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Survey: Your opinion about the new LEICA M MONOCHROM


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What do you think about the LEICA M MONOCHROM?  

1,488 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think about the LEICA M MONOCHROM?

    • Perfect camera for me! Where can I order?
      231
    • I'd like to have one but too expensive...
      745
    • Sounds interesting but nothing for me
      296
    • Not interested
      164
    • What a weird idea by Leica...
      112


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Not having the option is the point of the M Monochrom ... or, well, one of the points. An important point anyway.

 

I have no trouble visualising a potential photograph in black and white, as can other people. It isn't necessary for me to be nannied into B&W thinking by a camera.

 

Steve

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Having read Sean Reids review I have gone from being interested to wanting one.

At the first chance I get I want to do back to back test with my M9. I am not all that bothered about M10 as at this point in time it does not exist ( other than S Danials prototype)

Once I have tried one ,if I am happy I will buy one.

Brian

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The samples of clouds on Reid Reviews shows the whites of clouds going grey also.

 

But I think we need more testing or at least an explanation of why this happens....

 

So they did on film - we had our solutions...

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I like it and applaud Leica for having the cohones to release such a camera.

 

If I was getting into the system today, MM would be my first choice no doubt. I shoot about 90% B/W. However, as a professional - clients sometimes demand color as well as b/w., no matter how crappy the color version is. So , I cannot NOT have the option for B/W.

 

I will not buy the MM but that is because I already own a M9 which I am perfectly happy with. Perhaps in a few years when the MM.2 comes out I will consider getting that and keeping my M9 for color work.

After all, the M9 does wonderful 90x60 cm prints.

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The thread is closed? My bad? Sorry about that.

 

Really, I did not, I hope, say you would be fired. I was speaking of a different case, of an Apple representative being silly and nasty in-person, but suffice to say he was clearly wrong. (I had developed a media server and iTunes-like facilities that we put into operation years before iTunes and he was dissing me totally out of history, out of context. He was a fool.)

 

But you are right - don't take me too seriously. I do not lie, but I do have a wide range of 'tudes, mostly in good humor, but your Tooth Fairy remark is unacceptable. I AM the tooth fairy. Don't sleep with your mouth open tonight. I need sleep, too.

.

 

No harm, no foul. By the way, you asked me what "they" call me, Sunshine Beyder? No, they call me Master Beyder :o

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I would love to have one and my girlfriend even more so, but not at that price. I am currently an m8 user and am more interested in an m10 or an m9 at this point. I would like to see portraits with the M Monochrom that use a red filter. I like bright skin in many of my b&w photos, although I like the more traditional b&w look as well.

Edited by animefx
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I'm impressed with this new Leica, think it's the perfect tool for B&W photographers!

 

For me, i'm a color photographer who shoots sometimes B&W, so to me the M9P is my camera, it suits my way of shooting.

 

Leica did a great job and it's typical Leica to stretch out their neck and make such a great product. Congratulations !!!!!

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I think it's funny how everyone intuively understands that this new camera's natural name is M9-M ... except Leica Camera AG.

 

It´s funny how everyone overlooks the fact that the "9" was left out on purpose because this camera will have it´s very own lifecycle.:)

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B & W is for the masses.

When will we, the real weirdoes, get our own M9 camera?

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!

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...

While the orange filter in the M9 Monochrom shot darkened the blue sky, it also darkened and muddied up the white clouds. With Tri-X film, the filter darkened the blue sky but left the white clouds a puffy bright white.

 

I´m sorry to say that in the "Leica example" the clouds are dark not due to the filter effect but because they were dark in the original scene already. In case a sensor behind an orange filter would render a bright white cloud as dark as in the example, the sensor would clearly not be panchromatic.

 

Of course you are right that the Leica sensor will have it´s own characteristic. The difference to various films will be visible but not dramatic - just as it isn´t between different panchromatic emulsions.

 

One additional point: any panchromatic film/sensor will render a white cloud less bright behind an orange filter, just because orange is perceived darker than white.

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It´s not about having the right idea but about having the right idea at the right moment.

Now the M9 has sufficient credibility to form the basis of a monochrome version. At the time of the Kodak digital just wasn´t well established enough to convince the end user. And the price was even higher than the Leica offering.

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I understand why many people would prefer the flexibility to shoot color or bw with a standard M9, but I do see the advantages to a monochrome sensor. For the record I probably haven't shot a roll of color film in maybe 10 years. All of my work is black and white and I am still totally film based. So, for me personally a camera that strictly shot bw would be of interest if the performance it delivered was out of the ordinary.

 

Here is some of my work

 

http://elanphotos.com/ElanFotos/contest_01/index.html

 

 

Obviously the M9-M images will be very sharp, acutance will be very high (something lacking in digital photography) and I suspect that there will be an improvement in tonality. Noise performance should also be greatly improved, because there is no chroma noise. The ISO 10000 images are grainy, but in a pleasant way.

 

On the other hand the camera uses a modified version of the current M9 CCD sensor. The base ISO is now 320 Asa, which in a different thread was pointed out should be good for a boost of one stop in dynamic range. That's a good thing, but given that the M9 doesn't exactly shine in this department, it's not as much of an improvement as I would have hoped for. To me bw photography is mostly about tonality and exposure latitude, not necessarily sharpness. So I am looking for a useable range of 12-14 stops.

 

As usual the pricetag is a big issue. Unless you are rolling in cash or can recoup your investment through paying jobs, $8000 for a specialized tool is an awful lot of money. Yes, Leicas have always been more expensive then the competition, but when I purchased my first Leica and lens about 15 years ago I did not spend the equivalent of what a compact car costs.

 

So, I will once again pass, although i have to give Leica credit for thinking outside of the box. I don't think the camera will fail, but I also do not believe that Leica thinks they are going to sell these by the cart load.

 

Hopefully Photokina will bring us the M10 with a CMOS sensor, improved electronics, weather sealing and a bigger RAW buffer.

Edited by thrid
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The MM camera makes me think about buying an m7 for the fun of B&W on it's 'real' media; film. An $8000.00 bw camera ..... well if it's so good, why throw in Silver Effex? I often shoot my m9 in bw mode, jpg, adjust the contrast and sharpness in camera, and open the file in Adobe 'camera raw'. That way I can edit without IQ loss and come out with a great BW file. Any thoughts?

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why not sfxpro? options are fine. otherwise, why are some of us using lightroom, others capture one, etc? don't most take a basic raw file and "process" in software? sometimes, doesn't processing allow us to "save" an image that would not be quite what we wanted otherwise? or take an image and turn it into something unexpected and maybe even beyond what we "thought" we captured originally? i'm all for options. also, i believe jaap said somewhere that leica and adobe have agreed on some parameters for sfxpro that are specific to the mm. worth have a look at then, if one has the camera. (won't happen for me, but i like knowing this whole process of delivering the mm to market has been thought through.)

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