sputnick Posted September 11, 2011 Share #1 Posted September 11, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Dear all, I recently entered the leica world with a second hand M8. Im using it with a 35mm/2 summicron from my fathers m4-p (quite old lens, i think from 1984) My question is related to colors of the pictures im taking: it seems to me that they look quite yellow. Here is an example: the weather was overcast (so maybe not the best conditions), but the colors look really washed up to me Am I not setting the camera properly? at the moment im shooting raw but i didnt touch any other settings yet. I also understand that an uv ir filter is recommended with the leica m8. Is my problem related to this? Apologies for the newbie-ness and thanks! giovanni Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 11, 2011 Posted September 11, 2011 Hi sputnick, Take a look here Newbie question: are my pictures yellow-ish?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted September 11, 2011 Share #2 Posted September 11, 2011 You set the colors to your taste in raw conversion on your computer. The settings on the camera are not really relevant, just a starting point. Most settings are greyed out in DNG anyway. The photo you show looks quite underexposed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnick Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted September 11, 2011 thanks for the feedback, its very useful for a beginner will a software like aperture for mac be adequate to edit the raw files? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 11, 2011 Share #4 Posted September 11, 2011 Aperture is fine, but with the M8 the software of choice is Capture One, Lightroom and Photoshop are excellent too. In the end it is a personal choice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 11, 2011 Share #5 Posted September 11, 2011 Btw an IR cut filter is mandatory for decent color results. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefano60 Posted September 11, 2011 Share #6 Posted September 11, 2011 welcome to the club, Giovanni, you will be very happy with your M8. the first thing you need to do is get a decent raw post processing program and 'play with it' until you get the look you want from the photos; raw images are exactly that, raw, all the components are there but they need to be adjusted to your taste. the other thing i would suggest is a cleaning of the sensor, it looks like there are quite a few dust spots on it, judging by that one photo. have fun! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted September 12, 2011 Share #7 Posted September 12, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Your white balance looks good at first glance. Suffice it to do Auto Levels in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and you'll get more brightness and contrast. Does it look better now? Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/161552-newbie-question-are-my-pictures-yellow-ish/?do=findComment&comment=1790952'>More sharing options...
pico Posted September 12, 2011 Share #8 Posted September 12, 2011 http://www.digoliardi.net/tmp.jpg It could look something like the above, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstotler Posted September 12, 2011 Share #9 Posted September 12, 2011 thanks for the feedback, its very useful for a beginner will a software like aperture for mac be adequate to edit the raw files? Hi. Aperture is more than enough. I've used LR and C1--Aperture is my software of choice. Just experiment more. Like Jaapv said, it's a matter of taste. Cheers! Will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me Leica! Posted September 12, 2011 Share #10 Posted September 12, 2011 Almost nobody will agree with me but I think you should at least look at what JPG gives you. Shoot DNG plus JPG fine and see what you think of it. You will then have the "raw data" and also the camera's "processed" version. I did this when I had my M8 and I usually thought that the JPGs were easily good enough. Most people will disagree and say you should do the processing to the pictures afterwards with software. Maybe you will not be happy with JPG, and then of course you can take advice of others who suggest the softwares like Lightroom etc. Maybe you can try also DxO. But it is worth to try anyway. (Now I will be flamed by everyone;) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefano60 Posted September 12, 2011 Share #11 Posted September 12, 2011 Almost nobody will agree with me but I think you should at least look at what JPG gives you. Shoot DNG plus JPG fine and see what you think of it. You will then have the "raw data" and also the camera's "processed" version. I did this when I had my M8 and I usually thought that the JPGs were easily good enough. Most people will disagree and say you should do the processing to the pictures afterwards with software. Maybe you will not be happy with JPG, and then of course you can take advice of others who suggest the softwares like Lightroom etc. Maybe you can try also DxO. But it is worth to try anyway. (Now I will be flamed by everyone;) no, nobody is going to flame you for expressing your opinion! (or at least i hope so). your advice is sensible, and perhaps he will be happy with the results too, it is really a matter of personal taste. i personally always find the 'jpegs' to be a little too flat, and i feel like i always need to make small -or not so small sometimes- adjustments in order to get 'the right feel' from the image. i used photoshop for a long time, then tried aperture, but once i discovered lightroom i never looked back; the ease of use and the degree of adjustments allowed are - in my very personal opinion- unbeatable. it is now virtually the only post processing software i use - maybe Nik's Silver at times for B&W ... but then again, if one is happy with jpeg, good for them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnick Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share #12 Posted September 12, 2011 Dear all, I would like to thank you all for the feedback it really means a lot (and helps a lot!!) I have now both aperture and capture one on my mac and I will now try to experiment a bit more with them Like stefano pointed out, I also noted a lot of spots on my pictures, especially when the focus is to infinity: is cleaning the sensor an easy operation? can I do it myself? can it also be that there is some dirt in the lens ? thanks again Giovanni Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 12, 2011 Share #13 Posted September 12, 2011 No it is on the sensor. Have a look in the FAQ thread at the top of the M9 forum. There are many answers there that apply to the M8 as well. http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/130720-m9-faqs-frequently-asked-questions-answers.