M 240 JPG/DNG Question

[Garrett Lynch]

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Hi Guys,

 

A little background about me first to help--I'm still very new to the M and had previously acquired my first M last August (M9-P) and had it for about a month before selling it to help fund the M 240. I came from Canon and am thrilled to death with both M's (though the M9P had a hot pixel out of the box) but I'm still getting RF focusing down. I purchased a new 50 Lux Asph. last May in preparation for the M9P later in the fall. I'm also still very new to Lightroom and the "M Color" thread is my next project to learn. It's also hard as I don't have any baseline to use as a reference to what should and shouldn't be in regards to lens calibration and many of my images on the M 240 tend to be fairly soft but I'm not sure if that's just me trying to get the process down.

 

Looking at some DNGs and JPEGs with stock camera settings, I noticed an interesting issue on the edge of a vertical cross bar of the pictures shown below. The DNG, shows a solid red edge w hile the JPEG shows jagged edges. On the JPEG, it also appears there's quite a bit of compression noise and artifacts when cropped at 100%.

 

I'm curious if this is normal or should I be concerned with it? I'll also link the full size photos as well.

 

Originals:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/knsjz3m63f2njuo/L1000100.JPG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6m2gckk49fwoo0r/L1000100.DNG

 

I'm also shocked to see such a different WB difference between JPEG OOC and DNG as the M9 I don't remember being as drastic...

 

 

Thanks for your input!

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[jaapv]

Exactly why you should do DNG and postprocess. No camera has the processing power your PC/Mac has.

[Garrett Lynch]

Jaap,

 

Thanks! Looks like I'll be working off DNG only. Being my first M's and nothing to reference what's correct versus not correct, I think I was more worried if something was faulty and I would never know it.

[CheshireCat]

Don't worry.

 

The hardware is ok. The firmware is bad (but it can be fixed ). The user is faulty (but you can fix it ).

 

Heavily/inefficiently compressed JPEG show this kind of artifacts. The jagged edges are usually caused by chroma subsampling and/or subsequent quantization.

 

To fix the user is simple: never use JPEG. Stick to DNG. On the M 240 you can safely enable DNG compression (it is lossless).

You can then export JPEG with much better quality using a good app.

[theno23]

Agree with the above.

 

The soft images are another matter though - that shouldn't be the case unless your shutter speeds are too low, or you've not focused on the right place.

 

Try putting the camera on a tripod and shooting something at infinity with f/8 - if you don't get sharp focus then there's something wrong with the lens or camera.

[Garrett Lynch]

Thanks a bunch to both of you. DNG it will be and it's definitely a learning curve but an exciting one at that. I'm relieved to hear the body is normal and a few firmware updates to look forward to.

 

-Garrett

[tobey bilek]

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At least make a large JPEG and enable some sharpening in camera which will effect the JPEG only.

 

The problem with JPEG is sharpening is final image size and media type specific. The camera can not know the final intention.

 

JPEG is a total waste of time in my opinion except for a quick preview to give to a photo editor.

[gib_robinson]

Is the DNG compression really lossless? Are there any downsides to compressing the files? As I recall there were some questions about "lossless" compression in M8 threads.

 

Thanks,

 

--Gib

[jaapv]

The DNG compression on the M is truly lossless. On the M9 it is not, nor on the M8, but on the last you cannot alter it.

[01af]

Is the DNG compression really lossless?

In the M (Typ 240), yes. In the previous digital M models, no.

 

 

Are there any downsides to compressing the files?

No, there aren't.

[hoppyman]

.......I'm also shocked to see such a different WB difference between JPEG OOC and DNG as the M9 I don't remember being as drastic...

 

To add a comment on that White Balance aspect:

 

When you shoot DNG and/or JPG, the camera will apply either your manual WB selection or its calculation for AWB initially and display that effect approximately in the LCD preview. Then that adjustment is applied by default to the saved JPG file and just annotated to the DNG (where you can adjust it later with zero penalty in raw processing).

 

But the actual WB set in the camera (auto or manual) is identical in either format.

 

You may actually be talking about colour rendering (default colour "signatures") rather than White Balance. This gets into several LARGE topics

[algrove]

Garrett

 

Just saw this thread. Perhaps you are fully aware of this, but when you use the M try to keep from stabbing the shutter release button.

 

Also above where it was suggested you try a tripod, remember also to use a cable release since that would eliminate any potential shutter stabbing that might be occurring.