Leica M Monochrome - Film simulation

[a.noctilux]

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14 hours ago, rtai said:

to me the clean M10M image is like Acros my film of choice for that speed. I like the Monochrom out of the camera DNG with as little manipulation as possible just enough to correct exposure and some highlight/shadow adjustment

I don't have M10-M, only the old former Monochroms.

Maybe, their files are good enough.

...

Nice to know that M10-M files in DNG need little adjustments.

Acros is a wonderful film.

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[rtai]

5 hours ago, a.noctilux said:

I don't have M10-M, only the old former Monochroms.

Maybe, their files are good enough.

...

Nice to know that M10-M files in DNG need little adjustments.

Acros is a wonderful film.

It’s just personal preference. I know the Monochrom is not film and has a look of its own but I like the look of film. What I don’t like is the typical high contrast HDR over dramatic “digital” look with little tonal scale. I think any digital camera with a color sensor can do that post processing. I like the M10M because it gives me what I like in a b/w image.

Edited August 14, 2022 by rtai

[rtai]

This is just a street grab shot with the 24mm Summilux @1.4 and I didn’t do anything to the file other than exposure and minor highlight/shadow adjustments. The character of the lens has a lot to do with the tonality. 

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[Jeff S]

15 minutes ago, rtai said:

This is just a street grab shot with the 24mm Summilux @1.4 and I didn’t do anything to the file other than exposure and minor highlight/shadow adjustments. The character of the lens has a lot to do with the tonality. 

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Conversion/editing software?

Jeff

[rtai]

1 hour ago, Jeff S said:

Conversion/editing software?

Jeff

LR Classic and then resized and saved as jpg for sharing from apple devices. Original tiff file looks better.

[lmans]

I think we need to embrace the camera we are shooting and go with the output.... If you want a film look....shoot film. Otherwise be content with the look of digital. I have Monochrom digitals, X2's, Ricoh's etc..... all digital. Then I have M6's...OM-1's....Ricoh GR, Pinhole etc....all film. When I want film, I shoot film. 

[tightsqueez]

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I don’t think there is anything wrong with shooting digital and wanting a film look. Maybe they just don’t want to be slaves to the process. Software is pretty close to doing that, and to be honest I find myself fooled more often than not. I’ve said this may times in the past, “Life is too short to use digital but not long enough to shoot film.” 
 

Some people enjoy the “process” of film. I do now for a very focused approach, involving medium and large format film.  But for 35mm… forgot it. I use 35mm as a mental sketchbook, jotting down fleeing moments, life before me in ANY light at ANY given time. That’s when I use the M10M. I’d be robbing myself of diving deepest within the subject with film. 

And then there’s the billionth regurgitation of someone arguing digital takes away from subject/moment. Well, how is it that I can go shoot all day and not look at the screen once? And to be honest, I rarely look at the camera while I’m out; focus and shoot unless the scene requires a different f/stop (which you can memorize by touch if your good). You’d be farting around a lot more with that film M I can guarantee, changing settings, reloading film. Don’t get me wrong, you can definitely be a point-n-shoot M user but there are more inherent hang ups. So yeah, I’ll have breakfast with my film users any day… and take a side of eggs to go with my film look. 

Alright, coming out of the rabbit hole. 

[a.noctilux]

Talking about film simulation ...

Well there are so many means to simulate films for non-film users.

 

In my own experience, when I need film special rendering, I use THE right film, FP4+ is so different from Acros, Tri X, Neopan, Plus X.

Now that some of these films not available by now, even some users like to use expired films, why simulate them.