About to buy an MM ...

[Silicon]

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I've been a D-Lux 4 user for a number of years, and absolutely love my Leica camera. I recently came across the M Monochrom and immediately felt this camera was designed with me in mind. I'm certainly not a professional, but I enjoy what I do, and would consider this to be a long term purchase. I'm also nuts about my Polaroid SX-70, which I also use exclusively in black and white - but that's another story.

 

I've mainly used my D-Lux 4 in a custom monochrome mode since I purchased it, and I have absolutely no problem shooting only black and white, or using a rangefinder. In some sense, I'd be going back to my early camera days. I also have other cameras if I want color, but I doubt I'll use them after getting this camera.

 

I'm considering getting a Summicron 50mm f/2 lens with it (for my first Leica lens).

 

Because I'm new to a camera of this caliber, is there anything I'm missing or that I should know before doing this?

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[Chuck Albertson]

Don't overexpose (blows out highlights much easier than a color camera does), and don't decide to delete a picture because you don't like the way it looks on the LCD on the back. Bring them all back, download them onto your computer, and then decide.

[250swb]

Yes, use the histogram more than you might do with a colour camera. Make sure the highlights don't go into the red (and also keep an eye on shadows)

 

You can set the clipping points for shadows and highlights, I have them set for 2% Shadow and 98% Highlight. So the Histogram is working in a range of 96% before warnings flash and gives some leeway at either end instead of it falling off a cliff.

 

This is all because the MM works on one channel of information, a colour camera works with three channels, RGB. So in colour each of the three channels 'blows' at a slightly different level of exposure, where there is no detail to show. This means if two blow you may still get some detail or tone in the last one, and this provides a fair bit of exposure leeway. But when the single channel of the MM blows there is nothing at all left to rescue, hence using the histogram and adjusting the clipping indicators to suit the work you do.

 

Steve

[Silicon]

After thinking about the lens again, I may go with a 35mm Summicron. I hope this is a good choice.

[jcraf]

Welcome to the forum.

 

You can't go wrong with a 35 Summicron but might I suggest the 'latest' Aspherical version? The Asph is an optically superb yet compact lens which has been around for a good number of years now. Lots of used ones on the market if you are not planning to buy new.

 

If money is no object though, the current 35 Summilux FLE is a stunning lens, albeit a tad expensive. I use mine a great deal on my Monochrom.

[johnbuckley]

Silicon - go for it. You won't regret it. The only thing that will happen when you but it, with either the 35 or 50, is your joy in photography will go up, the pictures you take will amaze you, and you will find yourself leafing through photobooks, wondering how you can capture images like the classic ones you love.

[BerndReini]

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Get a used 35mm summicron aspherical as mentioned above and a used 50mm summicron (any version) in good condition. You will be a happy camper.

[akiralx]

The only snag with the Summiluxes on the MM is that you may find you need ND filters to shoot wideopen in daylight as the base ISO is 320. I can't help feeling that stacking filters on fast lenses must degrade the image somehow.

 

I end up using the 35 or 50 Summarits (f/2.5) on the MM and saving the faster lenses for the M9 or low light.

[Jeff S]

I end up using the 35 or 50 Summarits (f/2.5) on the MM and saving the faster lenses for the M9 or low light.

 

This might be a radical concept, but I think the Summiluxes can also be stopped down.

 

Jeff

[platypus]

Whichever lens you decide upon you will want to use it with either a yellow, orange or red filter to help the MM with contrast, as we used to do with b&w film.

For my MM I keep a medium red (B&W) filter on the lens all the time. As a small bonus this filter tends to make me underexpose all my shots a just a tad which in turn means no blown highlights.

I cant see why you would need an ND filter unless you are contemplating purchasing a Noctilux. Oh by the way...this camera will become the joy of your life!

[akiralx]

This might be a radical concept, but I think the Summiluxes can also be stopped down.

 

Jeff

 

Oh, I agree and I often do use my MM with a f/1.4 lens, but if on a particular day you can rarely use it wider then say f/4 then the much smaller and lighter Summarit makes more sense.

[fahadm]

The last 13 months of owning the Monochrom were the most enjoyable since I started photography in 1982.

 

Pros:

1. Rangefinder discretion, small size and low weight;

2. Monochrom purist experience (more involvement and thought in creative process);

3. Lack of Bayer filter improves IQ; RAW files are extremely dynamic;

4. I'm lazy and no longer have to worry about indoor white balance;

5. Color filters are invaluable (portraiture = yellow; harsh sun = red; everything else = orange).

 

Cons:

1. The memory buffer can be crippling at times;

2. Need to be careful with over-exposure (use a colour filter);

3. Shutter can improve a bit;

4. Wife demands colour shot or video every now and then

 

Lenses: the vintage lenses, especially Dr. Walter Mandler designs, render magically. I recently got a modern aspherical 28mm Elmarit, and the Mandler magic was 'gone'.

