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LeicaTobin

Highest iso you regularly use with M8?

By LeicaTobin, in Leica M8 / Leica M8.2

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LeicaTobin   

LeicaTobin
Posted (edited)

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Did some street today with my new 35 Cron.

 

I used LR 3 to remove some of the noise from 640. What are people using as their highest iso setting that they go up to with the M8?

 

 

Tobin

Edited by LeicaTobin

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Sailronin   

Sailronin
Posted

I normally shoot at ISO 160 but will go to ISO 640 for dark interiors or night shots. Then I do my normal post process in Aperture and add a final step of NIK Define to cut the noise. This usually yields pretty clean output.

This was M8 with 24mm Elmar f3.8 at ISO 640 with NIK Define

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skommini   

skommini
Posted (edited)

Hi,

 

I normally was doing 640 at the most. However, on Thanksgiving night I put the ISO to auto, Aperture Priority, EV to +1 and used a 28 Summicron wide open (f 2.0). I was amazed at the results I got at ISO 1250 which the camera chose. Yes there is some noise you can see at 100%, however these files are very usable for everyday pics.

 

The only post processing I did was open it in Aperture and adjusted down the exposure a bit and added vignetting.

 

Check this sample out (L1033104 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)

 

Here is the meta data for the picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blissone/5218390167/meta/

 

/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5243/5218390167_c5e7167b59_z.jpg&key=673b8960589b5468fe3d889141f0e57bd65c47411265c6795b3c780720dbf2a1">

 

So I will have rethink the ISO on my M8.2. I was reading in some forum recently that setting the EV to higher number you get cleaner more noise free images. I was basically exposing more to the right on the histogram.

 

Thanks,

 

Satya

Edited by skommini

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wstotler   

wstotler
Posted (edited)

I only go up to 320 these days--I'd rather underexpose by three/four stops at 320 and get reasonably clean (although dark) files that I can pull up in post.

 

This may seem counterintuitive--underexposing even more dramatically at 320 instead of using 640--but the RAW is much cleaner at 320 than at 640 and handles later exposure adjustments much better. There's more latitude with color, shadow detail, etc., in the 320 files over the 640 files.

 

If I were doing B&W work exclusively, I'd be using 640 or 1250 on a regular basis. And, lots of M8 users use 640 or 1250 without complaint. So, it's just my taste.

 

I wrote a bit about my underexposure tactic (to preserve highlights, during daytime) on my blog--but I generally use the same shooting method when shooting at night and with strong light sources:

http://willstotler.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/post-processing-development-study-1/

(I'm including the link so people can see process.)

 

If I had shot the night shots in the following set (they were shot at f/1.2, so I couldn't open it up any more, know what I mean?) at 640, I wouldn't have been able to pull them up without loss of a lot of detail--at 320, and two to three stops underexposed, I was fine:

 

Thanks,

Will

Edited by wstotler
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RichardM8   

RichardM8
Posted

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My experience so far is that the ISO 160 - 640 range produces good and predictable results. At 1250 things become a bit of a hit & miss affair. But sometimes a 1250 image can turn out amazingly well. I'm still trying to figure out what the decisive factor is here.

 

The ISO 1250 image below is shot through a window from a bar, hence the reflections of the lights. This is Amsterdam btw.

 

 

 

/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/KTMax/L2040463.jpg&key=1a8999837e4cfafa42902d4be1444987020e4105c76f0981ece89836eb1daa35">
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menos I M6   

menos I M6
Posted

ISO1250 is my border of comfort with the M8.2.

ISO2500 is only for getting the shot, if otherwise lost or for really good light and need of shutter speed (then ISO2500 can look remarkably clean).

During good light, the camera is set to 160 or 320.

ISO640 is very safe and comfortable in low light.

 

Because of all the above, I still love and carry my Leica film cameras and continue to care for pushed TriX @ ISO3200, as I like it worlds better than ISO2500 files from the M8.2.

