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M240 revisited

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Irakly Shanidze

Irakly Shanidze

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Ladies and gentlemen, I am seriously rethinking my hardline denial of M240 based on my experience with how cameras with early versions of firmware rendered skin tones. Apparently, Leica people figured it out at last :)

The picture below is right out of camera, no post production, no color tricks.

Noctilux, f/1.4
Noctilux, f/1.4

You might think that conditions were too forgiving. OK, here is a 2PM direct sunlight example. Although, this time some Lightroom magic helped bring the nostalgic M9 feel :)

Noctilux f/1
Noctilux f/1





--
Irakly Shanidze
www.shanidze.com/en
 
LOL, this is not a model, it's my younger daughter :)
I am still testing the camera, not taking it to work.
 
So, you no longer hate the rangefinder experience? Or is it just the sensor you get on with now? Because previously you called everyone that likes using rangefinders a liar.
 
You must have concentrated your attention on the word "liar", not on the fact that I have been shooting rangefinder cameras since 1987.

No, I do not like "rangefinder experience" for the sheer experience. I like the results of it, and I am willing to put up with it because regardless of what I like, it makes me a better photographer.

Do you have anything else to say?
 
Irakly Shanidze said:
You must have concentrated your attention on the word "liar", not on the fact that I have been shooting rangefinder cameras since 1987.

No, I do not like "rangefinder experience" for the sheer experience. I like the results of it, and I am willing to put up with it because regardless of what I like, it makes me a better photographer.

Do you have anything else to say?
Click to expand...
 
Irakly Shanidze said:
Ladies and gentlemen, I am seriously rethinking my hardline denial of M240 based on my experience with how cameras with early versions of firmware rendered skin tones. Apparently, Leica people figured it out at last :)
Click to expand...
Sorry, I am not clear if you are convinced now or if you still need more time to decide if the M240 is good enough for your work... Which one is it? I am guessing though that, in any case it is not going to replace your M9 anyway.

I think you will see the benefit with the low light dance images you take.
 
Irakly,

I can see why you think the M10 gives more neutral colours for lighter skin tones. I have always thought the M9 has a purple bias, especially in low light.

Having said that, the M9 has a far more punchy, interesting, colour palette generally I think ...and this seems to better suit your style of photography. Why change ?

regards,

Paul
 
Irakly Shanidze said:
Ladies and gentlemen, I am seriously rethinking my hardline denial of M240 based on my experience with how cameras with early versions of firmware rendered skin tones. Apparently, Leica people figured it out at last :)
Click to expand...
At last? Skin tones have been adjusted three years ago by firmware update 2.0.0.11 of October 2013. Pro photogs and serious amateurs were used to build ICC profiles anyway so this skin tones issue was just for soccer mum photogs and capricious divas if you ask me :D. More seriously, the camera tends to clip reds too easily so beware of blown highlights when shooting red flowers in bright sunlight. Happy snaps :).
Best,
LCT
 
Last edited:
Excellent as usual. One question. Where you say out of the camera with no PP do you mean an unprocessed RAW? I thought most raw shooter will always apply some PP, it is kind of necessary. I shoot a lot of jpegs and I am not quite sure about the subject.

cheers

mattia
 
Yes, it needs more testing as to what kind of work it is the best for. However, now I can clearly see that it can be used professionally.
 
It is this purple tint in low light that makes it difficult to use M9 is situations that exclude a possibility of using studio lighting. In nearly two years of shooting ballet almost every night I pushed M9 to the limit. I know that I could have better results if I had at least one more stop and less wild AWB :)
 
Well, I did some testing in the fall of 2013, and yes, it was OK for soccer moms, but not for professional work. Now it is where it should have been at the day of its introduction :)

Yes, I noticed it about reds and pinks. It is better to underexpose in bright light anyway. At ISO200 it easily withstands -2EV undrexposure, provided contrast is not too high.
 
lol, it's not my hobby, it's my life :)
 
Yes, that's what i mean. this is a RAW file converted to JPEG with no PP done. Ideally, no PP should be necessary. Most of the time it is needed because lighting is not perfect, or a photographer has not paid attention :)
 
You are aware that the M240 has had the exact same color profile since the first version 2.x firmware was released in September-October of 2013? When I purchased my M240 new in October 2013 the first thing I did was to update it to the latest 2.x firmware, and I've never really had a skintone issue at all, except in rare cases where the camera can render skintones a bit reddish due to IR contamination. I've personally delt with this by using a SpydrCheckr48 and color calibrated all my lenses for daylight use. I always apply these color profiles in LR after importing images.

In regards to colors and skintones - nothing has happened or changed in the last 2 1/2 years for the M240.

Maybe you used the Embedded profile in LR on your earlier test? Always use the "Adobe" profile as a base. The Embedded profile has wonky colors - especially the reds are way off.
 
borgein said:
You are aware that the M240 has had the exact same color profile since the first version 2.x firmware was released in September-October of 2013? When I purchased my M240 new in October 2013 the first thing I did was to update it to the latest 2.x firmware, and I've never really had a skintone issue at all, except in rare cases where the camera can render skintones a bit reddish due to IR contamination. I've personally delt with this by using a SpydrCheckr48 and color calibrated all my lenses for daylight use. I always apply these color profiles in LR after importing images.

In regards to colors and skintones - nothing has happened or changed in the last 2 1/2 years for the M240.

Maybe you used the Embedded profile in LR on your earlier test? Always use the "Adobe" profile as a base. The Embedded profile has wonky colors - especially the reds are way off.
Click to expand...
 
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Leica M: All that you need to know

A couple of weeks ago I almost inadvertently became involved in an online conversation where I jokingly called people who claim to “like the rangefinder experience” liars. The reaction …
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