Black Hat, black jacket... in purple!

[Iron Flatline]

Without unleashing a flood of bashing or excuses, I wanted to ask one more time what the deal is with the infrared issue. Specifically, how do I know whether I bought one of the newer, supposedly fixed M8s, or whether I got one of the first batch.

I registered for filters, and am running 1.09 as my firmware.

I'm having real "purple" issues... my friend is wearing a black hat and black jacket in this picture....

[marknorton]

The fix and the infra-red sensitivity are separate issues.

The filters serve to remove infra-red induced colour shifts from the image which cannot systematically be removed by firmware and replace it instead (when wide angle lenses are used) with red vignetting (think cyan shading into the corners) which can.

The hardware fix relates to streaking and ghosting in the images which can occur when a bright light is in the frame. If you do not get these, chances are you have a new production or fixed camera.

[Iron Flatline]

I've not had streaking or ghosting. I will wait for my filters.

[earleygallery]

Indeed, the IR issue wasn't the reason for the recall. This is an inherent design 'feature' and use of the IR cut filters is the solution. I think I'm right in saying that if your camera came with the latest firmware then it is one of the later models.

[wilfredo]

I got the 1.09 version which was not part of the re-call. I'm waiting for the filters myself, until then, I mostly do B&W work although I've gotten some great color shots when black synthetic fabric was not involved.

Cheers,
Wilfredo
Benitez-Rivera Photography

[jaapv]

First I apologize for mucking around with your file. Yes-I think the IR problem can only be solved by using IR cut filters. But... Postprocessing does help. I colour corrected your file and I think the balance in the whole picture is better, but it is of course just a web Jpeg. If you use Jamie's profile and then make a black point on the jacket the result should be a lot more acceptable, albeit not optimal.

[ho_co]

One more point about the later cameras: If yours arrived with the '2 free filters' offer, then it is of the fixed batch.

The first cameras had the streaks/blobs (hardware) issue, but Leica also hadn't realized how important the IR issue would be, so there was no mention of filters.

Cameras shipped after 11/27/06 (as I recall) had firmware 1.09, the hardware fix and the factory offer of two free filters.

[Iron Flatline]

Thanks all, I appreciate it. My camera came with 1.09 and the filter info, so I guess it was a recent one.

[Hans Roggen]

I don't see it

1 minute PS job and it's gone.

Hans

[Rolo]

Iron,

simple PhotoShop adjustment as shown on your JFK image. Won't solve your problem, but only took 1 min to prepare.

Rolo

[jaapv]

Of the four versions I like Hans' one best. But we all agree, WB on the original one is wrong.

[Rolo]

Didn't touch the white balance and I suspect that Hans didn't either.

This is the first time I've touched a magenta image and it showed me that, for low volume personal work, a quick fix will probably be OK until filters or a Leica solution are in place.

Rolo

[jaapv]

Originally Posted by Rolo

Didn't touch the white balance and I suspect that Hans didn't either.

This is the first time I've touched a magenta image and it showed me that, for low volume personal work, a quick fix will probably be OK until filters or a Leica solution are in place.

Rolo

Look at the cobbles on the street. On my monitor they have shifted a bit (not on your version, most on mine. Maybe a bit too green.) But no matter, it is clear that where filters are best PS does a good job. I am convinced if Jamie's profiles would have been used in conversion (I suspect it was not) it would have been even better and easier for higher volume work.

[gdewitt]

Now if we only knew what Hans did!

[Hans Roggen]

Hi Gary,

It's pretty simple. I made a rough selection around the hat and its shadow. Then I brought up the hue-saturation controls. Then I selected magentas and with eyedropper i clicked somewhere inside the selected area to select the exact color i wanted to change. Changing colors to black is quite easy. You just bring down the saturation. You do have to make that rough selection in my first step, otherwise you desaturate all mangenta's in the image. The bits that didn't turn out a neutral black were brushed over with the 'replace color brush' I simply selected the neutrals i already got and painted some of the lighter parts that still had some magenta.
After that i did the same for the jacket.
It's not an exact science. You look at the image to see what kind of black fits best. So desaturation alone sometimes is not enough. Use the hue slider to make sure the blacks fit the rest of the color.

This is just one way of many, but it's pretty straightforward and fast.

I didn't touch the white balance at all, because i was just making the point that the magenta cast is easy to get rid of, but in this picture it could use a bit of tweaking. It does however not correct the problem of magenta blacks caused by IR.

Hope this helps when you come accross this problem in the future.

Cheers

Hans

[gdewitt]

Thanks, Hans. I almost never shoot people, but I like my M8 so much that I expect to use it for my vacation snapshot camera, too. Not a big deal, but it is nice to know a variety of approaches. Too bad it isn't limited to black fabrics. My wife has a blue jacket that shows a lot of magenta in my M8, for example.

[Rolo]

Originally Posted by Hans Roggen

Hi Gary,

It's pretty simple. ......


This is just one way of many, but it's pretty straightforward and fast.


Hope this helps when you come accross this problem in the future.

Cheers

Hans

Way too complicated and lengthy for me.

Rolo

[jonoslack]

Originally Posted by Hans Roggen

Hi Gary,

It's pretty simple. I made a rough selection around the hat and its shadow. Then I brought up the hue-saturation controls. Then I selected magentas and with eyedropper i clicked somewhere inside the selected area to select the exact color i wanted to change. Changing colors to black is quite easy. You just bring down the saturation. You do have to make that rough selection in my first step, otherwise you desaturate all mangenta's in the image. The bits that didn't turn out a neutral black were brushed over with the 'replace color brush' I simply selected the neutrals i already got and painted some of the lighter parts that still had some magenta.
After that i did the same for the jacket.
It's not an exact science. You look at the image to see what kind of black fits best. So desaturation alone sometimes is not enough. Use the hue slider to make sure the blacks fit the rest of the color.

This is just one way of many, but it's pretty straightforward and fast.

I didn't touch the white balance at all, because i was just making the point that the magenta cast is easy to get rid of, but in this picture it could use a bit of tweaking. It does however not correct the problem of magenta blacks caused by IR.

Hope this helps when you come accross this problem in the future.

Cheers

Hans

Totally Different
Hi Hans
I just looked at the top of the thread - and I thought - 1 minute - and it was.

I used the magic wand in photoshop to make my selection - tidied the edges, feathered by a couple of pixels, and used the channel mixer to desaturate (well, he did say it was black!).

Of course, this isn't perfect, and one doesn't want to take the time, but the point is that, even not using an IR filter, the images are easy to fix, if they're worth fixing!