Leica M8 high ISO files and Lightroom 3 - amazing !!! - 4 samples Lr2 vs Lr3 inside

[menos I M6]

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As I am processing tons of photos from the M8.2 over this weekend now, I still didn't put my jaw from the ground, as I am still amazed by the big difference, the new Lightroom 3 makes to high ISO Leica files. Leica really seems to have worked closely with Adobe, to come to better image quality during raw conversion.

 

These samples are all straight out of camera + BW converted DNG files without further processing. You see 1:1 screen captures from my Macbook Pro 15" jpg without any processing or converting. The crops in the side by side comparison are 1:1 crops within Lightroom 3. Left side old Lightroom 2 - right side Lightroom 3:

 

 

ISO2500 1/60 90 Cron @ f2 | shadow side badly underexposed

With Lightroom 3 this is even good to print @ A3, as the grain gets even less prevalent during print. With Lr 2.6, it is more like pushed ISO12800 Tri X.

 

 

ISO1250 1/125 90 Cron @ f4 I think | see the much smoother grads and the cleaned up under exposed surfaces in this cockpit shot in the pit lane?

 

 

ISO 640 1/125 135 APO Telyt @ f3.4 | same as above - cleaner surfaces and slightly more detail without changing a setting - just converted the file into the new Lr3 processing engine.

 

 

ISO 1250 1/125 135 APO Telyt @ f3.4 | much less grain, but a slightly softer look, as I missed focus by a hair in this shot. with the much better sharpening tool in Lr3 though, this is academic, to solve. The print will be awesome!

 

All the issues, I had with the Leica M8.2 files, when I came from the mighty Nikon D3, then pushed Tri-X and then the surprising EPSON R-D1 seem solved now!

 

Lightroom 3 let me push the Leica files now and clean them up to the natural grainy look, I prefer, giving me more light for the night shots, I love so much!

I don't know about Aperture or all the other raw converters out there, as I am a Lightroom guy since I do digital photography, but this software is a must have, when shooting Leica digitals!

 

For some, these might not look impressive - note, these files have not been touched yet! When adjusting exposure, noise reduction and sharpening, they look mind blowing. The difference between Lr2 and Lr3 is epic!

[neelin]

 

For some, these might not look impressive -The difference between Lr2 and Lr3 is epic!

The difference looks great. Thanks for the post.

 

I gave up shooting M8+DNG for ISO2500. I could NEVER do better than what the internal JPG processing could do. There was never enough additional information in the DNG file to make it worth even making and I'm hardcore DNG user at lower ISO. Have you done any JPG masterfile comparisons ISO2500; LR2 vs. LR3?

[erl]

Sorry, but the only difference my eyes are seeing is an increased 'grittiness' in the LH images (LR3).

[menos I M6]

The difference looks great. Thanks for the post.

 

I gave up shooting M8+DNG for ISO2500. I could NEVER do better than what the internal JPG processing could do. There was never enough additional information in the DNG file to make it worth even making and I'm hardcore DNG user at lower ISO. Have you done any JPG masterfile comparisons ISO2500; LR2 vs. LR3?

 

No, I didn't compare the the JPG files. Actually I do shoot DNG+JPG in B&W and directly dispose of the JPG files during import.

 

I skipped ISO2500 entirely and only used ISO1250, if really necessary before Lightroom 3.

 

From subjective measurements, I gained a stop with Lightroom 3 AND have a new, very powerful noise reduction module INTEGRATED into the Lightroom software package!

I don't have to consult NoiseNinja or the excellent NIK plugin anymore.

 

The sharpening seems to have improved as well!

 

for me Lightroom 3 is well worth the upgrade.

[menos I M6]

Sorry, but the only difference my eyes are seeing is an increased 'grittiness' in the LH images (LR3).

 

Erl - just, what I experienced with many other commenters on other boards, where I posted these samples.

 

I did so out of a moment of astonishment, when I first worked with Lightroom 3.

The difference JUST by upgrading from the old to the new engine and rerendering the images at 1:1 (bigger than a A3+ print) was so surprising to me, that I was caught in a passionate moment, posting these up.

