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M8 B&W Jpegs


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I know this has been talked about but searching came up with old threads. I have shot a few test photos just to really see how the M8 handled B&W jpegs.

 

I am attaching one of them. Lots of us here shoot Tri-X in our Film Leica's and always compare the B&W processed images to the Tri-X grain.

In this image I added a little bit of grain in LR3 to a M8 processed B&W jpeg. I must say that I like the way it looks.. I did no correction to the photo except grain, this is how it came out of the camera @640 ASA

 

I would like to hear groups thoughts and or see some of your B&W images and basically discuss as I like maybe the happy accident that the M8 jpegs may produce.

 

37477-albums4948-picture6892.jpg

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I'm sure most of us do not shoot B&W jpg's, but go for DNG and a conversion to B&W at later stage. On screen the B&W jpg may look pretty good, but if you do your conversion in e.g. Silver Efex Pro, you'll see the difference. Suddenly the image gets deeper, better toned. The problem is that you have no influence on the jpg and actually have thrown away a lot of information that could have been used for a better B&W photo. So any conversion action on the jpg is based on less information than you had in the first place.

 

I know that some people say that it should all be done in the camera (as that is "honest"), but that is imho a lot of bollocks. The best photographers start with a (very good) image and work that out in post processing.

 

In other words: why use your M8 as a instamatic?

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Hey Marco

I checked out your website. Great images...

 

Believe me when I tell you that I shoot RAW images all day everyday. GB after GB..

I am a cinematographer and am currently shooting a TV show. We shoot the RED cam.

All I deal with is color correction and maximizing the image quality.

 

For me it is sometime a breath of fresh air to shoot jpegs on my D-lux 4 and M8

Almost all the time I shoot RAW and always in professional situations.

 

This really is more about an experiment and trying different styles with the camera.

I also shoot Toy Cameras and like the happy accidents of an degraded image. So for

me this is a discussion as I completely understand RAW processing.

 

But thank you for your comments.

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OK, no worries. You should see how many people really try to go the easy way and hoping for that magic trick that makes a beautiful picture :D.

 

So back to B&W jpgs ... The trick woild be to see if you can set up your own jpg "best setup" in your Leica. I'm for deeper darks and whiter whites, but everybody's got his/her own sweet spot. So yes, that's subjective.

 

BTW: is that your daughter, obviously liking the soup ... did you ask her what she thought about the B&W? I'm amazed about what kids see and tell, without hesitation.

 

Good luck with your hunt for people discussing B&W jpg shooting ...

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I know that some people say that it should all be done in the camera (as that is "honest"), but that is imho a lot of bollocks.

 

As is the tedious (and often patronising) mantra that RAW is the only route to good photography.

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As is the tedious (and often patronising) mantra that RAW is the only route to good photography.

 

Let's not get into that discussion :p; I'll go for jpg any time it suits me, so you're absolutely right that "RAW only" is a fad also.

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IMO the M8 in-camera B&W jpeg is a very much under-rated animal - given the right in-camera settings for contrast and sharpness. IIRC way back in the photo forums are some of my examples but you'll have to dig deep.

It's my opinion that the M9 does not do such a good job. Have a look at LFI 8/2010.

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There is some considerable comment that if one is going to shoot BW then doing without the IR/UV filter creates richer toned blacks.

 

I would be very interested in your exploration of in camera BW... especially any camera settings... ev, contrast, Iso, sharpening.

 

My BW work is all raw but occasionally for fun I will shoot BW jpg...

 

The M8 is an amazing camera and this is a capability that is not usually pushed.

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How can we approach posting images to discuss settings ? What is the best way to do this on the forum ?

 

Ask the Mods nicely otherwise the images are likely to be shunted off to the Photo forums. However we don't want this thread to turn into a dumping ground for any photos - just those that illustrate a specific setting regime.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great, I will contact moderator for advice and we will see where it goes.. I am still shooting both RAW and Jpeg. I really do not mind the process speed as I can shoot multiple burst anyway. it really is an issue if one needs to view image right away on LCD. I think you call this "Chimping"

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