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ETTR with the M 240?


edwardkaraa

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Anyone still exposes to the right with the M?

 

I find that exposing correctly or slightly underexposing gives me the best tonality. Pulling down the exposure in ACR seems to distort the colors and affect the tonality. The M definitely doesn't like ETTR in my opinion.

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I shoot digital like I used to shoot slide film. Stay on the underexposed side to avoid blown highlights. Digital shadow detail is very rich, and the M(240) IMHO does extremely well with slight underexposure. That of course is a general rule and it presumes you know what you are doing in post processing.

 

I also tend to shoot even more underexposed in poorer light at lower ISOs as opposed to "spot on" exposure at higher ISOs, as I think the results are better. That is a personal view of course.

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ETTR has it's place. While you do not want to blow highlights, if you have a low contrast scene (cloudy day), you can still expose your highlight as far to the right as you can without blowing it. Then you can add contrast to darken your shadows and it works wonderfully in the M and the Monochrom. You only get color banding when you blew the highlight in one or two channels, but not all three....

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Anyone still exposes to the right with the M?

 

I find that exposing correctly or slightly underexposing gives me the best tonality. Pulling down the exposure in ACR seems to distort the colors and affect the tonality. The M definitely doesn't like ETTR in my opinion.

 

Agree, since ETTR seems to work better with DSLR cameras than the new M240.

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It seems there is a bit of confusion about the term ETTR. When the highlights are blown it's not ETTR but overexposed.

 

Correct !

 

I expose my images as bright as i can, without blowing the important highlights out.

It seems to be working for me so far, underexposure and pushing the exposure back up in post seems to introduce a lot of noise.

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Its not only about clipping highlights. I have noticed that the tonal gradations get a bit rougher when I do ETTR. The best tonal gradations I can get are when slightly underexposing by 1/3 stop or exposing correctly. I have also noticed ETTR screws around with some subtle shades of colors. Again for best color accuracy, correct exposure is the best.

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Anyone still exposes to the right with the M?

 

I find that exposing correctly or slightly underexposing gives me the best tonality. Pulling down the exposure in ACR seems to distort the colors and affect the tonality. The M definitely doesn't like ETTR in my opinion.

 

I noticed your multiple ZM lenses. Have you experienced the same with any Leica lenses ?

 

 

On my M240, I have a ZM Planer 50mm that tends to be very slightly "more" saturated when compared to the same shots with my 50LUX FLE.

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Its not only about clipping highlights. I have noticed that the tonal gradations get a bit rougher when I do ETTR. The best tonal gradations I can get are when slightly underexposing by 1/3 stop or exposing correctly. I have also noticed ETTR screws around with some subtle shades of colors. Again for best color accuracy, correct exposure is the best.

 

I don't understand why this isn't a tautology. Please explain.

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Its not only about clipping highlights. I have noticed that the tonal gradations get a bit rougher when I do ETTR. The best tonal gradations I can get are when slightly underexposing by 1/3 stop or exposing correctly. I have also noticed ETTR screws around with some subtle shades of colors. Again for best color accuracy, correct exposure is the best.

 

Isn't tonal gradation totally dependent on PP (adjusting curve)? My guess is that underexposing by 1/3 gives the tonal gradation that may be pleasing without any adjustment but the same can be achieved in higher exposure (without highlight blowout) by curve adjusting in PP.

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I noticed your multiple ZM lenses. Have you experienced the same with any Leica lenses ?

 

 

On my M240, I have a ZM Planer 50mm that tends to be very slightly "more" saturated when compared to the same shots with my 50LUX FLE.

 

Sorry but I currently don't have any Leica glass so I couldn't say for sure.

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I don't understand why this isn't a tautology. Please explain.

 

I think it is easy to make a small experiment. Try to shoot a colorful subject, preferably red, at optimal exposure, and then overexposed as much as possible, without clipping the red channel.

 

Now try to equalize the exposure in ACR, using the same WB, and let me know what you see.

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Isn't tonal gradation totally dependent on PP (adjusting curve)? My guess is that underexposing by 1/3 gives the tonal gradation that may be pleasing without any adjustment but the same can be achieved in higher exposure (without highlight blowout) by curve adjusting in PP.

 

My understanding is that tonal gradations are dependent on too many things, like the sensor, lens, bit depth, demosaicing algorithms, CFA ... etc.

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