Leica SL2 Firmware 2.0: 187 MP Multishot Mode

[SrMi]

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2 minutes ago, bsmith said:

That's what I did. In LR (from edit with of C1), I only "merged" the bracketed exposures and then exported as a DNG (not DMG) but C1 could not open the LR exported DNG. I tried twice. 

I know I can export as 16bit tiff (and did) but I wanted to see if the LR DNG would work

To clarify, my post was a response to Photoworks post (it is referenced in my post), not to yours :). 

[Photoworks]

2 hours ago, bsmith said:

That's what I did. In LR (from edit with of C1), I only "merged" the bracketed exposures and then exported as a DNG (not DMG) but C1 could not open the LR exported DNG. I tried twice. 

I know I can export as 16bit tiff (and did) but I wanted to see if the LR DNG would work

Yes a typo. again and again

[Jim B]

On 6/19/2020 at 11:18 AM, Lili Lettice Leatherby said:

I don't feel comfortable saying this as Im a great fan of Leica, especially their staff -  and spent an awful lot of money on their products 

but - unless im doing something wrong - and I cant see I am - its not fit for my purpose .. 

I wrote about this quite sometime ago.... It happens with my SL lenses and it’s a major power design flaw.  Leica should be ashamed of releasing a camera that does not work to spec, and is not professionally reliable.

[caissa]

11 hours ago, Jim B said:

I wrote about this quite sometime ago.... It happens with my SL lenses and it’s a major power design flaw.  Leica should be ashamed of releasing a camera that does not work to spec, and is not professionally reliable.

Yes, this is long ago. But already longer I have a solution that works for me. I use an external power bank (it should be a USB PD powerbank, details are important). I connect it to the camera and it takes power exclusively from it. So I chose a strong powerbank (Anker 26800 PD). It works for me and my lenses (some adapted, some L). I cannot guarantee that it will work with all lenses. But it costs not much (less than a second battery) and should be easy to try out. So I suggest you give it a try instead of waiting for an *official* solution.

Just a hint. Up to you if you want to try it or rather not.

Edited December 9, 2020 by caissa

[Sjz]

I used Multishot once, to test it, have not used it since, despite my ‘wow, that is awesome detail’.

Is anyone using Multishot regularly?

I am planning some photos where nothing at all will be moving, even then I am fairly sure 47MP will be ‘sufficient’.

Just wondered if I was missing out….. or are 187MP only interesting for Pixel Peeping.  I remember the noise before it was available, then when it became available, don’t hear anything about it now.

[hofo100]

vor 42 Minuten schrieb Sjz:

I used Multishot once, to test it, have not used it since, despite my ‘wow, that is awesome detail’.

 

Similar to my experience...However, just a couple of days ago I have been able to sell 2 of my pictures to be printed in very large format (about 2,4m x 2,4m, about 95inch x 95inch) for LED light frames and the printer recommended 120dpi, which would have been the ideal situation for multishot would I have known by the time. Anyway, my point is that the "Superresolution" function recently added to LR did an equal excellent job, so this - for me - even further reduces the use case for Multishot.

[LocalHero1953]

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I use multishot when copying 4x5 negatives using my SL2-S. 

[Paul2660]

If you print large the more resolution you have the better. 
 

I have found the following from using multi shot in the SL2. 
 

The files will have better shadow details. Shadows will be cleaner and you have more push. This seems true for ISO 100 to 1600. 
 

The highlights can clip easier thus I tend to under expose a bit with multi shot. 
 

Accurate focus is critical. This is probably the single most important issue. I tend to manually focus when using the feature. 
 

Resulting image of a good capture at 300dpi I feel I feel is much superior to Adobe super resolution uprez of corresponding 47 MP image captured at same time. Topaz Gigapixel is slightly better than Adobe’s result to my results. 
 

Slight wind can sometimes be accommodated by the motion correction version of the multi shot but you really need to watch for wind. 
 

I feel the best aperture range is from F5.6 to F9. I have used smaller apertures up to F14 but diffraction does really start to show. 
 

I prefer Capture One for the DNG conversion. Would love to see ON1 support for the SL2. Both normal resolution and multi shot. 
 

Paul 

[SrMi]

7 hours ago, Paul2660 said:

If you print large the more resolution you have the better. 
 

I have found the following from using multi shot in the SL2. 
 

The files will have better shadow details. Shadows will be cleaner and you have more push. This seems true for ISO 100 to 1600. 
 

The highlights can clip easier thus I tend to under expose a bit with multi shot. 
 

Accurate focus is critical. This is probably the single most important issue. I tend to manually focus when using the feature. 
 

Resulting image of a good capture at 300dpi I feel I feel is much superior to Adobe super resolution uprez of corresponding 47 MP image captured at same time. Topaz Gigapixel is slightly better than Adobe’s result to my results. 
 

Slight wind can sometimes be accommodated by the motion correction version of the multi shot but you really need to watch for wind. 
 

I feel the best aperture range is from F5.6 to F9. I have used smaller apertures up to F14 but diffraction does really start to show. 
 

I prefer Capture One for the DNG conversion. Would love to see ON1 support for the SL2. Both normal resolution and multi shot. 
 

Paul 

I would also expect less false color (aliasing) issues with Multishot.

[hofo100]

Triggered by the re-vitalization of this thread I thought about "my" use case for Multishot - and this is one - for panoramic compositions where I do know that I will heavily crop Multishot will be good to have enough reserves in case you want to print large. Of course for displaying in the web like here this is completely over the top but I can imagine how this one might look on a wall printed really large - the photo is still 120mp...(SL2 & SVE 16-35mm)

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Edited September 2, 2021 by hofo100

[Speeding]

On 8/31/2021 at 2:46 AM, Sjz said:

I used Multishot once, to test it, have not used it since, despite my ‘wow, that is awesome detail’.

