Simplistic Question on 240 vs 246

[Lenshacker]

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The M Monochrom is built on the M9 platform, itself based on the M8. The firmware in the M9 is stable, I've never had a problem with discreet mode or cold weather operation with 1.176. Did not need anything further, no problems encountered. The problem is the M Monochrom never got the firmware support required to correct problems as it was introduced late in the M9 life-cycle and Leica moved to the M240 platform. The latter received several updates early in the cycle, I'm sure that took most of the development resources. The M Monochrom was built on an "Obsolete" platform when introduced. It can be viewed as an experiment, no one has brought out a monochrome camera in over a decade, not counting digital backs for medium format.

 

The same pattern has been repeated with the M246- brought out at the end of the M240 lifecycle, with a new color M mount camera imminent. The new M platform will also require some intense development. The M240 platform- uses a 5 year old EVF, a 3+ year old sensor, and old electronics. The world of digital- 3 year lifecycle is a long time. It will be interesting to see if Leica supports the M246 as poorly as they have supported the M Monochrom.

 

It would have been better for Leica to introduce a new platform offered in color and monochrome. The hardware and firmware would be interchangeable, basically set to enable color or monochrome based on the sensor. Most of the firmware would be identical, generating the correctly formatted DNG and JPEG files is not be difficult.

 

For M240 users converting most of their images to monochrome- try shooting with a yellow filter.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Lenshacker

[Berlinman]

I will try the yellow filter - sounds interesting..

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[mjh]

The M Monochrom is built on the M9 platform, itself based on the M8. The firmware in the M9 is stable, I've never had a problem with discreet mode or cold weather operation with 1.176. Did not need anything further, no problems encountered. The problem is the M Monochrom never got the firmware support required to correct problems as it was introduced late in the M9 life-cycle and Leica moved to the M240 platform. The latter received several updates early in the cycle, I'm sure that took most of the development resources. The M Monochrom was built on an "Obsolete" platform when introduced. It can be viewed as an experiment, no one has brought out a monochrome camera in over a decade, not counting digital backs for medium format.

 

The same pattern has been repeated with the M246- brought out at the end of the M240 lifecycle, with a new color M mount camera imminent. The new M platform will also require some intense development. The M240 platform- uses a 5 year old EVF, a 3+ year old sensor, and old electronics. The world of digital- 3 year lifecycle is a long time. It will be interesting to see if Leica supports the M246 as poorly as they have supported the M Monochrom.

The M Monochrom (Typ 246) already incorporates all the updates of the M/M-P (Typ 240), just as the original M Monochrom did incorporate all the updates for the M9 available at the time. The original M Monochrom did get an update (1.002) that specifically addressed issues with discreet mode although many owners reported that discreet mode still didn‘t work properly; the M9 never got this update although it suffered from issues with dicreet mode as well – some people reverted to an earlier firmware to solve these issues.

Edited May 21, 2015 by mjh

[photomac]

For M240 users converting most of their images to monochrome- try shooting with a yellow filter.

 

Am I right that white balance set to "Auto" would try to compensate the yellow filter? So I guess you have to use "daylight"?

[mjh]

Am I right that white balance set to "Auto" would try to compensate the yellow filter? So I guess you have to use "daylight"?

White balance doesn’t affect raw data at all. It doesn’t matter.

[jaapv]

But the colour shifts created by the  yellow filter are virtually impossible to correct, and if you manage to obtain a more or less correct colour impression by sophisticated PS techniques you will have introduced quite a bit of noise.

[pico]

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[...] I programmed the first-generation parallel supercomputers. [...]

 

In  the Winter of 1995 I hosted a visit of motorcyclists to my very remote farm. All were Cray programmers. After cross-country skiing, crazy runs around the property in their underwear (Winter show-offs), and lots of beer we settled in front of my fireplace, relaxed. I heard the words, "The Super Computer as we know it now is going to be eclipsed by desktop computers Real Soon Now." I'm not acute, but I took it in and certainly enough we at the university shortly  stopped requesting grants for time on Minnesota's super computers. Eventually it took longer to get approval on one of their Crays than it did to achieve the same on a PC running 24x7.

 

But we have no idea whatsoever of what is SOTA today.

.

[jaapv]

This thread is getting a bit confusing with two different subjects running through one another. It would be better to start a separate thread on the history of programming in Barnack's Bar imo.

[photomac]

White balance doesn’t affect raw data at all. It doesn’t matter.

 

Mea Culpa - sometimes I don't see the wood for the trees...

[algrove]

Pico - did you show these guys how to write in the snow?

[01af]

... why can't the software correct for the color filter factors to assign a density of gray to each pixel while ignoring the color extrapolation?

Because the filters are coloured. So the sensel's response behind the filter depends on both the light's intensity and colour. It's impossible to simply ignore one aspect (colour) and solely process the other (intensity). Both aspects are mingled with each other and require proper Bayer de-mosaicing in order to get access to either colour or intensity (even if you're interested in intensity only and not in colour).

[kkcsm]

This thread is getting a bit confusing with two different subjects running through one another. It would be better to start a separate thread on the history of programming in Barnack's Bar imo.

 

I was just about to introduce some cat photos.  Should I create a new thread for that?