Some M8 questions

ckuang

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Hi,

was thinking aobut leaping into the digital age and getting a M8. Am currently shooting the MP and love it but would really like the convenience of digital. Beofre I buy the M8, I had a couple of questions and was wondering if you guys could help me answer them.

1. If I shot an M8 with the IR blocking filter, but my lenses are not coded, will I still get rid of the magenta problem? or does the solution require a collaboration of the filter and the C1 software and the lens coding?

2. If i shoot in black and white on the M8, do I still need to use the IR blocking filter? Does it change the grey tones of the image with and without the filter?

3. Out of interest, has anyone ever tried shooting film with the IR filters on? What happens?

4. How does the in camera jpgs measure up against in camera jpegs form a Canon 5D?

Any help on these questions would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
1. Yes. The M8's sensitivity to IR is a hardware issue that is solved (for the most part) w/the IR cut filters. The coding affects the camera's internal software-based correction for cyan fringing when using certain wide angle lenses.

2. Most likely not, but the IR sensitivity will affect B&W photos to the extent that your film is sensitive to IR. Some standard B&W films are more sensitive to IR than others, but most are pretty insensitive. You may find this thread on photo.net to be useful: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00LJZe

3. Yes, only because it was easier to leave the filters on when shooting both the M8 & a film body & w/B&W film. With B&W as discussed above, the B+W & Leica UV/IR filters I've used had little visible effect. With color, I would expect a slight cyan tint.

4. No idea, as I only shoot RAW. I would expect the 5D's files to be bigger.

ckuang said:
Hi,

was thinking aobut leaping into the digital age and getting a M8. Am currently shooting the MP and love it but would really like the convenience of digital. Beofre I buy the M8, I had a couple of questions and was wondering if you guys could help me answer them.

1. If I shot an M8 with the IR blocking filter, but my lenses are not coded, will I still get rid of the magenta problem? or does the solution require a collaboration of the filter and the C1 software and the lens coding?

2. If i shoot in black and white on the M8, do I still need to use the IR blocking filter? Does it change the grey tones of the image with and without the filter?

3. Out of interest, has anyone ever tried shooting film with the IR filters on? What happens?

4. How does the in camera jpgs measure up against in camera jpegs form a Canon 5D?

Any help on these questions would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for info

Thanks for info

Hi Furcafe,

Thanks for the info.

Am still a little worried about the cyan fringing, but since most of my shots out of the camera shoudl be b&w, ie, i will be shooting bw jpegs, it think it should be fine. Thanks so much
 
FWIW when I first got my M8 I shot RAW+JPG and immediately realized that the RAW files were a lot better. This is not the same with my D200 in which case the JPGs are quite good. But I only shoot JPG when forced to by circumstances.

There is a thread about NOT using IR filters for color work on LCUF here . . .

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/24123-freedom-filters-here-lies-heresy.html

I don't use the filters, all my M8 lenses are CV and uncoded and I don't see any insurmountable problems.
 
ckuang said:
Hi Furcafe,

Thanks for the info.

Am still a little worried about the cyan fringing, but since most of my shots out of the camera shoudl be b&w, ie, i will be shooting bw jpegs, it think it should be fine. Thanks so much

Hi
I previously used an MP and essentially I am now using my lenses on an M8.
There is no doubt that the resolution of the lenses on an M8 is a jump up from what I was achieving with print film. Obviously there is more to an image than pure resolution, and it certainly lacks some of the subtlety of film and needs a different approach. I have no regrets about losing my MP, but still have my Hasselblad and continue to use this for black and white film which I print and process myself. The M8 resolution is getting close on medium format incidentally, but add to this the fact that this achievable hand held, and it really is an exceptional machine. I think the infra red issue has been done to death and really is not a probelm for me.

What you have to do is test drive an M8, take the files on your own SD card and see for yourself.

best wishes

Richard Marks
 
I put the filter on all of my lenses. I do not want to deal with the magenta in post. If you put the filter on a wide angle lens without coding, you will have cyan vignette. It is possible to hand code some lenses with a black sharpie. http://www.digital-leica.com/lens_codes/index.html I am not having my two lenses that are longer than 50mm coded, but I do have filters on them.

I take my filters off when I use my lenses on my M3.

I never shoot anything but RAW.
 
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