M8 on Lightstalkers site

[garyp]

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For anyone who has not seen this:

 

Leica M8 - is it any good? | Lightstalkers

 

I found it pretty interesting

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Gotta love this part right here and i quote

 

"The first and foremost thing to mention is the absolutely outstanding quality of the files: extremely sharp, outstanding microcontrast, I did acouple of strict A-B tests with a Canon 5D before leaving to Iran and in my view the Leica wins hands down in terms of sharpness, microdetails, contrast, highlights and lowlights tolerance, as well colour transition smoothness. The autowhite balance of the M8 is adequate in most cases, but sometimes (not too often) quite a bit off; this is not as bad as it seems as I shoot raw. However, the raw files are usually almost perfect once opened with Camera Raw or C1, with very little need of photoshopping, certainly NO need for unsharp mask. The Canon 5D raw files in comparison, need unsharp mask and quite a bit of contrast (or gamma) doctoring before losing that plasticky feel. The final result of the 2 camera files after photoshopping is obviously very very good, but much less PS work is needed to get to that point with the M8"

 

 

and people wonder why we shoot the M8. LOL

 

I maybe crazy but i ain't stupid. ROTFLMAO

 

Funny thing is it sounds just like i described the DMR against the 1dsMKII many moons ago

[elopezso]

Am interested in this.

 

I've been processing my DNGs with Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. I keep the sharpening at default in either Camera Raw or Lightroom. When I go to print in Photoshop, I usually do a smart sharpen, amount 100, pixels 1 and then I do unsharp mask (local contrast) at amount 20, radius pixels 50 and threshhold 0. To my eye, the pics do not look oversharpened. Should I be experimenting with less sharpening?

 

What do some of the pros on the forum think?

 

Thanks to all for your words of wisdom.

 

Ed

[charlesphoto99]

Gotta love this part right here and i quote

 

"The first and foremost thing to mention is the absolutely outstanding quality of the files: extremely sharp, outstanding microcontrast, I did acouple of strict A-B tests with a Canon 5D before leaving to Iran and in my view the Leica wins hands down in terms of sharpness, microdetails, contrast, highlights and lowlights tolerance, as well colour transition smoothness. The autowhite balance of the M8 is adequate in most cases, but sometimes (not too often) quite a bit off; this is not as bad as it seems as I shoot raw. However, the raw files are usually almost perfect once opened with Camera Raw or C1, with very little need of photoshopping, certainly NO need for unsharp mask. The Canon 5D raw files in comparison, need unsharp mask and quite a bit of contrast (or gamma) doctoring before losing that plasticky feel. The final result of the 2 camera files after photoshopping is obviously very very good, but much less PS work is needed to get to that point with the M8"

 

 

and people wonder why we shoot the M8. LOL

 

I maybe crazy but i ain't stupid. ROTFLMAO

 

Funny thing is it sounds just like i described the DMR against the 1dsMKII many moons ago

 

Now if I could only convince this silly client next month who insist I shoot with a Canon 1ds Mk II. They even wrote it into the contract. I sent them an M8 raw file for consideration. They're taking the post in-house, rarely a good sign but it's really just a $ job so don't care that much other than I believe the M8 will look better plus I won't be out rental on a Mk II and lenses (it's an all inclusive budget). they said the m8 file wasn't good enough for up-rezzing. My fear is they treated it like a canon file, adding sharpening etc and then up-rezzed. Oh well, some people who don't know any better are just impressed by numbers.....

[fotografr]

Am interested in this.

 

Should I be experimenting with less sharpening?

 

What do some of the pros on the forum think?

 

 

 

Ed

 

I leave the default setting in ACR at 25 and never do any additional sharpening.

[elopezso]

Thanks Brent for your feedback. I will try just sharpening with the default in ACR next time and do no other sharpening before printing and then do some comparison when printing.

 

Anybody else want to venture an opinion?

 

Ed

[Guest Walt]

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For another take on this: I do no sharpening at all in ACR, Smart Sharpening at 100-125%, and USM at a radius of 40-50 and 5-15%. I sometimes do not do the USM step. This all depends a lot on the particular image, the lighting, subject, and to some extent on the lens. And it depends *a lot* on how you are printing it. I print on matte papers with an Epson 4800, 13 x 19 or 17 x 22 inches. I'd probably sharpen less for glossy papers.