Monochrom and APO 50 Test Mayfair

[Robert Seeney]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I had the chance to try out the Monochrom and APO 50 - and also with my M9. Very helpful staff at Mayfair - had a long discussion about film and M3's

 

Anyway, firing up Lightroom I was quite surprised - although I have read the reviews with interest, there is nothing quite like taking your own shots. I love the M9 and to me it has only one flaw for my shooting - I need 2 more stops in low light to freeze action without resorting to flash. (m9 and cron). The screen and whatever is an irrelevance to me.

 

I had expected to be blown away by the moncohrom and not be 'overly' impressed with the APO (given the cost element and the fact I love my existing cron).

 

In my completely unscientific way ( i tend to go by gut feel and what the image looks like) here is my 2p:

 

1. The monochrom gives 2 stops for sure - the files are lovely straight from camera with the APO on...and I do mean lovely. Other than applying your own signature processing, you wouldn't have to do very much

 

2. The APO is a stunner - both on the M9 and more so on the monochrom. Since i was shooting randomly in the street outside the store, the subject matter was irrelevant but I could easily crop right in to 1/10 of the original frame on the monochrom/APO and it looks as though it is a full sized file - the M9/APO also did this but there was a definite edge to the monochrom. FOr those times when you snatch the shot and have to crop because of being out of position this will be very handy indeed...almost like a latent zoom function.

 

3. I didnt see much of an issue with highlights despite it being a sunny day- judged exposure by eye and no issues after a tweak.

 

4. At 'normal' ISO, the M9/APO file converted to black and white in lightroom is indistinguishable from the MM/APO to my eyes. The images have the same feel as one would expect using the same lens.

 

Food for thought for me for sure

 

Rob

[IWC Doppel]

I did the same

 

My post is in the M9 sub forum http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/238952-there-any-pictures-using-50mm-apo-2.html

 

I am reserving judgement on the M9-M (as I call it), but staright out of the camera into LR the images looked slightly low contrast (Not sure on settings etc), so I assume work in LR is even more critical.

 

The 50 APO was very impressive, much more so than I had expected (And it should be !)

[jonoslack]

There is a moral to your tales . . . and to mine.

 

 

If you don't want to buy a 50 APO 'cron . . . . DON'T TRY ONE OUT!

 

Thanks for the nice writeup Rob