My M8 turned into a tiger!

AGeoJO

AGeoJO

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I just received my first generation M8 back after the hardware fix in Solms. The firmware on the camera now is version 1.092. I took a several test shots and boy, am I impressed. Gone are the dull flat shots, with weird colors. The pictures like pop and the color rendition is just great. The first shot was taken under mercury vapor lighting without any IR cut filter and the DNG files were converted using Capture One Pro with Jaime's alternative profile. The black velvet hat really cannot be blacker than that. Maybe it is me but I am really excited about the camera now, more than ever. I am not sure whether the pictures will be displayed properly or not but there the links are available though....


Thanks for looking,
Joshua

http://www.pbase.com/ageojo/image/76125730.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/ageojo/image/76151334.jpg
 
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Thanks, Gid. The first shot was taken with a 50mm Summilux f/1.4 ASPH at f/2.0 and the second one was with a 75 Summicron f/2.0 APO at f/2.0. To be frank, I could detect a very slight camera movement at 100% crop since it was shot at 1/16 sec but I am plreased with her expression and better yet, the color rendition of the hat and the skin tone. I used a tripod for the second shot.

Thanks again,
Joshua
 
Shots look great! How long was your M8 in Solms? Mine has been there for at least three weeks.
 
Hi Way,
Six weeks or so is when I got back from Leica in Jersey. Not sure how often Leica in Jersey sends batches to be repaired, with other words, how long they held the camera over. One good thing though when you get yours back, the shutter count goes back to "0", it is just like starting all over again.
 
Somebody at Leica has determined that my M8, which I was told was one that already had the upgrade when I bought it, actually is one from the batch that needs to be sent back.

I'm a little too attached to this camera now. It really p-s me off, but what can I do? It performs really well, with only two ever with streaking.

If Leica sends back a truly spakin' fresh one, then I'll suffer less during the wait.

One question: do you find that the framelines are also a bit too dim in comparison with earlier M bodies? It's like the right-side frameline of the 50mm framelines disappears from view in mine. I was told that this is an effect of the 0.65 magnification, but I have a hard time believing that.
 
Hi Gabriel,
I didn't notice any streaking before the hardware repair but I had one side of an image rendered completely black. That could have to do with the SD card I was using. I never experienced any other malfunctions. I just found the colors to be flat without much pop before. Even changing the camera profile and adjusting the white balance on mixed lighting did result in nice colors.

I didn't notice anything close to your description back then but the framelines on the "new" camera are just fine. I just checked them and didn't see any diming whatsoever. I think it will be worth the wait, just hang on a little bit longer....
 
Hi
Love the description "Tiger"! Thats exaclty how I see mine. Just shot a kids cello concert this weekend (some scary adults too!) used a bit of fill flash with SF24 with slow sync. It performed like a dream shot after shot.

Pics on

realifeimages.co.uk

Enjoy

Richard
 
jaapv said:
From this I get the impression that you tend to shoot Jpegs. Also with 1.092, a properly processed DNG shot is without doubt even better.
Click to expand...

Nope, I have been shooting RAW (DNG) as I mentioned in the original thread. Before the repair, somehow I couldn't get the colors to be rendered properly, especially in mixed artificial lighting. Somehow the images looked magentaish and if compensated for that, the greens really looked dull. I simply couldn't get it to work. Outdoor shots were fine, however. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see the results of the shots taken under mercury vapor lighting and the rendition of the black.
 
Mark,
Leica did some color modifications in the current firmware, which is version 1.092 my M8 has right now. Without any IR cut filters (I don't own any yet and waiting for Leica to send me mine), the colors of the indoor shots are just fine to my eyes from the limited shots I took in the last two days. The lenses I used are all 6-bit coded, BTW. I understood that there are some cyan shfts towards the corners if you use IR cut filters on wide angle lenses. Leica is working on a firmware labelled 1.10 that will take care of that issue.

I will take more test shots, especially indoors, where incandescent lighting is known to render synthetic black fabric purple/magenta. If I get decent black colors, let's say close to the EPson R-D1 rendition of black, then I wouldn't bother using any IR cut filter or even upgrade the firmware. I will keep you guys posted.
 
