X100s vs M240 color blind test

X100s vs M240 color blind test

  • First is the X100s, second the 240

    Votes: 20 50.0%
  • First is the 240, second the X100s

    Votes: 19 47.5%
  • They look too similar to me

    Votes: 1 2.5%

  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .
First one is Leica M240, I think the 37/1.7 Ultron is not as sharp as it could be on the outer zones... Don't mean to say that it's a bad lens. Bottom pic is 100S, Fuji greens and very well optimised sensor to lens. I don't know. Hope I win...
 
The files

The files

ooh, upload the raw files! we can all fiddle around with post-processing. 🙂

If you create a dropbox account you can upload them there and share them.
Shawn

Aizan, Shawn, anybody else who wants to play,

Here are the raw files:

M240 (26.22 MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/e68aqc9q5sik3s2/L1000097.DNG?dl=0
X100s (32.25 MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/r9sdqlw6enlqpqz/DSCF0063.RAF?dl=0

And here, the LR-generated TIF:

M240 (136 MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/vq1xnsex192edyb/M240.TIF?dl=0
X100s (91.4 MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/0joil6t7gcbvev5/X100s.TIF?dl=0

Very interested to hear what you find,

Roland.

PS: and for you non-Californians who have never seen one of my lens tests: behind the tree on the left is Oracle, and somewhere close to the horizon on the right, NASA, Ebay, Paypal, Yahoo, Google, etc. 🙂
 
Will someone just tell me best camera?
I only want to use best camera for my photos.
For best photos internets tell me I need best camera and lens roadmap.
Confused on lens roadmap for X100 though.
But need best camera first, and the poll doesn't tell me which is best.
Frustrated, but will search on internet for more best cameras.
 
Thought i would play a it too. (hopefully the image links work, I was having trouble)

Certainly I'm not claiming that these are my "perfect processing" but that they are fairly representative of what I would do to a picture I intended to share with folks.

For the fuji, I applied the astia camera profile in LR and did a few levels type adjustments (whites\blacks\etc) and then added a touch of clarity. Less than 15, just to what looks OK to my eye. I then added a touch of vignette, less than 15 as well, I think it was 9, because, well, I like how a bit of vignette keeps the eye centered in the image or wandering off a corner. I also added some sharpening via a preset I have set for foliage. Maybe I didnt add enough, but whatever. Sharpness isnt really the issue at hand imo.

uc



Now, for the leica, I hit my magic preset which does some color balancing to mimic the M9 and a few other things with levels. I think I slightly adjusted either whites or highlights from there, but that was it. (vignette and other stuff is all built into that one preset)

uc


Overall, on my screen, I like both. The amount of detail in the leica file is impressive. It's almost as if the shots were taken with completely different lighting and atmospheric conditions as the city and mountains in the background seem "dehazed". But I dont think it really makes too much of a difference in the end image.

We talk about lenses and how they draw or paint images (rigid summicron for example) and give them so much praise for their character. On the other hand, some chastise cameras like the x100s/t for doing the same thing. I think there's some beauty in this character of rendering details with what people call the watercolor effect. Then again, it can also be frustrating at times when it isnt desired.

Either way, great cameras. While I wasnt there, to my eye it seems the Leica renders the scene a bit more naturally and is also the image I prefer.


edit: and for reference, the time spent on each photo was not much. I didnt time myself, but I probably spent ~30-45 seconds on the fuji. Aided by a couple of presets. More time was spent here to adjust the individul photo using the sliders one at a time.

The leica image I spent maybe 10s with. Hit my preset button, drug a slider, and I was happy. Much less "thinking" about what I was doing. I suppose I could do the same on the fuji, just never found one preset to adjust global levels that's made me happy.

edit2: thought i should just post a quick crop comparison of the two for completeness

uc
 
Wow .... in those crops the Leica absolutely hoses the Fuji for detail! It says a lot for that Ultron lens also.
 
It's almost as if the shots were taken with completely different lighting and atmospheric conditions as the city and mountains in the background seem "dehazed".

that's because he has a uv/ir filter on the ultron.

gonna play with these tomorrow. =)
 
Thanks for the work, guys. I'll look at the results on a bigger screen tomorrow.

Wow .... in those crops the Leica absolutely hoses the Fuji for detail! It says a lot for that Ultron lens also.

Keith, comparing resolution with a same sized crop at infinity is not fair, here. Remember that the focus was on the tree - not at inf. I did try to compensate the different DOF with different apertures, but the Fuji might just have thinner DOF. But the UV/IR filter seems to play a role in the subtle differences, too. I was wondering if somebody remembered, Aizan. 🙂

Roland.

PS: nice touch with the "roadmap", Mike 🙂
 
Thanks for the work, guys. I'll look at the results on a bigger screen tomorrow.



Keith, comparing resolution with a same sized crop at infinity is not fair, here. Remember that the focus was on the tree - not at inf. I did try to compensate the different DOF with different apertures, but the Fuji might just have thinner DOF. But the UV/IR filter seems to play a role in the subtle differences, too. I was wondering if somebody remembered, Aizan. 🙂

Roland.

PS: nice touch with the "roadmap", Mike 🙂



Come on Roland .... stop kidding yourself. The Fuji has absolutely no pixie dust on the sensor and you know it! :angel:
 
The Best Camera

The Best Camera

Mike,
Make a venn diagram of Steve Huff's list of best cameras, Ken Rockwell's list, and Thorsten Overgaard's. Whatever ends up in the middle is the Best Camera. If there's more than one, then take the one with the biggest you-know-what.
Jamie


Will someone just tell me best camera?
I only want to use best camera for my photos.
For best photos internets tell me I need best camera and lens roadmap.
Confused on lens roadmap for X100 though.
But need best camera first, and the poll doesn't tell me which is best.
Frustrated, but will search on internet for more best cameras.
 
Will someone just tell me best camera?
I only want to use best camera for my photos.

That is easy. PhaseOne XF/IQ3-80, or, if one generation behind is fine, Hasselblad H5D-60. If you would also consider film, to gain even more resolution, a Gandolfi 11x14.

But most people settle for some very much smaller second best camera, as they need something for personal carriage and not equipment that needs a crew van for transport (and a crew for assistance).
 
The depth of field/focus is different on both, so its unfair to compare the details in the background... but here are two center crops at 100%, minimal sharpening, both files same settings + auto white balance. Both Capture One 9 Pro.

1. Fuji
2. Leica

fujivsleica.jpg



and just for fun, the Fuji RAW in Capture One vs Lightroom 😀

fujic1vslr.jpg


I could sharpen the hell out of the file in C1... anything more then this amount of sharpening and everything turns into worm-like-artifacts in LR 😉



The Fuji and the Leica file had both a "Provia" ICC applied, the Fuji LR file had the Provia color profile selected
 
That's interesting. Came in late, couldn't vote, but I'd have bet the first image was the Leica based on it looked (on the screen) just a tad crisper (sharper? more contrasty?).
 
Having only completed migration from Aperture to Lightroom earlier this week, the RAW comparison pretty much guarantees there is no future for a Fuji in my workflow.
 
i dont understand, is there a point to this comparison?

both cameras take nice pictures, just use the one you want to use and be done with it.

and really, who out there would simply take the raw files from either camera and hit export to use as a final product? this is just pointless imo.

Very true. Ad-hoc tests are often disappointing and useless.
 
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