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peterm1_Leica   

peterm1_Leica
Posted

I usually shoot with auto ISO and Auto shutter speed turned on and ISO set to a maximum of 640. The camera's firmware seems to do a pretty acceptable job of biasing shooting to lower ISO unless that makes it impossible to capture an image at a reasonable speed due to low light. I find that this gives good results in most situations.

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tobey bilek   

tobey bilek
Posted (edited)

I have compared Nik Defin 2 with the NR in CS5 and LR3 ( same algorithm), and concluded they work about the same. Both are very good.

 

The advantage of Defin 2 is it offers more contol as to where it is applied. In photoshop, I make a layer and use an edge mask to preserve full sharpness. I can also mask a layer and brush it in where I need it. These are the advantages photoshop has and why I choose it over LR. Aperture may also have some local adjustment correction possible. I know Defin 2 works with LR as a plugin and you get local control with U Point technology and /or color range. You can also go back to the main application and use a brush to defiine the areas to be sharpened. Local control is the key and you apply NR where it is needed and not other places. When you do this, you can be much more agressive with the settings and still not destroy the image. For instance, apply a little to main subject and a lot to the background.

 

In the end, the Leica sensor is more noise prone compared to my Nikon models. My lowely D40 is beautiful at 800 with Defin 2 and no special local control. I love my D200 again, and the full frame models are simply beautiful. The downside is they are not as sharp to begin with and the lenses are not as good wide open. In the end it may be a wash between the two, low ISO and f 1.4 with Leica or higher ISO and 2.8 with a Nikon.

 

Download a trial of Defin 2 if you have Aperture, LR, or CS3, 4, or 5. Look under the products tab at Nik Software USA for video tutorials. There are 5 I believe.

 

Sample link from Nikon Cafe

 

http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=289143

Edited by tobey bilek
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Shootist   

Shootist
Posted

Exposed correctly I have no problem using 1250 ISO. Especially now with LR3 or ACR 6.x. But I do try to keep it @ 640 or under normally. This is where fast glass is a plus.

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Luke_Miller   

Luke_Miller
Posted
Exposed correctly I have no problem using 1250 ISO. Especially now with LR3 or ACR 6.x. But I do try to keep it @ 640 or under normally. This is where fast glass is a plus.

 

Same here. I don't have anything faster than my Summicrons so I am at 1250 quite often. The noise reduction in Lightroom 3 works amazingly well. I have little use for Noise Ninja these days. While I am a big fan of Capture One 5 I don't use it for high ISO shots since Lightroom 3 was released.

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Cheekyguille   

Cheekyguille
Posted

Works in some and for some, here's an example of a shot that I wished I had shot at lower than 640

M8, 21 Elmarit

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WestMichigan   

WestMichigan
Posted

Hi Satya,

I wanted to chime in on your Turkey Shot. A) it's a lovely shot, especially viewed large. The colors are lovely, the exposure looks very well chosen, and while the depth of field wasn't exactly a friend in this kind of shot - a wide open aperture and NO FLASH looks tons better than f8 and a blaze of blue light would have! and

I found nothing at all about the 'noise' in the shot at all bothersome. Zero. I'd shoot at that ISO in that situation, with that noise, at the drop of a hat. Sure, the noise is there and camera x from company y may or may not have less noise at that ISO, but that 'fact' has almost no bearing on whether a shot is successful or not. Worrying that NikCanSony Camera X does A,B,or C, won't help a whit in getting a good shot, like the one of this dinner scene, when it's a Leica that's in your hand folks. Relax. Take pictures. Enjoy Pictures. Get better at Picture Taking. Measurbators just get pasty white sitting alone in the dark muttering about DxO scores and lpm's. Hee Hee

Peace

Richard in Michigan

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Guest Ming Rider   

Guest Ming Rider
Posted

I regularly shoot at 1250. Though to be honest, the results look pretty crap.

 

Only kidding

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jaapv   

jaapv
Posted

I shoot 1250 regularly and with good exposure, (ETTR) and CS5, the results are excellent.

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