Digital Leica M questions

[FlashGordonPhotography]

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On 9/28/2020 at 10:57 PM, qilpesen9 said:

Hey guys,

I've never shot a digital M outside of playing with one at a Leica store. I've never owned a digital camera. I have an M3 and MP and always have one at hand. I shoot probably 80% b&w, usually HP5 or TriX. I develop my own stuff and make prints and really love the b&w tones of film. Lately I've been flirting with the idea of getting a digital M as well, or at least trying one.

As I've never experienced a digital M, or digital still camera (lots of digital video experience though) for that matter, I have NO experience with setting a certain "look" for digital, shooting in raw vs JPEG etc. I understand all these concepts as I've done plenty of digital video work, but I've never been an editor, so my experience is just limited to operating the camera. I guess I have a few questions for you guys, and I'm sorry if they are amateur-ish. I know my way around the older M's backwards and forwards but the digital stuff is a little intimidating to me.

• How does the m10 compare to the monochrom in B&W?

• How many of you digital leica users shoot raw vs jpeg? If you use both, which scenarios would you use them for?

• When is the "look" applied? Is it a setting you can pre-set and have show up on photos automatically in preview mode?

• For B&W do you shoot raw and tweak each photo on a computer later, or JPEG and make changes to contrast in settings?

If you can see what direction I'm going here and I'm not asking the right questions, please let me know or fill me in!

Thanks!

You'll read al the opinions and probably end up with your own workflow anyway. It really doesn't matter how you get to the end result as long as it's the result you want.

1. Colour or Monochrom? The M10M will be familiar in workflow to you. You only have mono data to deal with so any filters you used with film will also serve their purpose on the M10M. Your shooting workflow will feel familiar. You'll learn the way the sensor responds like trying a new type of film and go from there. In post Lightroom becomes your darkroom and you can dodge burn and play with tones and contrast, just like playing with developers, fixers and papers. Except you can always go back to the start.

A colour M10 will be a change. You can set the rear screen to mono and Jpegs will be converted to B&W (and behave like a Monochrom with less flexibility in processing) and raw images will keep all their colour information. Or leave it in colour and get a colour jpeg and preview. In post you can then manipulate the look by playing with the channels which is kind of like using your filters after the fact. Again you can always go back to the start and you can make multiple versions and even pop out a colour image if you want. As above you can dodge and burn to your hearts content (plus so much more) without damaging the file.

2. Most of us shoot in raw. I shoot in raw on my M10M and raw + jpeg on my M10R. I use the jpegs for when I want to send someone a photo quickly of for social media if I can't be bothered processing the files. If in doubt start by shooting both raw+jpeg and decide from there. Do what you want with total disregard for the opinions of others.

3&4. The "look" can be applied either before or after. With jpegs it's mostly before and raw mostly after. You can also set presets in your processing software OR start from scratch. Most people start their learning curve with presets and slowly take control as they learn. With raw you can always go back and have another go as your skills in post improve.

Moving from film to digital seems intimidating but really it doesn't take long to get the basics down and decent images coming out of your processor of choice. There are vast resources on-line to help you learn the basics.

One last thing. Working photographers have a saying. "Two is one and one is none". That means backups. ALWAYS make two copies of the images from your memory cards before you load them into your processing software.

Gook luck. Enjoy the journey.

Gordon

[jaapv]

One other thing: moving from analog to digital will require you to refine your focusing technique; film can forgive small errors, but the digital workflow is merciless, just compare the images in the "I like film" thread to the ones in, for instance, the "street" subforum.