Is anyone using Multishot regularly?

I am planning some photos where nothing at all will be moving, even then I am fairly sure 47MP will be ‘sufficient’.

Just wondered if I was missing out….. or are 187MP only interesting for Pixel Peeping.  I remember the noise before it was available, then when it became available, don’t hear anything about it now.

I find it useful for product photography, landscapes, architecture, urban decay, and still life.  I've been experimenting with light trails and astro.  

[Mausweazle]

Is Multi-Shot still restricted to 1sec or faster? Other camera brands offer longer shutter speeds than that…

[beewee]

3 hours ago, Mausweazle said:

Is Multi-Shot still restricted to 1sec or faster? Other camera brands offer longer shutter speeds than that…

Yup. I believe the limitation is due to the need for electronic shutter and the 1s limitation is imposed by the electronic shutter. Why the same limitation exists on the SL2-S, I don’t know but I’ve pointed this out to Leica.

[malbooth]

I tried another few multishot images when down in Victoria recently. These were taken on a pretty exposed viewing area, early in the morning with a travel tripod, so I was a bit worried about some wind interference, but it seems to have been OK. 

The Twelve Apostles with the V-E 24-90: ISO 100, f/10, 55 mm, 1/40 sec

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[malbooth]

2 hours ago, malbooth said:

I tried another few multishot images when down in Victoria recently. These were taken on a pretty exposed viewing area, early in the morning with a travel tripod, so I was a bit worried about some wind interference, but it seems to have been OK. 

The Twelve Apostles with the V-E 24-90: ISO 100, f/10, 55 mm, 1/40 sec

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And just in case you're interested, attached is a screenshot of the basic metadata for a TIF file export of this image. I reckon it does give us a decent alternative to medium format photography.

Edited April 11, 2022 by malbooth
text correction

[malbooth]

Oops, sorry this was a mistake. Can it be deleted?

Edited April 11, 2022 by malbooth
mistaken post

[helged]

Hi folks - and 'apologies' for coming late to the party...

I have only recently tested the multishot option on SL2-S with the fabulous S180mm. Fantastic resolution. But the images tend to show slight zig zag/checkerboard patterns at contrasty edges (likely elsewhere also, but certainly along edges). Any experiences, remedies?

The example below shows the amazing resolution with the mentioned combo. At 100 percent magnification, most/all edges show a weak zig zag pattern. I havn't run extended tests with eg two tripods (one on the body, one on the lens, or similar), to reduce/eliminate vibration, but based on the images shown in this thread, I have a feeling that the pattern is fairly commonly found in multishot mode. I add a crop at 100 percent magnification of the buildings in the lower right corner (at a distance of approx 3 km); look at the edges of the the white window frames and white walls.

 

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[Paul2660]

I looked at this crop, and feel that something else may be going on here.  Many things can effect the finer details on a Multishot image.  I have attached a crop from the Lecia SL2 and 90-280 @ 280mm, F11.   This crop has a building edge similar to yours and is in bright light.  The zigging you are seeing is not there.  The building in this case was about 1 mile out, not sure what that is in KM.  I can't get the image to load with the correct detail due to site limitations to really show the detail, but I think it loads enough to see the edges of the building, i.e the straight lines.  MS can create an excellent image, however many times environment issues can create problems. 

The effects you are seeing might be due to several things.  

The time of day is critical with MS shots with a longer lens as the effect of heat shimmer is something that will ruin the shot, (it will do similar things to a large mega pixel single also but it won't be quite as noticeable).  Shimmer is what I call the effect that heat rising off a subject, which causes the subject to appear blurry or slightly out of focus.  When you view the image at 100% in your EV, you can see the shimmer.  One a bright day, the longer into the day, the worse this issue can be. 

I have also however seen similar artifacts at times, mainly on tree trunks, and the best way I know to I know to fix it is with a adding a slight Gaussian Blur in CC, which will help make the issue not as noticeable, and then you can also re-sharpen the file.  Also Topaz AI sharpener has a setting to "remove artifacts" and this can also help depending on the image. 

I don't think this is from the built in Movement correction that the MS option has, but if you have it on, you might try turning it off and see if you get a sharper image, without the zig zag effect, or vise versa (if you don't have it on, try it).  I rarely use the correction setting in the field as I feel it takes out the sharpest details. 

You can easily also scale down the image to say 150MP or 100MP and this issue will be much less noticeable.  I realize this is taking away the huge 187 MP output, but I have yet to need the full 187 size in my work and can pull out a 40 x 60 using some of the better tools like On1 resize if I need to make such a large print.  This is keeping the image at 300dpi the entire time. 

I always use the 12 second delay with all MS shots, not the 2 sec as I feel overall it allow for a better image even though I am using a very secure tripod. And most times use a external release to fire the camera. 

The results from MS can be excellent at times, but it will not always be the best solution depending on your shooting conditions, and or weather. 

Paul C 

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Edited February 4, 2023 by Paul2660

[Paul2660]

Here is the full image, so you can better see where the house in question is in relation to the full image. 

 

Paul C 

 

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[Pelu2010]

If there would be freehand multishot 

I would use it more often. For my taste the computers are to slow and files to big. 
 

I am too impatient to wait so long on an image. The panorama and multishot is just too much for the computer I use. 
 

but freehand is the bigger issue. 
 

if the next camera has this feature I would love to see it working with freehand.