Leica M Monochrome review by Erwin Puts

Old news.

When I first read it, I was stunned to see he uses an 8 bit methodology, after application of a canned 2.2 gamma, to evaluate dynamic range.

The MM captures 14 bits, and a 2.2 gamma is often the wrong one for the image.

Even at face value, there is significant information in those brightest 'zones' which he discounts. What he's saying is that after a 2.2 gamma (which might not be the correct one for the image), there are 'only' 146 - 1  independent light levels for zones 8 and 9, at least with his methodology.

It's a bit hard to do the very edge of white justice even in a 16 bit workflow, if you run a series of transformations rather than a single contrast curve.  (I've moved to a 32 bit workflow, to ensure I'm not losing data).