Original Leica IR-Filter

I have heard a rumour that the original Leica IR-Filters which come out in February will be different from the 486-filters which are available on the market at the moment.

What do you think?

Some M8 early adopters have bought a set of filters and will not be happy.

Regards Stefan

[reven]

I think they will be around 95% of the same as all BW IR Filter (MCR)

[j. borger]

As long as people are satisfied with their B&W filters .....who cares if the Leicas are a bit different?

The Firmware 1.10 will be optimized for the original Leica IR-Filters!

[j. borger]

People who bought the IR filters knew this risk ... but worked with them succesfully with the current firmware .. and will with the new firmware ..... i can't imagine the difference beeing large enough to be of any significance in real world shooting ........ but i am convinced the differences will show in a new series of "test the M8 to death" threads

[Vivek Iyer]

They are likely to be "coded". Any ideas on how much that would cost?

[larry]

How many fatal flaws can we find today -- even ones that have no basis in fact?

[Peter D Lux 2]

Originally Posted by larry

How many fatal flaws can we find today -- even ones that have no basis in fact?

Exactly my thoughts, Larry! I get a bit bored with the " my cellphone..." and/or "my Canon..." posts. In my opinion this so called critical attitude is not based on realistic views on digitall photographic technique in the early 21st century. As a cinematographer I did a lot of television drama series back in the 1990's. I (and the producers) would have been extremely happy getting the image quality of the M8!

Last friday I got my M8, and I think under all conditions, this is a very fine machine. In the near future I hope to post some nice examples of what this camera as capable of.

[plasticman]

Can people not ask straightforward questions related to the M8 WITHOUT the instant backlash from loyalists on this forum?

This is a place for open debate, as i understand it.

[larry]

Originally Posted by plasticman

Can people not ask straightforward questions related to the M8 WITHOUT the instant backlash from loyalists on this forum?

This is a place for open debate, as i understand it.

The genesis of this thread is nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor. Other people in this forum, such as Mark Norton, are addressing real concerns. There's no point in fabricating "problems" for the sake of stirring up controversy. It's in everyone's best interest to keep these discussions based on facts.

The M8 -- and every other digital camera I've ever used -- has its flaws, but let's keep things in perspective: This is an excellent camera and it's in Leica's best interest to iron out the bugs.

Larry

I just wanted to warn people to buy too many 486-filters now.

The best quality will be achieved with the Leica-Filters so better wait if you don´t want to burn your money.

[waterlenz]

Originally Posted by smep_reloaded

I have heard a rumour that the original Leica IR-Filters which come out in February will be different from the 486-filters which are available on the market at the moment.

What do you think?

Some M8 early adopters have bought a set of filters and will not be happy.

Regards Stefan

Of course they will be different - they will be engraved or otherwise labeled with 'leica camera' most likely in all caps.
Tom

[cocker]

Originally Posted by smep_reloaded

I just wanted to warn people to buy too many 486-filters now.

The best quality will be achieved with the Leica-Filters so better wait if you don´t want to burn your money.

How kind

[macusque]

Originally Posted by smep_reloaded

I just wanted to warn people to buy too many 486-filters now.

The best quality will be achieved with the Leica-Filters so better wait if you don´t want to burn your money.

Thanks , but what should I do now ?
I couldn't wait until February or March to take a decent non-IR contaminated photo...

Anyway I think Leica filters will be nothing more than B+W 486 filters labelled by Leica.

[plasticman]

To quote from the current LFI:

"Leica will be offering exceptionally high-grade IR filters with unrivalled optical characteristics and additional UV band elimination"

I have no idea what the motives of the original poster were, but i am willing to allow him the benefit of the doubt regarding the freedom to raise ANY relevant question on the camera that is currently the most popular topic of debate on this forum.

Incidentally, i gathered more information from the article in LFI from which i've quoted, (and in fact reversed my decision not to buy the camera), than from all the people on this forum shouting 'whinger' at anyone questioning the perfection of the M8.

Reasoned debate is why i come here - not censorship of anyone unwilling to say how much better the M8 is than the 5D (or insert any other camera manufacturer here)...

[andybarton]

Originally Posted by plasticman

Reasoned debate is why i come here - not censorship of anyone unwilling to say how much better the M8 is than the 5D (or insert any other camera manufacturer here)...

There has been no censorship of any M8 debate at all on this forum, to my knowledge, despite the name behind the principle sponsor...

If this had been an Apple forum, with an Apple product showing a similar list of problems, then there would be 194 threads in the Digital forum, not 2,194 Two thousand of them would have been deleted by now

[sean_reid]

Originally Posted by smep_reloaded

I have heard a rumour that the original Leica IR-Filters which come out in February will be different from the 486-filters which are available on the market at the moment.

What do you think?

Some M8 early adopters have bought a set of filters and will not be happy.

Regards Stefan

I guess you haven't seen my post about this. I'm testing the "official" Leica filters now. They are currently labelled "Schneider Kreuznach 486 MRC". The B+W 486 filters aren't labelled "MRC" but, according to the link I'll post below, they're multicoated as well. I'll be testing these two types of filters (which seem very similar and may be identical) against the Heliopan "Digital" filter.

Schneider is the parent company of B+W and I suspect that photographers who own the B+W filters will be able to use them interchangeably with the Schneider branded filters.This is all discussed in the "M8 Updates" article I'm writing now. It should be live next week.

I suspect that early adopters with 486 filters will be fine. Both name variants of the filter are very effective.

The "additional UV band elimination" that LFI refers to is already a property of the 486 which filters UV and IR. See: Tipps u. Tricks: UV-IR Cut Filter B+W 486 , Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH

Cheers,

Sean

[sdai]

Originally Posted by andybarton

There has been no censorship of any M8 debate at all on this forum, to my knowledge, despite the name behind the principle sponsor...

I'm sure there were exceptions, Andy ... you've deleted the M8 DNG EXIF I've posted in the 8/16 bit thread. But now I'm convinced, there's no need for what I was originally asking for, if Leica is going to add 16-bit back, I wouldn't pay more than 50 dollars.

[andybarton]

If I did that it was probably before the M8 was available to buy.

Leica were very protective of EXIF information prior to release.

[Vivek Iyer]

There are clearly better filters than the Schneider UV/IR cut filters (or Heliopan).
These (Schneider and Heliopan) do have UV transmission from about 370nm.

Here is a better filter:

Baader Planetarium, Infoseite und Messkurve vom UV-IR Sperrfilter

Major drawback with this Baader filter is the size. Since these are made for telescopes, only two (non-standard for photography) sizes are available.

Also, unlike the Schneider/Heliopan/B+W/Rodenstock UV/IR cut filters, the Baader filters are scratch resistant.

Yes, the B+W 486 gets scratched very very easily!