Richard Marks said:
Hi
Love the description "Tiger"! Thats exaclty how I see mine. Just shot a kids cello concert this weekend (some scary adults too!) used a bit of fill flash with SF24 with slow sync. It performed like a dream shot after shot.

Pics on

realifeimages.co.uk

Enjoy

Richard
Click to expand...

Hi Richard,
What program did you use to convert the pictures, if you shot'm in RAW/DNG? Out of curiosity, was the color of the outfilt in this particular picture black: http://realifeimages.co.uk/photo_852343.html ?

Thanks,
Joshua
 
"Jaime's alternative profile" ...

"Jaime's alternative profile" ...

May I ask what "Jaime's alternative profile" is for CaptureOne? I have yet to import DNGs and/or use CaptureOne at all, so far (in the week or so I've used my M8), and I've just been uploading JPEGs using standard Windows tools. I know I've been selling myself short and have planned on getting DNGs onto my PC, but just wasn't sure what the very best application to do this (and then edit them) was. I shoot in "DNG + JPEG fine" mode, and although not a PhotoShop expert now, want to be prepared for the day I become one! (Or maybe CaptureOne makes sense to master first?)

What should CaptureOne be used for optimally and what should PhotoShop be used for in conjunction, if appropriate?

Sorry for the novice queries. Been scanning film from my M7 for years now and outsourcing occasional PhotoShop work my brother the expert ... time for me to get completely digital! Thanks
 
Your questions are too complex to answer in a few sentences. I also assume that you are not aware of the issues that the M8 faces.

This is a brief summary: Your M8 comes with a software, Capture One Limited Edition that enables you to convert DNG files into tif. There is an M8 profile built-in into that software but if you convert DNG files using that profile and your images have a fair amount of black, synthetic (like acrylic) fabrics, those black areas will be rendered purplish/magenta. It has to do with the camera not being able to filter out IR rays. Jamie's alternative profile will supress the magenta but the greens become kind of dull. You can get Jamie's alternative profile, among others, here: http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/9637-new-m8-profiles-c1-instructions.html. You may have to sign up there to be able to log on. Very innovative people work and update the profiles on a regular basis. So far, I have seen that condition mostly under artificial light, mostly tungsten or incandescent light.

Leica recommends putting on IR cut filter on the front of the lenses and defintely, it will cure the IR problems but some people don't like putting filters, any filters on the their lenses. Leica is providing two IR filters of choice to early adaptors of the M8.

Did your camera get fixed (for another hardware issue) by Leica or did you buy a newer version? That is important, in my opinion and you can deal with the magenta issue later either by using on-lens filters or by using alternative profiles and by just living happily with the condition and not paying too much attention to that. As I mentioned further up, I can be happy with just reducing the purple/magenta cast similar to what I have seen Epson R-D1 can do.

Take care,
Joshua

PS - I noticed that the link was truncated. Anyway, if you cannot get to the link above, you need to go to http://www.leica-camera-user.com and go to the digital forum. It is there as one of the sitcky posts.
 
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AGeoJO said:
Hi Richard,
What program did you use to convert the pictures, if you shot'm in RAW/DNG? Out of curiosity, was the color of the outfilt in this particular picture black: http://realifeimages.co.uk/photo_852343.html ?

Thanks,
Joshua
Click to expand...

Hi Joshua
The outfit was not black but a maroon as appears on the picture. The reason I was so pleased with the pics was that the lighting was very mixed (daylight/ tungsten) and the colour rendition was spot on. No IR cutout filter and 2 of my 3 lenses (50 and 90mm have not been chiped either).

Still playing with the SF24. It does not quite have enough wallop as a sole flash but for fill flash with slow sync it was a Godsend. (Set the slow sync limit at 1/30 and the camera used as much ambient light as possible)

best wishes

Richard Marks
 
Listen, can you take a bad image with the M8? Everyone I've seen on this or any other site have been unbelievable. Mostly, I can't tell on the web a Canon Mark II, whatever, from my Canon Sureshot SD-10. But those M8 shots are well, no words. I said I would never buy another camera, but I might.
 
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