 

These are the heavily compressed screen captures out of Mac OS X, which indeed tone down the effect significantly.

 

I can only comment - download the free Lr3 30 day unrestricted demo and try for yourself.

If you use Lightroom 2 and regularly shoot at high ISO, you will see it clearly!

Lightroom 3 really made ISO 2500 usable for me with the Leica M8.

Before that, I completely circumvented this speed - mostly because of blotchy noise and banding.

[erl]

menos | M6, I will follow your suggestion. At present I am not a Lightroom user, but rather a C1 Pro user. However, currently I am without my M9 and am forced to shoot a rather important and big assignment for the year next week on two M8's. Lighting will be extreme, includuding some low level lighting as well as quite high.

 

So any assist I can glean with what I am expecting to be some ISO2500 shooting will be welcome. Time to test now, as you say. Unfortunately I can't compare to LR2 but up against C1 is a heavy test I believe.

[jaapv]

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Erl, like you I am an C1pro user, and even though I have CS5 I tend to use ACR only in cases that I want to improve on the noise control of C1 which are rather rare. The main advantage of ACR over C1 as I see it is the presence of a masking slider in the sharpening screen, which protects smooth areas from sharpening (i.e. noise enhancement!) Saves making edge masks and blurring at a later stage

[menos I M6]

I'd be very interested in your thoughts of the Lightroom 3 outcome vs. C1 Erl!

 

Low light at high ISO AND harsh highlights sounds like a challenge.

I'd take two exposures of important scenes if possible (1 stop bracketing).

ISO 2500 calls for a slight over exposure, to get a grip on noise and banding, but this clips highlights early and ugly, as you loose on dynamic range on high ISO.

[erl]

The possibility of bracketing key shots will be slight. Lots of fast action and contrast. My tech skills potentially will be tested.

 

If you are familiar with the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, my assignment is a non-military variant of that, sort of. Three different performances spread over a week. I will do my best to pit LR3 & C1 Pro against each other. I don't know if it will be a fair contest as I am not familiar with LR.

[menos I M6]

The possibility of bracketing key shots will be slight. Lots of fast action and contrast. My tech skills potentially will be tested.

 

If you are familiar with the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, my assignment is a non-military variant of that, sort of. Three different performances spread over a week. I will do my best to pit LR3 & C1 Pro against each other. I don't know if it will be a fair contest as I am not familiar with LR.

 

Sounds interesting - bracketing same shots surely is not possible, but spreading different exposures over several similar situations helps.

Latest after the first venue, you will know, how to get them best, if checked with processing.

 

Looking forward to your comments regarding Lr3 - it is ok to not find it useful though.

There is this ongoing Lightroom - Aperture discussion, which clearly shows, that you either like Lightroom or not. I love it's approach, having a solution to most of my problems in one package - I could as well have ended up with Aperture - not so much with C1 or another of the "one image at a time" software.

 

Good luck with the assignment!

[erl]

Thanks for the good wishes. I am confident of supplying the client with what they want. I am the one to please as I always expect 'more' from my efforts.

 

Re. C1 being a "one image at a time" program. It does allow me to batch process say, 1000 images at a time which is the first step I take in PP. However, being somewhat anal, I then examine each image individually by preference and make individual changes as I see fit. It works well for me and I do get to closely examine every image I attempted and I find it disciplines me.

[jaapv]

I think the confusion arises from C1 LE not supporting batch processing, unlike C1 pro.

[menos I M6]

…

Re. C1 being a "one image at a time" program. It does allow me to batch process say, 1000 images at a time which is the first step I take in PP. However, being somewhat anal, I then examine each image individually by preference and make individual changes as I see fit. It works well for me and I do get to closely examine every image I attempted and I find it disciplines me.

 

Sounds like my usage of Lightroom. For me the lazy factor comes in addition though, where Lightroom is great, as I add bits and pieces to sets, I might have shot a few weeks ago, as I find the strength, to revisit and add keys, developing, etc.

 

Thanks for the info Jaap!