New M8 Owner

[Geoff Marshall]

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Hi to everyone in the M8 section

I have just recently purchased a Leica M8 to add to my film Leica collection (LTM and M,s) all of which get used depending on which takes my fancy at the time. The main reason for getting the M8 was for black and white fast turnaround rather than dev and scanning images to my pc for online sharing but having seen some of the colour images in the gallery I can see me using it for both. Any information about processing in Lightroom that other users have and use would be greatly appreciated.

 

Geoff.

[Ernstk]

Hi Geoff

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

As broad guidelines, I shoot in RAW and process in Lightroom. Most of my work ends up being in B&W so I don't use an IR filter. Everyone has their own specific workflows but generally, I try to do as little as possible to the image.

 

I'll adjust exposure and contrast overall and sometimes in local areas too and maybe add some clarity but beyond that, not much. 

 

One thing I have found is that you can underexpose by 4-5 stops on the M8 and still pull out good shadow detail in Lightroom.

 

Ernst

[sixteen pads]

hey Geoff, 

 

Welcome and enjoy. 

Nothing hits like the M8 in BW. 

Even the Monochrom does not have that much MOJO. 

 

Congrats !

[wda]

Welcome to the forum, Geoff. A good starting point are the Lightroom presets in Develop mode. Fine-tuning should get you near to what you envisaged. The M8 is also good for IR. A search will reveal useful past discussions.

 

Enjoy your M8.

[jaapv]

Don't forget your IR filters when doing colour!

[Ko.Fe.]

Good move on M8, then you have film Leica cameras, it cuts film use a lot.

I liked M8 for colors, since C-41, E6 is not as fan as bw film at home. But I never never get this huray bug for M8 BW. Well, I print instead of scan. And I like muddy prins. 

 

So, how to process M8 file in LR? Start with DNG file and proceed until you like it. Since personal preferences is variable, here is one just basic advice. Hit to make it black and white, proceed with contrast, clarity and so on. If you still don't like it, then use to slides for colors under color and b/w switch on the top. 

 

Also if someone ever suggest to watch for histogram, put them on ignore list. Histogram is not for artists.  

[rivi1969]

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I was going to comment but seems the OP is not replying anyway.

[Geoff Marshall]

Hi and thanks for the responses, after working a few long shifts since getting the M8 I’m hopefully going to get out and use the camera on the street over the next couple of days. Can’t wait to see what results I get and hopefully I will have some posted in the gallery in a day or two.

 

Geoff.