Leica SL aspect ratios - behavior?

[andrewteee]

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Hi, I went out to the woods for a photowalk today with the Leica SL and for some creative inspiration I experimented with different aspect ratios, primarily 1:1 and 3:1 (panoramic). My question is about how the SL creates the various aspect ratio DNG files.

 

But first...

 

After I got home I downloaded the image files and began to look at them in Iridient Developer. When I opened the 1:1 or 3:1 image files (DNGs), they crashed Iridient Developer. After some experimentation I figured out that I have to open them through the app (File - Open) rather than from the Finder, and I have to make sure the Default Aspect Ration (RAW) setting is set to Use Camera File Size in the Open File dialog box. Then, Develop opens the uncropped full size DNG image. As far as I can tell, Developer cannot read the Leica SL aspect ratio crop information in the DNG file. Developer did manage to open a couple of 3:1 images and hold them open for a few seconds before crashing, and indeed those DNG files were correctly cropped to 3:1. 

 

That challenge was how I learned that the Leica SL may be treating the aspect ratios in different ways. What I learned is that in creating the 3:1 aspect ratio image the SL takes a rectangle from the center of the image, not an edge to edge crop of the full sensor (does that make sense?). I would have assumed that images taken at 3:1 in the SL would simply crop the image top and bottom to create the 3:1 panoramic image, and allow the full width of the image to go edge to edge. Instead, what the SL is doing is creating a 3:1 image from a center rectangle from the sensor, and thus cropping not only the top and bottom but sides too. 

 

I'll attach a screenshot from Photoshop to show what I'm describing here. This is when I opened the DNG file and selected the Crop tool in Camera Raw. When I do that, you can see the default "crop" of the SL 3:1 aspect ratio. 

 

In any event, that behavior sounds odd to me; unexpected at least. Therefore, I'd love to learn how the SL creates the various aspect ratios (at least for the DNGs). Are there any resources online where I can learn about that? I can also experiment with my SL, but since Developer apparently can't read the cropped DNGs I'd have trouble doing that on my own (FWIW I opened one of the DNG files in Photoshop and it defaulted to the cropped 3:1 image). 

 

TIA! 

 

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[andrewteee]

It seems my SL had somehow been set to shoot for APS, not FF (35mm)! No idea how that happened. The DNGs were FF, the JPGs were APS. 

 

That still does not explain/resolve the crashing of Iridient Developer, but it explains why the aspect ratios were demonstrating their behavior.