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnick Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted September 12, 2011 No it is on the sensor. Have a look in the FAQ thread at the top of the M9 forum. There are many answers there that apply to the M8 as well. http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/130720-m9-faqs-frequently-asked-questions-answers.html excellent thanks Ill take a look Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstotler Posted September 14, 2011 Share #15 Posted September 14, 2011 excellent thanks Ill take a look BTW, here are two additional recommendations regarding color/color cast: (1) Get your WB off of auto and on to factory settings. (That way your WB doesn't jump around from photo-to-photo, which makes WB correction in post more work.) Set Daylight for sun. Set Cloudy for cloudy. Set Tungsten/Fluorescent when appropriate. Etc. (2) Get one of these and carry it in your bag: Michael Tapes Design - LensAlign - WhiBal - IJFR - WhiBal Certified Gray Card for White Balance (I have the G7 pocket size). When you're shooting a set in strange light (especially in low light or indoors with mixed lighting), include a shot of the card illuminated by the light you're using. In post, you can then hit the WB eyedropper and sample the grey of the card in the shot you took of the card to get the "correct" WB for the shot. E.g., shooting the card will give you a true neutral grey reference for the light in the scene. More specific than the factory settings for the light. You can get really nit-picky with color (calibration, etc.), but 1 is a good start and 2 will get you mostly where you need to go--if "playing" isn't enough. Cheers! Will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestMichigan Posted September 14, 2011 Share #16 Posted September 14, 2011 I'm not a Leica Expert, Photography Engineer, or a jpeg Guru either. I do know to trust the empirical evidence gathered from many different scenes, lighting situations, exposure variables, and I trust what my Eyes and my Mind tell me about the jpeg engine in the M8. It is unreliable in how it handles strong tonal transitions, it tends to get jaggies for seemingly no reason, and appears to add color fringing where non exists in an accompanying dng. Sprinkle some inconsistent auto-white balance into the jpegs and you will be coming away with some crappy images when you least expect it. On the other hand: I DO shot DNG+JPG frequently, but that is for a very non-photographic reason. I semi-regularly need to quickly share images with family or friends on the go and/or I need to 'edit' some images on my iPad for sharing quickly. Just shooting DNG (Raw) pretty much blows that out of the water because almost nobody I personally know can view DNG's or RAW files in any manner and the ipad app's I've used all seem to choke on my M8's DNG files. In Summary: The M8's jpegs aren't worthless nor are they complete disasters. They will provide a benefit and fill a certain kind of role, but they don't do the camera, the sensor, or the lenses, we put upon them any favors at all. Sincerely Richard in Michigan Almost nobody will agree with me but I think you should at least look at what JPG gives you. Shoot DNG plus JPG fine and see what you think of it. You will then have the "raw data" and also the camera's "processed" version. I did this when I had my M8 and I usually thought that the JPGs were easily good enough. Most people will disagree and say you should do the processing to the pictures afterwards with software. Maybe you will not be happy with JPG, and then of course you can take advice of others who suggest the softwares like Lightroom etc. Maybe you can try also DxO. But it is worth to try anyway. (Now I will be flamed by everyone;) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZDavid Posted September 14, 2011 Share #17 Posted September 14, 2011 I think JPEGs are underrated and can be excellent. DNG will record more detail but can take a lot of time in PP to produce the results you are happy with. Why not experiment with various settings to see which you prefer? For example, JPG, auto WB and manual WB, and DNG. Lightroom is excellent for tweaking settings. Changing white balance makes a huge difference. Another very affordable program for Macs is Graphic Converter (Lemke Software - Mac Fotobearbeitung, Mac Diashow, Mac Grafikprogramm, Mac Bildbetrachter). Easy to resize pics, very fast to adjust contrast and saturation, and auto levels works well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted September 14, 2011 Share #18 Posted September 14, 2011 Matter of tastes of course but i see a world of difference between jpegs and dngs processed with a good raw converter. Also jpegs cannot evolve whereas raw converters constantly do. Shooting jpeg is like developing a negative and throwing the latter away when the prints are done. Let me give you a good advise folks. Even if you prefer jpegs, choose dng+jpeg and keep your dngs preciously. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 15, 2011 Share #19 Posted September 15, 2011 Actually I find that as soon as an image requires corrections or even rescuing:eek:, the JPG workflow is much more time consuming than starting out with a raw file, simply because one is constantly fighting limited options. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
animefx Posted September 29, 2011 Share #20 Posted September 29, 2011 Many people understate this but to get great colors a UV / IR cut filter is necessary even manditory. Seriously, I shot my m8 without one for the first 2 or 3 weeks of owning it and the colors were "so so" at best... Now they are MUCH better that I have a UV / IR cut filter on my 40mm f/2 rokkor-m lens Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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