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M8 street photography at ISO-2500 with the M8


Guest malland

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Guest malland

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After I bought my M8.2 in January I haven't had much of a chance to do street photography, but today I experimented with ISO 2500.

 

Why use ISO 2500 for street photography? Having used small-sensor cameras for several years I've gotten to like deep depth of field for street photographs: using ISO 2500 allows setting a small aperture — f/10 in my pictures today — and still using a fast shutter speed, which is necessary to avoid blurs as the subject and the photographer are walking towards each other. Below is one of the pictures, and others can be seen by clicking here, all processed with Aperture/Silver Efex.

 

Interestingly, while ISO 2500 on the M8 is much reviled — and I agree that it is too "hit or miss" in dark light conditions and nowhere as good for that purpose as ISO 3200 on high-end Nikons — it can be quite usable: a photographer commented on my flickr site that the picture below, even though it's ISO 2500, looks like ISO 400 with Tri-X or T-Max.

 

 

Leica M8.2 | ISO 2500 | Summicron-28 | Paris

3412654040_9bf030bcc8_o.jpg

 

 

—Mitch/Paris

Flickr: Mitch Alland's Photostream

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This is great to know...and see. As a street shooter using Tri-X for many years, and now just making the transition to digital, I've been curious if/how I might be able to approximate the look with which I'm familiar.

 

Of course, since I ultimately print my photos (all silver prints in the past), there will be many other variables...paper, inks, etc...that will come into play. But, this gives me a good idea to try on my own. And, I'm about to get a 28 cron (asph), so I also appreciate seeing your field of view with this lens on the M8.

 

Jeff

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Guest malland

Thanks, Jeff.

 

On printing, I just started using Harman FB Glossy paper, which is a fibre-based baryta paper that comes closer to the look of an air-dried glossy photo paper than anything else that I've seen. It has rich. deep blacks.

 

Also, keep in mind that it's not necessary to shoot at ISO 2500 to get somewhat of a film look: for me the key is processing with Silver Efex, which works with either Photoshop or Aperure and has the best B&W conversion that I've seen.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Bangkok Noir©: Book Project - a set on Flickr

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Guest stnami

There seems to be a little overprocessing , could be better to leave the shadows as the pp workk tends to flatten the image. With grain there is a need for contrast and variety of texture something that these images lack.

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Guest malland

Imants,

 

Hmm, I tend to use burning in as a compositional device as in the left side of the picture above — and generally like a high-contrast look, higher contrast than in these set of pictures, which were an experiment with ISO 2500. When I get a chance, I'll try that higher-contrast look with a good amount of grain, in which case I won't mind if the shadows go completely black into a graphic element — but I'll have to figure out how to handle the mid-tones.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Bangkok Noir©: Book Project - a set on Flickr

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Guest stnami

Areas as seen in the two images show that the sensor is having trouble coping with tonal graduations within the dynamic range coupled with overprocessing

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I'd do quite a bit of printing of 320 & 640 images to compare with this, before I got interested in 1250 or 2500 for the street.

 

The problem is that the grainy look/noise is going to show up disproportionally across the tonal range - mostly in the darker areas with some shadow detail - which isn't going to look a lot like TX.

 

Suggest experimenting with a series of ISOs & using prints to decide what works best (for you)?

 

Kirk

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I like the grainy effect but I don't see why it shows up so much on such small screen size images. It looks harsher than the grain from 35mm Tri-X when you get close up to a 16x20 print. Hi ISO images from a 10 megapixel camera should look pretty noise free when reduced to 800 pixels or so.

 

I used to shoot a lot of Tri-X. Recently I've been scanning some of the shots I did when I was a teenager. They have nice grain in 16x20 prints but very little when scaled to 800 pixels. I used a Nikon and a 200f4 for the top photo and I think I used my IIIF for the kids. Posted to show how 35mm Tri-X grain looks at 800 pixels.

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Edited by AlanG
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Could you clarify a bit?

 

Did you use one of the preset "films" in Silver Efex, or did you dial up settings of your own?

 

My "trouble" with Silver Efex is deciding on a film preset...I'm constantly flipping back and forth between them. :confused:

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TriX shows a lot more detail than the M8 at ISO 2500 and it also has a lot more latitude. For me, the only way to come close to the look of B&W film with the M8 is to keep the ISO low (320) and add the grain in post since the dynamic range goes out the window at high ISO. Of course if you are trying to get a contrasty look, this might be OK.

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.......that's what the Fly said about your Tri-X:eek:

 

Yeah, whatever. Here's a Tri-X photograph, also from Paris. Doesn't have the look of Mitch's shot to me. There's no noise reduction or sharpening of any kind - no spotting of dust either. Makes me think I should load the M6 with Tri-X and shoot a few rolls. Can't say I ever think the same way about using the M8 at ISO2500.

 

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Edited by stunsworth
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Thanks, Jeff.

 

On printing, I just started using Harman FB Glossy paper, which is a fibre-based baryta paper that comes closer to the look of an air-dried glossy photo paper than anything else that I've seen. It has rich. deep blacks.

 

Also, keep in mind that it's not necessary to shoot at ISO 2500 to get somewhat of a film look: for me the key is processing with Silver Efex, which works with either Photoshop or Aperure and has the best B&W conversion that I've seen.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Bangkok Noir©: Book Project - a set on Flickr

 

Thanks again. Yes, I read some great things about Silver Efex in the mags, confirmed by a lot of folks on this forum. It's nice to know that you, too, get good results. And, I appreciate the tip on Harman...there appear to be so many choices lately (a good thing).

 

I'll be interested in your response to "ljclark" post regarding pre-sets or otherwise.

 

Jeff

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Btw. Alan, the picture of the boys playing in the water is beautiful.

 

Thanks. That photos was a surprise for me. I shot it about 40 years ago and just found it for the first time as I was going through some negatives. I shot it when I was about 17. I used to do a lot of street shooting and other things back then, so I wonder what else I'll come across when I find the time to go through a few hundred rolls of negs. I went to all the major protests in DC. I have a lot of nostalgia for Tri-X and the whole 60s scene (photo and otherwise,) but for me it's kind of been there done that. Now, for my personal photography, I'm trying to stretch my vision.

 

The reason I've been going through my negs is to try to then go back and superimpose the images on a panoramic background. So I had a bunch of shots of kids at various spots on this fountain, so I went back and shot the fountain as a panorama and pieced in some of the shot of the kids - a photo that represents 40 years in the making.

 

Here is the result - kind of a tribute to my younger days and more innocent times.

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Edited by AlanG
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I also like the ISO 2500 high contrast b&w look. The grain is not objectionable when printed and the high ISO allows you to capture without motion blur. The grain lends character to the photo that otherwise would have been lost. I'm not sure when anybody views the photo they are thinking "hey, it looks like Tri-X"; it simply gives the photo some depth and character.

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I don't know that the M8 at 2500 looks like Tri-X at 400.

 

It may not be that different from Tri-X or HP-5 pushed to 2500/3200. Or the Neopans. Or Delta 3200.

 

Let's stick with comparing similar ISOs.

 

In daylight, with lots of blue photons around, digital, and daylight color film for that matter, will do better at a given ISO than under dim household tungsten light, which is far yellower than even "3200K" tungsten photofloods, and turns 1/3 of any picture (the blue channel or the blue film layer) into roadkill.

Edited by adan
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