10-12000 ft of film in stock and my own darkroom I would be very tempted by it. Maybe one day in the future - but not now. I still like the physical sense of cutting and editing film - and the process of developing it.
I still haven't figured out how to upload more than 1 shot at the time here - so bear with me on that.
Link to all pictures is at
www.flickr.com/photos/rapidwinder/tags/trialswithdigitalblw/
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