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2 hours ago, piran said:

Contrast ..the stuff between fully black and fully white pixels? Elsewhere on the forum is a link to a test facility where the Q2M came out quite well in regards the dynamic range. There's zero latitude once a pixel is fully white ...it's gone. Two things to take away - 1) you wouldn't want your Q2M typically to overblow the white and 2) you may need to adjust your picture taking to more underexpose everything ...in order to pull stuff out in post. 

I find (Phaseone) Capture One (aka C1) has enough toys (tools) to play with or otherwise adjust the very outer extents of black and white. Pretty much up to the limit of your monitor (gamma, calibration, 'colour space' model or LUT). Indeed that of any one else's should they be interested in viewing.

Looking forward to my Q2M being delivered. Variously everything else is either ordered or already making its way here. My front path is going to get busy...

Thanks for the insights - I just got the Nik collection 3 as they were at 50% off, Used C1 in the past but somehow never liked the interface. However I know that they keep making improvements, so I might test the trial version later.

I am finding that the viewfinder and lcd seem to display the image darker and with more contrast than what I see after downloading to LR classic - yes, I am aware of the substantial differences between the screens but I think it might be because I was shooting in raw only. Next round I have to set for dual....

the FN button and tumbwheel button might prove themselves very useful (go figure) as one can customize  what other submenus are needed in a pinch ( in this case hold). Also, the profile configuration allows to save the zoom setting - I might give a try once I have a prefered nain setting, and  then use the zoom/lock button to AE-L function instead.

a lot to figure with the settings....

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2 hours ago, Craig Clark said:

I picked mine up from Leica DC one week ago today.  Put it through its paces over the long weekend and I have to say its an amazing camera.  The one thing that kind of surprised me however is how little contrast the dng files have when imported into lightroom or photoshop.  I stopped in the Leica store in DC and chatted with one of the guys in there and apparently its typical for Leica monochrom raw files to have very little contrast until edited.  That being said, I would like to hear about what types of editing techniques you all use to make these pictures pop so to speak.  I am used to my converted Q files having dramatic contrast with very little post processing.  Admittedly, I am more into taking the pictures and no so much into the editing part...Thanks in advance!  

It’s not uncommon for more modern cameras with high dynamic range to have flatter files out-of-camera.  The contrast curve is more linear, without any ‘toe’ or ‘shoulder’ or curve between.  This curve was inherent in film days, and more commonly built into imported files in earlier digital cameras.  It’s up to the user to understand the principles, effects and to apply adjustments as desired.  These are easily accomplished by direct changes to the tone (contrast) curve and/or via sliders to dark, mid-tone and highlight regions.  And of course there are a multitude of other adjustments, both global and local, that can dramatically alter the look and feel of the pic/print.  
 

In darkroom days, these changes required a lot of time and effort, but can now be done digitally in seconds. Anybody can learn the available techniques.  In both film and digital, however, the most important tools are between the ears: deciding when, where and to what degree to apply those techniques.

Jeff

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3 hours ago, Craig Clark said:

I picked mine up from Leica DC one week ago today.  Put it through its paces over the long weekend and I have to say its an amazing camera.  The one thing that kind of surprised me however is how little contrast the dng files have when imported into lightroom or photoshop.  I stopped in the Leica store in DC and chatted with one of the guys in there and apparently its typical for Leica monochrom raw files to have very little contrast until edited.  That being said, I would like to hear about what types of editing techniques you all use to make these pictures pop so to speak.  I am used to my converted Q files having dramatic contrast with very little post processing.  Admittedly, I am more into taking the pictures and no so much into the editing part...Thanks in advance!  

Since I do not consider the imported DNG to be the end product, I feel that the DNGs imported into LrC have too much contrast :). It is possible to override the hidden raw adjustments that raw converter applies:
https://www.rawdigger.com/howtouse/deriving-hidden-ble-compensation

Processing monochrome images tutorials:

Jan Gütter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeudHNQaE8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxKsbLlKnOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7KXvzbDXd4

Michael Walker-Toye:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160316195954/http://blog.michaeltoye.com:80/2013/04/02/leica-monochrom-workflow

 

 

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54 minutes ago, SrMi said:

Since I do not consider the imported DNG to be the end product, I feel that the DNGs imported into LrC have too much contrast :). It is possible to override the hidden raw adjustments that raw converter applies:
https://www.rawdigger.com/howtouse/deriving-hidden-ble-compensation

Processing monochrome images tutorials:

Jan Gütter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeudHNQaE8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxKsbLlKnOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7KXvzbDXd4

Michael Walker-Toye:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160316195954/http://blog.michaeltoye.com:80/2013/04/02/leica-monochrom-workflow

 

 

Awesome, thank you!  Will check these out when I get home this evening.  I have gotten a handful of what I consider to be really good pictures from the Q2M - tried to upload examples but the files are too large at the moment.  I will edit and upload later as well.  

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2 hours ago, nwphil said:

...the viewfinder and lcd seem to display the image darker and with more contrast than what I see after downloading to LR classic - yes, I am aware of the substantial differences between the screens...

