Jim Kasson and Q2 Monochrom

[SrMi]

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Jim Kasson has started writing about Q2 Monichrom:

https://blog.kasson.com/leica-q2-monochrom/leica-q2-monochrom-oobe/
 

For those who don’t know Jim, he has a strong scientific background and vast knowledge. He is also a great photographer.

The articles on his blog are often used as references.

[gteague]

strong scientific background eh? his web site seems unstructured and chaotic. his 'review' so far not impressive--he told us the strap would tangle up and he couldn't figure out how to set the diopter or eject the battery and that adobe could read dng files and not much else. if there was more to it than that, i was unable to find evidence on it on his site.

/guy

[la1402]

Quote

If there was more to it than that, i was unable to find evidence on it on his site

That was not really difficult to find:

https://blog.kasson.com/about-2/who-am-i/

Just an example. https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/monterey-museum-of-art-show-is-up/

 

[SrMi]

23 minutes ago, gteague said:

strong scientific background eh? his web site seems unstructured and chaotic. his 'review' so far not impressive--he told us the strap would tangle up and he couldn't figure out how to set the diopter or eject the battery and that adobe could read dng files and not much else. if there was more to it than that, i was unable to find evidence on it on his site.

/guy

Did you read the second article as well?

Jim does not write reviews in conventional sense, but publishes articles as he completes his measurements and findings.

I should have warned that his articles may require more technical knowledge than your typical internet posts.

I hope he continues to publish more articles about Q2M.

[gteague]

i was only able to read the second part of his review by following your link and then blindly clicking stuff. his 'instructions' for finding it, even if you knew one was there, led me nowhere. i admit i don't have much patience for such websites that are so scattered in the first place. also, i lack incentive since i don't have much interest in the monochrome model. /guy

Edited May 14, 2022 by gteague

[gteague]

he should know the focus peaking isn't much use on such a target and indeed the results aren't much use to the average shooter and those who wouldn't own a medium-format camera in the first place. 

sorry, i'm obviously not the target reader for this although i do like to read reviews for all types of things hardware and software. if i did have a monochrome and was wanting to justify the price by having it compared to another expensive camera with a rep for high quality, i'd likely be invested in reading it.

Edited May 14, 2022 by gteague

[clasami]

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vor 17 Stunden schrieb gteague:

he should know the focus peaking isn't much use on such a target and indeed the results aren't much use to the average shooter and those who wouldn't own a medium-format camera in the first place. 

sorry, i'm obviously not the target reader for this although i do like to read reviews for all types of things hardware and software. if i did have a monochrome and was wanting to justify the price by having it compared to another expensive camera with a rep for high quality, i'd likely be invested in reading it.

Jim is one of the most knowledgable people on cameras and a great photographer. His writings are sometimes way to geeky and not easy to understand. But he is among the few worth tuning to for learning.

[JimKasson]

If anyone wants to discuss Q2 Monochrom topics on which I've posted or to request further tests, please let me know here or using the comment feature of my blog. In response to a complaint here, I've made the blog navigation instructions more explicit. In response to a request from elsewhere, I've just posted a Siemens star test in red light. 

 

Jim

[JimKasson]

Here's what I said to someone in another forum wrt this topic:

Quote

 

Leaving photon noise aside, it seems like the main advantage of a monochromatic sensor over a Bayer one is less aliasing. If you can't see aliasing in the Bayer image, you won't be able to see it in the mono image, and that won't be an advantage for that shot.

As I said, the Siemens star is a very tough test, and is guaranteed to cause visible aliasing on axis with decent lens, the proper distance, a less-than-extreme f-stop selection, accurate focusing, a steady camera support, and not a lot of air between the camera and it.

But anytime there is visible aliasing in an image, a mono capture should improve that.

 

I've bolded what I think is the takeaway.

 

Jim

[Herr Barnack]

I'm going to miss the distinctive black boxes that Leica cameras used to come in - they were unique in the world of photography.  😢

[hdmesa]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:45 PM, JimKasson said:

If anyone wants to discuss Q2 Monochrom topics on which I've posted or to request further tests, please let me know here or using the comment feature of my blog. In response to a complaint here, I've made the blog navigation instructions more explicit. In response to a request from elsewhere, I've just posted a Siemens star test in red light. 

 

Jim

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about where the Q2M's IQ falls relative to a b&w conversion from the GFX 50/100 cameras with the GF 30.

[JimKasson]

5 hours ago, hdmesa said:

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about where the Q2M's IQ falls relative to a b&w conversion from the GFX 50/100 cameras with the GF 30.

I did a test with the 45 GF and the GFX 50S:

https://blog.kasson.com/gfx-50s/leica-q2-monochrom-vs-gfx-50s-siemens-star/

Would you like to see that test with the GFX 100x?

The 30 GF on the GFX has a much wider FOV than the 28 on the Q2, which is why I didn't test with that lens.

 

Jim

 

[hdmesa]

38 minutes ago, JimKasson said:

I did a test with the 45 GF and the GFX 50S:

https://blog.kasson.com/gfx-50s/leica-q2-monochrom-vs-gfx-50s-siemens-star/

Would you like to see that test with the GFX 100x?

The 30 GF on the GFX has a much wider FOV than the 28 on the Q2, which is why I didn't test with that lens.

 

Jim

 

Brings up a good point that Fujifilm has no 28mm full frame equivalent GF prime: GF 30 is a wider FOV and GF 45 is a tighter FOV. It's impressive that your test shows the Q2M slightly exceeding the GF 45 on the GFX 50 given how good that GFX combo is. I've used them all, Q2M/GFX50(S&R)/100S, but I never compared them in a controlled test. Anecdotally, I thought the Q2M was somewhere between the GFX 50 and 100 as far as IQ (not counting the far corners on the Q2M), so it's interesting to me to see what the truth is when the gear is actually tested.

I'll be interested to read your thoughts about the Q2M for your landscape and general work as you go along.

[JimKasson]

26 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

Brings up a good point that Fujifilm has no 28mm full frame equivalent GF prime: GF 30 is a wider FOV and GF 45 is a tighter FOV.

If you like 4:3 images, as I do, the GFX equivalent of a FF 28 mm lens is 28*33/24 = 38.5 mm.  So the 45 is closer, but not by much. I will be testing the 28mm lens on the Q2M.