M10 Monochrom Highlight Recovery question

[SrMi]

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On 12/23/2020 at 6:55 PM, robgo2 said:

A live histogram is one of the biggest advantages that mirrorless digital cameras have over DSLRs and rangefinders.  It takes almost all the guesswork out of getting proper exposure the first time, every time.  Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.

Also, I'd like for jaapv to explain how auto-ISO causes poor exposure.  That has not been my own experience with it, but then, I always keep my eye on the histogram.

I am frequently using the live histogram and highlight warnings with M10M and Visoflex (or rear LCD). IMO, Leica M10s has one of the best implementations of the live histogram: it shows up only with half-press.

[Gavinf]

The M10M has the same underlying sensor as the M10R and therefore has a similar dynamic range. Both will fully clip at the same point of over-exposure, ‘highlight recovery’ makes it appear that you are magically gaining more highlight latitude, but you’re not. As previously mentioned, it uses adjacent un-clipped colours to restore detail. If you were to measure the range between the point at which the M10R clipped all information in the highlights and crushed usable shadow detail, and did the same thing with the M10M you would get similar figures. Actually, the M10M would be slightly better as the noise floor is lower due to the absence of the beyer filter. It therefore has at least the same highlight range as the M10R if you expose it correctly. Highlight recovery allows one to be slightly sloppy with colour exposure, but you have to be more exact in B&W. I use the clipping indicator in live view to show me where my exposure will clip or crush, and adjust manually as appropriate. I haven’t taken a single shot in the four months I’ve owned the camera that has clipped highlights where I didn’t expect them (eg the sun). The range you get to adjust in post is astonishing and you really have to be wildly out with your exposure to get anything unusable. As also mentioned, it’s when people use their colour technique with a B&W sensor and expect the same results that leads to a bit of confusion - it’s not ‘under-exposure’, it’s correct exposure if it gives you the result you wanted. The M10R is clearly a very fine camera and will give you very useable B&W images as well as the option for colour, so if you can only get one camera, get the M10R. If you already have a colour camera that delivers for you and you’re serious about B&W, get the M10M. I’ve never regretted it.

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