Haven't received my Q2M but page 57 of the PDF shows separate brightness settings can be set for the viewfinder and the LCD. That might go towards making things viewed live look more like the stuff captured and then displayed. YMMV

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I suppose contrast (and the amount or lack of) is an individual thing.  Yours eyes may prefer more or less contrast than mine.  I saw some DNG's of a few head/shoulders portraits - which were lit from window light.  They also used a Q2 for comparison.  The files I saw were substantially less contrasty (for me a very good thing).  The images looked more expressive (or should I dare say softer) without sacrificing clarity.  It was an incredible experience to see them side by side.  The files from the Q2M really grabbed my attention.  In any event, mine should be here Friday.  So far I'm sold.  

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1 hour ago, piran said:

Haven't received my Q2M but page 57 of the PDF shows separate brightness settings can be set for the viewfinder and the LCD. That might go towards making things viewed live look more like the stuff captured and then displayed. YMMV

it helps as far as not getting eye-tired, or to see the lcd in sunny bright conditions. I think too that is in part of greater resolution on evf and lcd,  than other cameras I have, and likely the image seen after the shot - a thumbnail, I assume to be a jpeg file type. I could be wrong in many ways about it.

have not touched the evf and lcd settings for brightness and such.....yet

or it's just me - I have the same feeling/opinion about my Olympus m43's evf

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(First day.) I got a grid pattern around the sun. This kind of thing is very annoying, saw it on a Canon DSLR around 20 years ago, thought we were done with that. Anybody know anything about it? This is ISO 100, f/11, 1/640 s, EV -1. JPEG SOOC, but I saw the same pattern on DNG as well (the attached image is of course reduced in size for the forum). Not special to this image, saw it on other images too. (ISO 100 was because I was experimenting, I will do more testing.)

 

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2 hours ago, Anders Vinberg said:

(First day.) I got a grid pattern around the sun. This kind of thing is very annoying, saw it on a Canon DSLR around 20 years ago, thought we were done with that. Anybody know anything about it? 

 

 

This was reported by dp review sometime ago. Some here have reported on the Q as well. IMHO its more apparent in mono than in colour. Most have excused it and suggested to just use a sun hood and avoid those scenarios. You'd think Leica would've made a workaround/fix to this if it had been previously apparent. I was really considering the Q2M until this flaw came up. Never have i experienced it on my M, even when i was using 25mm vm. Don't think it can be worked around with a firmware...

 

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It makes beautiful BW images from the samples I've seen so far so you wouldn't need to worry about it too much, just make workarounds i guess. Definitely has  more advantages to it. Ill just wait for the 35mm/ 50mm version haha

Congrats on your new Q2M

All the best

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What are you guys' thoughts on the autofocus system of the Q2M?  I have a QP and I do quite a bit of "from the hip" street stuff;  for this I typically use the zone autofocus and it works really well - typically grabbing whatever is closest to me.  I have attempted to do the same thing with the Q2M and have noticed that more often than not, it has focused on the background and the foreground is blurred.  its probably just a nuance that I need to learn to work with - and at the end of the day I need to learn to focus using the DOF scale but manual focus scares me (hence the reason I shoot Q and not M).  I could probably use facial recognition as a work around and admittedly I haven't toyed around with it too much.  Most of the street stuff I do is people walking around and its very spontaneous.  Overall the autofocus just doesnt seem as fast as the original Q.  

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38 minutes ago, Craig Clark said:

What are you guys' thoughts on the autofocus system of the Q2M?  I have a QP and I do quite a bit of "from the hip" street stuff;  for this I typically use the zone autofocus and it works really well - typically grabbing whatever is closest to me.  I have attempted to do the same thing with the Q2M and have noticed that more often than not, it has focused on the background and the foreground is blurred.  its probably just a nuance that I need to learn to work with - and at the end of the day I need to learn to focus using the DOF scale but manual focus scares me (hence the reason I shoot Q and not M).  I could probably use facial recognition as a work around and admittedly I haven't toyed around with it too much.  Most of the street stuff I do is people walking around and its very spontaneous.  Overall the autofocus just doesnt seem as fast as the original Q.  

Even on static objects and standing still, only the field or spot work for me. I often prefer to shot in manual focus but I have to tried the Mon the street or from the hip - maybe give the app a shot ? (pun intended) Walking while looking at the phone is a pretty (hidden censored comment) common thing theses days, so you will go unnoticed for sure.

Just took a look a the focusing scale on q2m - is not as user friendly as in a 21 or 35 ( only Ms I have closer to 28mm), but as you said, a nuance you have learn to work with. If you shooting above f5.6 and at least 3 feet away, it seems that might be a concern, aside framing and avoiding blur.

So, I am happy with the way the focusing on the Q2M works for me, but I do different photography than yours too

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Hello everyone, I bought the Q2M and I'm testing it. Fantastic camera and files with exceptional dynamic range. I just ask for information from who is using it: the camera has a very very quiet shutter release and I like this, but when I press the shutter button halfway, I hear a small opening and closing noise of the aperture blades set a little annoying, is all this normal? Thank you for your answers

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1 hour ago, pilu said:

Thank you Anders for the answer, but I tried not to activate the image stabilization and the noise of the diaphragm blades I feel the same ... but maybe it's normal ...

it is normal - does a little noise thing as it seems to meter fully open even in manual aperture mode. If you look at the lens before turning the camera on,  the aperture blades are closed - set to f/16. Once on, they retract completely, and then once you press the shutter half-way, they switch to chosen set aperture hence the "noise"

One solution is to always shoot wide open😁

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