Took New $9k Monochrom to a Mosh Pit

[mediumformula]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I sold my M10M a few weeks ago and just picked up a M11M on Friday afternoon.  Last night I had the chance to take the new Monochrom to a punk rock concert in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  I figured it would be an ideal opportunity to really put the low light capabilities of the camera to the test.  One of the improvements over the M10M that I was looking forward to was the reduced weight.  Paired with my 50 Summarit 2.5 plus filter, the camera kit weighs only 730 grams.  While most people might dismiss a 20% weight reduction over the previous model as insignificant, the ease of transporting the camera factors into my decision to take it with me places when I otherwise want to be unencumbered.   The brass M10 was a rather dense object that would make me think twice about whether or not I wanted to bring it with me places.  Making the 30 minute walk from my apartment to the bar I slung the camera across my chest on a comfortable leather strap from Etsy and barely noticed the camera on the walk up and back home.  I think I will be much more likely to grab the M11M with me when I'm heading out of the house just based on the weight alone. 

The center of the crowd consisted of a circular mosh pit directly in front of the stage that required me to skillfully navigate around in order to get up close for photos with my 50mm lens.  The discrete livery of the M11M hardly attracted any attention from the unsuspecting youth ping ponging off of each other as I braced myself to focus and compose through the rangefinder expecting at any second to be plowed into by some frenzied individual. 

I decided to shoot everything at f8.  This was partially due to wanting to have a wide depth of field since I wasn't confident in my focusing ability with all the flashing lights and movement.  I also really wanted to push the ISO of the camera to see if it could handle being forced into high ISO.  I initially had my shutter at 1/60 and moved it up incrementally until I landed on 1/180 by the end of the shoot.  Probably 1/90 or 1/125 would have been a sweet spot to stay at.  I had the ISO set to auto with a max ISO of 64,000.  A lot of the photos ended up at 64,000 especially as I increased my shutter speed.  Looking back I probably should have shot at something like f5.6 and kept the shutter at 125 or below and perhaps set the ISO max to 50,000.   The 64,000 ISO pictures are pretty grainy and flat with not a lot of latitude and I wonder if maxing out at 50k would have been better with more adjustability in post.  Metering was set to highlight weighted with a -1/3 stop exposure compensation dialed in.  I took about 100 pictures all on my 50 Summarit 2.5.

I adjusted the photos in Lightroom mostly just increasing exposure and darkening the black levels.  I also added up to 20 on the noise reduction slider to some of them.  I did some minor cropping on a few as well.  Everything was shot at 60 megapixles.  I wish I would have tried to shoot some at 18 megapixles just for comparison to see how that would effect the grain and dynamic range at the high ISO levels.  

Even at 64,000 I'm really impressed at how these images came out.  The 64,000 shots are usable in my opinion, depending on the subject and application.  As stated earlier I think I could have made some adjustments to keep the ISO below 50k without really compromising my shot style.  It is true that high gain on B&W sensors has an aesthetic quality to it that is much more pleasing than color sensors.  It has a grittier Tri-X look to it that for the right subject works well, such as the DIY punk rock aesthetic.  Lilian Caruana's photography ethnography book, Rebels: Punks and Skinheads of New York's East Village, shot on Tri-x in the 1980s is a great example of this look that I was hoping to capture.  

I'm really enjoying the M11M.  I think the M10M would have also done a totally adequate job at shooting this show as well.  I shot several similar concerts with my M10M and it excelled at these types of low light environments.  I didn't have the camera to do a direct comparison, but it does seem like I was able to get more low light performance than what I remember being capable with the already stellar M10M.  The weight and feel of the M11M was really enjoyable.  The lighter weight and higher grip of the new black paint finish made the camera feel very confident in my hands even as I was traversing through the crowded concert hall.  

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[mediumformula]

Not sure why this got moved from Monochrom forum as it's much more of a camera review post than a photo exposition.