Blown out highlights

[Casakleinhuis]

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I'm hesitating about buying a Q2 Monochrom (it'll be my first Leica). And the reason why i'm hesitating is that i've read stories that you have to be very careful with highlights, because once they've blown out, you can't repair it. Is that true? And how careful do you have to be? Is it worth the extra 500 Euro at all? Or should i better save that money and buy myself a Q2 and do what i've been doing for the past 10 years: converting color to monochrom in post? Any advice would be helpful

[alksv]

The files are very flexible, you can avoid blowing out highlights by underexposing and lifting shadows. The camera performs great, with great blacks. It's usually a safe bet to go -1EV, and even lower, depending on the light. It comes with experience, soon you won't even think twice how much to underexpose a certain scene.

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[Casakleinhuis]

Thank you for your advice. I'm still saving money:)

[Leica Guy]

I also bracket exposure when in bright scenes or with high dynamic range. I can then either choose one photo or combine in HDR. There’s nothing unique about the Q2M or Q2 for that matter. Their dynamic range is competitive. Not as good as Sony, but not a concern. IMHO. I always shoot RAW which helps. 

[Casakleinhuis]

A quick other question: can images from the Q2m be post processed in Lightroom?

[M11 for me]

I think that the TO has 2 questions put into one. First it is about the danger of having blown out highlights that can not be repaired in post and the second question is wether or not color pictures should better be converted in post to B/W.

The first question is one of experience. For me its very important not to have blown out clouds. One has to know his camera as you can blow out your highlights with any equipment.

The second question seems to me to be more difficult to answer as there are specialized B/W software products and when shooting landscape or architecture then probably there is no need fot B/W sensor. Note that I never owned a B/W Leica so its just my feeling as I have enough friends having experience with that kind of sensors. Its certainly different when you plan to shoot a lot in low light. In that situation the Monochrom is certainly far superior to the color sensor.

 

[jaapv]

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1 hour ago, Casakleinhuis said:

I'm hesitating about buying a Q2 Monochrom (it'll be my first Leica). And the reason why i'm hesitating is that i've read stories that you have to be very careful with highlights, because once they've blown out, you can't repair it. Is that true? And how careful do you have to be? Is it worth the extra 500 Euro at all? Or should i better save that money and buy myself a Q2 and do what i've been doing for the past 10 years: converting color to monochrom in post? Any advice would be helpful

The reasoning behind this idea is very simple - and correct- A colour camera can repair a blown-out highlight in one or even two colour channels by interpolating the data in the remaining channel(s). A monochrome camera lacks colour channels.
The obvious remedy is to take care when exposing. As the Q cameras are EVF cameras it is very easy to do so. Just activate the Histogram and watch for spikes against the righthand side. Use EV compensation on the  fly to reduce them. Note, however, that there is nothing against having specular highlights blown. For instance the sun or street lights in a night scene do not need to show detail.

[jaapv]

4 minutes ago, M10 for me said:

The second question seems to me to be more difficult to answer as there are specialized B/W software products and when shooting landscape or architecture then probably there is no need fot B/W sensor. Note that I never owned a B/W Leica so its just my feeling as I have enough friends having experience with that kind of sensors. Its certainly different when you plan to shoot a lot in low light. In that situation the Monochrom is certainly far superior to the color sensor.

 

This reasoning is incomplete. As a monochrome camera does not need to do Bayer interpolation, the effective resolution will be a lot higher. This will show up as more subtle contrast transitions and an enhanced tonal range. It will also avoid the optical defects that a Bayer filter introduces. Basically: one pixel  on the sensor will translate to one pixel in the file.

[SrMi]

2 hours ago, Casakleinhuis said:

A quick other question: can images from the Q2m be post processed in Lightroom?

Yes, at least with the latest LrC. Adobe added support for Q2 Monochrom before Leica launched the camera.

[Jeff S]

Yes, Leica partners with Adobe on camera releases, so profiles are quickly integrated. Early adopters using alternative software sometimes report *camera* issues, when in fact the conversion software has not caught up with the hardware (see M10-R early color issues and Capture One users). 
 

Jeff

[harmen]

I’ve found it very easy to avoid blowing out highlights on the Q2M.  You can set the EVF to blink areas that would get blown out.  With the right thumb it is then very easy to adjust the exposure adjustment wheel (if you don’t set everything manually).  In post, you can easily pull up the shadow areas while retaining values in the highlights.