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M8 RAW, 6-bit, DxO


jrc

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I shoot mostly in RAW. What effect would the six-bit coding have on my RAW files, if any? I know that it might supply some additional exif information, but if it costs more than $100 a lens to get the coding, I might be able to live without it. The other thing is, I would imagine that DxO or some similar program will quickly come out to fix any vignetting or distortion problems -- the Leica seems to be made for their market. Would DxO availability completely obviate the need for the coding? I should mention that DxO is a French company, and the French (except, perhaps, for a brief period from 1939-45) have always been Leicaphiles...

 

JC

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I shoot mostly in RAW. What effect would the six-bit coding have on my RAW files, if any?

John--

Besides vignetting adjustment instructions, zebra code also conveys information used by system-compatible flash units. This includes setting focal length on zoom-equipped flashes and conveying information for a kind of automated flash/ambient balance. (See http://www.reidreviews.com for more info.)

 

If you don't shoot any of the things that the zebra code enables, don't worry about it.

 

--HC

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John,

 

If I understand correctly the reviews I have read, the 6-bit code will not affect the raw file. It is needed to optimize jpegs, tiffs, and so on.

 

It would be helpful if there were an adjustment in raw conversion software such that we could tell the software what the focal length of the lens was for the picture in question. I believe the need for this arrises from the problems with picking up light rays at the corners, particularly for wide lenses.

 

Leica is using microlenses to permit wide lenses to be used, and the microlenses in the corners are offset toward the center of the sensor. The software supplied is apparently accounting for the offset microlenses in some way when creating a jpeg or other format that requires processing. The raw file obviously requires no processing. The M8 will ship with software from Leica that handles this correction.

 

I will consider sending my lenses in for coding in the future. Right now (well, in 2 months) I want to play with the camera; I can fine tune it later.

 

Regards,

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