M8 question for help!

[Cris.Huang]

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I purchased an M8 a few days ago and everything has been satisfactory, however I have taken photos and found that when the sensitivity is on the high side of the colour saturation value black areas or underexposure are disturbed with streaks, I can't confirm what this is because some people say it's because of the SD card others say it's because of a faulty CCD element which worries me I would like to ask.
 

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[Ernstk]

What ISO setting were you using?

Sorry, I see that it was 640.

The M8 produces great images but at ISO640 they can produce noise, especially in low light or with under exposure, which is what you're seeing in your photos.
It's not a technical fault with either the SD card or sensor, it's just how the sensor works.

Ernst

Edited April 7, 2024 by Ernstk

[JohnW.]

6 minutes ago, Ernstk said:

What ISO setting were you using?

Ernst

Top image, top right.  ISO 640

[Ernstk]

18 minutes ago, JohnW. said:

Top image, top right.  ISO 640

Yes, I just saw that and edited my response. Thank you.

Edited April 7, 2024 by Ernstk

[david strachan]

Light room noise reduction does a great job in post production.

But it's well know to be a best camera at lower ISO.

If you want to take pictures in low light perhaps use another  more modern Leica, or other system.

In any case generous exposure will probably help reduce the noise.

[chris_livsey]

Test this by taking two frames of same scene one at 640 and one at base iso 160 holding the same f stop and speed then push that in post processing. 

[lct]

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I seem to see "+3.25" in your pic above. Were you pushing exposure in post? If so i would avoid that at high isos i.e. 640 and above on the M8. Just expose normally, reduce shutter speed if needed and it should work.

[roelandinho]

That horizontal line that’s in all three pictures (very obvious in the first image, a bit more subtle in the other images but still visible) is not normal behaviour for the M8. Try another SD-card first, but if that doesn’t help I would either try to return the camera and get a good copy from somewhere else or get it repaired, which may or may not be possible and will take months and be very expensive if it is. 

Edited April 8, 2024 by roelandinho

[Cris.Huang]

On 4/8/2024 at 6:02 AM, Ernstk said:

What ISO setting were you using?

Sorry, I see that it was 640.

The M8 produces great images but at ISO640 they can produce noise, especially in low light or with under exposure, which is what you're seeing in your photos.
It's not a technical fault with either the SD card or sensor, it's just how the sensor works.

Ernst

Firstly, thank you for your reply, 
I intentionally wanted to test it in dark light and underexposed environments, and most of all I wanted to ask if this happens to all M8 users in the same conditions.
Cirs

[Cris.Huang]

23 hours ago, david strachan said:

Light room noise reduction does a great job in post production.

But it's well know to be a best camera at lower ISO.

If you want to take pictures in low light perhaps use another  more modern Leica, or other system.

In any case generous exposure will probably help reduce the noise.

Firstly I would like to thank you very much for your reply，

But I have a feeling it's not the noise that's causing it.

Cris

[Cris.Huang]

4 hours ago, lct said:

I seem to see "+3.25" in your pic above. Were you pushing exposure in post? If so i would avoid that at high isos i.e. 640 and above on the M8. Just expose normally, reduce shutter speed if needed and it should work.

Firstly, thank you very much for your reply,

it was a misunderstanding, I simply wanted to see more clearly exactly what kind of bands appeared in this picture.

Cris

[Cris.Huang]

1 hour ago, roelandinho said:

That horizontal line that’s in all three pictures (very obvious in the first image, a bit more subtle in the other images but still visible) is not normal behaviour for the M8. Try another SD-card first, but if that doesn’t help I would either try to return the camera and get a good copy from somewhere else or get it repaired, which may or may not be possible and will take months and be very expensive if it is. 

Yes, dear Roelandinho that's exactly what I was most worried about.

[Cris.Huang]

22 hours ago, chris_livsey said:

Test this by taking two frames of same scene one at 640 and one at base iso 160 holding the same f stop and speed then push that in post processing. 

With the same parameters, ISO160 does not present a problem.

[roelandinho]

For comparison, this image was shot on my M8 at ISO 640, severely underexposed, and pushed 4 stops in Capture One. No noise reduction and no sharpening. 

The left side of the image is more noisy because it was darker than the rest of the frame.

 

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Edited April 9, 2024 by roelandinho

[dpitt]

ISO 640 and +3 stops is beyond the range that an M8 is comfortable with. This would be the same as using ISO 6400 or so...

If exposed correctly an M8 at ISO 640 should produce acceptible results for color and for B&W you can go to ISO 1280.

If I want to get the best results, I shoot RAW at base ISO 160, then in post you can push up to 5 stops. Modern software like LR or C1P is much better in processing RAW compared to the old M8 firmware. In fact, whenever I was in a low light situation I opened my lens fully to F2.0 or F1.4 , set it to RAW and ISO 160, then choose the slowest acceptable shutter time i.e. 1/15 or 1/30 most of the time... That will sometimes result in almost black previews on the back screen, but after processing it can produce nice results like here:
 

 

[lct]

Hard to go beyond 2500iso with the M8. Below 1250iso and 2500iso with M8.2.

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[nfa]

Hi,

I had a M8 with the same kind of lines or even worse (whole rectangle of pink lines) when shooting multiple pictures too rapidly. Whether the buffer or the card could not handle it. Strangely this was on a particular M8, the one I have currently does not have this issue. If you took only one shot at a time it may be another issue though...