 

FWIW, I'd be content with a Monochrom for the rest of my life. Sadly, my Canon 5D2 and all prime lenses are sitting unused in a large Pelican case.

[MarkP]

Yes, use the histogram more than you might do with a colour camera. Make sure the highlights don't go into the red (and also keep an eye on shadows)

 

You can set the clipping points for shadows and highlights, I have them set for 2% Shadow and 98% Highlight. So the Histogram is working in a range of 96% before warnings flash and gives some leeway at either end instead of it falling off a cliff.

 

This is all because the MM works on one channel of information, a colour camera works with three channels, RGB. So in colour each of the three channels 'blows' at a slightly different level of exposure, where there is no detail to show. This means if two blow you may still get some detail or tone in the last one, and this provides a fair bit of exposure leeway. But when the single channel of the MM blows there is nothing at all left to rescue, hence using the histogram and adjusting the clipping indicators to suit the work you do.

 

Steve

 

Steve,

 

Why have you set the shadow/highlight warning for 2%/98% respectively?

Either you have information at >0/<100% (<0/<255) respectively) or you don't.

There is still information in the 98-<100% range so why bother?

 

My preference is only to know whether I've lost all highlight information so have only set the warning for 100% highlights. It's usually obvious from the histogram whether the image is significantly underexposed

 

Regards,

Mark

 

ps: with the increased dynamic range of the Monochrom c/w the M9, and a bit of experience, I rarely blow the highlights nowadays. If I do (either intentionlly because the lighting is beyond the sensor's dynamic range, or accidentally in a photograph I really want to keep) I can always add a bit of texture to those unsightly white holes in the final photograph with grain (LR/PS/SilverEfex) or Gausian noise (PS). In fact I rarely print without adding these to the final print as it gives the print a less shot-on-video and more of a filmic (or 'organic') look.

[250swb]

It's only a warning Mark. At 98% I can still make a grey into white detail, but at 100% I can't make a pure white into grey detail, and at 2% I can make a grey into black detail, but I can't make a solid black into grey detail.

 

Using the clipping warnings doesn't stop blown highlights, it only warns as you get near them. Under shooting the 100% figure by a tiny amount doesn't affect the dynamic range in any crucial way. But the warnings tell me I am very close to the extremes and I should maybe bracket a few exposures and not leave it to chance that there is enough latitude in the file. You don't have to act on the warnings, they are an early wake up call.

 

I suppose the difference between your approach and mine is that you want to know when you've lost the detail, I want to know before I've lost the detail.

 

Steve

[tmldds]

Go for it. You will be very happy. The files are amazing to work with and hold so much details. They may look flat and dull on the screen, but once you get the raw files on the computer, you will be amazed what you can do with those files. Once again, don't blow the highlights! Good luck with your purchase. Why not consider a used 35 'lux? The rendering of the pre-asph lenses compliment this camera so well, in my opinion.

[MarkP]

 

I suppose the difference between your approach and mine is that you want to know when you've lost the detail, I want to know before I've lost the detail.

 

Steve

 

but regardless one still won't know whether one is close to losing, or has lost the detail, until one has checked the histogram.

Then, if one haven't lost the detail one doesn't need to bracket & shoot again unless for other reasons one is not happy with the overall distribution of the histogram .

 

Mark

[250swb]

but regardless one still won't know whether one is close to losing, or has lost the detail, until one has checked the histogram.

Then, if one haven't lost the detail one doesn't need to bracket & shoot again unless for other reasons one is not happy with the overall distribution of the histogram

 

I see what you mean, but I don't think the histogram is the most important indicator.

 

The histogram is important for the basic exposure, but really I'm only interested in either end of the histogram, so the clipping overlay is more useful because the histogram can lie. What the overlay does is allow for interpretation of the image and doesn't deal in absolutes like the histogram on its own. So if I see the red flashing pixels are coming from sunlight reflected in drops of early morning dew I know that is OK, they are going to be pure white, something a simple red spike on the histogram won't tell you. Equally if I'm photographing the entrance to a trolls cave and I see the deepest darkest depths are flashing blue I'll know I could be there all day with the shutter open and still not record any detail, so I'll accept its going to be pure black.

 

And then there are the problems in between those above. The overlay will warn you that the corner of sky you got in the picture is blowing out, so you can either re-compose to remove it, or bracket (if you have a tripod). So the histogram is dumb, the clipping overlay is interpretative, and sod the mid tones, if they are there somewhere on the scale they can be adjusted later.

 

Steve