M9 focus problem!?

[R9user]

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I owned a M8 and loved the camera. Unfortunately my house was broken into and both my M8 and R9 DMR was stolen. I waited 6 months and purchased a M9 in September.

 

It was a HUGE disappointment!!!

 

The images are not as sharp as with my M8. I shoot in DNG and tried ISO160, bright light subjects. I made very sure of my focusing, taking images with sharp vertical lines at various distances and with various aperture settings. The results are the same, grainy pictures when viewed even on the camera screen. (I also tried with different lenses both Leica and Voigtlander - with the same result)

 

I tried to contact Leica, who suggested I send some images to them, but their server can not receive any images attachment larger than 5MB!

 

Does anybody have the same experience? I am VERY disappointed with the quality of the images from the M9 nd therefor it might well be the last Leica I will ever buy!

[Guest WPalank]

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/105817-m9-focus-rangefinder-calibration.html

[noah_addis]

Something must be wrong with your particular camera and/or lenses.

 

I assume you have viewed the images somewhere other than on the camera screen? I have noticed with the M9, especially at high-iso, that the image previews on the screen are of very low quality, often look grainy (noisy) and are generally disappointing. In fact when I was driving home after trying one out for the first time, I wrote it off and was planning NOT to get one. But once I saw the images on my calibrated monitor, I changed my mind...

 

Assuming you're viewing on a good monitor and, better yet, with prints, then something is clearly wrong. You say the images are grainy...are they also out of focus?

 

Perhaps you could post some full-frame low-res images here as well as some 100% crops. Others who have used the camera will at the very least be able to say if your results are abnormal.

 

As for sending images to Leica, again you could process your DNGs then save them as jpegs, and also send them some 100% crops that would easily be less than 5MB.

 

While the M9 files, viewed at 100%, may be a TINY bit less sharp than the M8 files at the pixel level, they're still extremely sharp. If yours aren't, something is wrong.

[johnbuckley]

R9User: Don't despair, although it is a big pain. I don't know if there's a good rangefinder repairman in South Africa, but it does sound like it's a fairly simple matter of getting the rangefinder adjusted. As some in the other thread have stated, they can get out of alignment if dropped or knocked. Here's hoping you can get it fixed quickly.

[Guest roey]

The results are the same, grainy pictures when viewed even on the camera screen. (I also tried with different lenses both Leica and Voigtlander - with the same result)

 

You are seeing grainy pictures when you shoot at ISO 160?

 

I tried to contact Leica, who suggested I send some images to them, but their server can not receive any images attachment larger than 5MB!

 

You might want to use a service like yousendit.com to upload the photos and send the URL to Leica so that they can download them.

[wparsonsgisnet]

R, I was going to recommend Yousendit, as well, but I"m a day late and a dollar short.

 

It's free and will send a big file to someone.

[jaapv]

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I take it you viewed the images on the computer and/or in print as well? Results that are spectacular on the computer screen have looked grotty on the camera LCD to me, especially at max zoom. The M8 does better in that respect, I suspect it is because of the lesser enlargement.

[stevem7]

A properly exposed and focused M9 file is gorgeous. Every bit as good as the M8. My M9 was ever so slightly out of calibration (RF/Focus). But it was an easy adjust and now its spot on.

 

You should not see "grainy" images at ISO 160 at 100%. Post a sample if you can.