Jump to content

M9 18 mp prints A2 format


Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

i really believe an M9 will be realeased in sept.

i only shoot in B/Wi

at iso 160 its oki but not great to print up to a3.

 

do you think the larger sensor will help to print great shots up to A2 format or is the sensor still to weak for that format.

 

cheers

andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Replies 69
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

As I have made clear repeatedly before, the M8 sensor is perfectly adequate for any 'pictorial' use at any print size. The increased pixel count will bring only marginal improvement, mainly less danger of moiré because of the increased on-sensor resolution. The theoretically increased print resolution is irrelevant. Picture editors at glossy magazines want oodles of pixels because they want oodles of acreage outside the subject, available for cropping to any insane layout. You're not one of them guys.

 

The old man from the Age of Roll Film

Link to post
Share on other sites

i really believe an M9 will be realeased in sept.

i only shoot in B/Wi

at iso 160 its oki but not great to print up to a3.

 

do you think the larger sensor will help to print great shots up to A2 format or is the sensor still to weak for that format.

 

cheers

andy

 

How can you not get good A3 prints from M8 files (or am I totally misunderstanding what you're trying to say here?)?

Link to post
Share on other sites

i really believe an M9 will be realeased in sept.

i only shoot in B/Wi

at iso 160 its oki but not great to print up to a3.

 

do you think the larger sensor will help to print great shots up to A2 format or is the sensor still to weak for that format.

 

cheers

andy

 

I think you should give this another try. I regularly print A3 with excellent results and mostly at 360 ISO, both color and B&W.

Link to post
Share on other sites

What are you printing on? If you cannot get an excellent A3 print out of an M8 file, you are doing something wrong in your workflow. I follow Michael Reichmann's advice, who says that if you are between 180 and something like 400dpi at your output size, let your printer do the uprezing. This comes from extensive testing Jeff Schewe has done for Epson and it works great for me. At A3 you will not see any artifacts other than what may have been in your original file already (noise etc.)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I disagree with the M8's pixel count being sufficient for perfect A3. It cannot be, considering a 300 DPI print needs 100% MTF up to about 5000 pixels which is pretty much impossible to achieve with all current 35mm and smaller sensors, including Sony's 24MP model (plus some commercial printing gets up to 350 DPI).

 

A3 is very good but not perfect with a 5D2's 21 MP. A4 images look slightly sharper when both prints are viewed from ~20 cm (laser prints from a Fuji lab in this case).

 

Of course at normal viewing distances, the M8 is good enough for A3 and the M9 will be for A2.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Have any of you been to an exhibition of old 35mm masterpieces recently? Bo, I know you have. Look at Robert Frank's prints, they would certainly not live up to many forum members expectations of print quality as far as grain and sharpness are concerned. Yet, I shall hereby call his prints "perfectly adequate.";)

Link to post
Share on other sites

My friend, I have been ordering framed prints in sizes

> 100 cm x 60 cm

> 150 cm x 100 cm

at whitewall, excellent quality (both colours & sharpness).

So, I agree, you can do a lot with M8, however, I would nevertheless

buy a M9/full format with more pixels.

 

Who told you that this product will be launched in September?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Have any of you been to an exhibition of old 35mm masterpieces recently? Bo, I know you have. Look at Robert Frank's prints, they would certainly not live up to many forum members expectations of print quality as far as grain and sharpness are concerned. Yet, I shall hereby call his prints "perfectly adequate.";)

 

i have seen some A3 lomo prints which had an artistic value to them. does that mean i do not need a better camera than a lomo? sorry, but this discussion gets ridiculous.

obviously, the artistic value of a photographic print is not only determined by the megapixel size or even the iso of the film.

peter

Link to post
Share on other sites

i have seen some A3 lomo prints which had an artistic value to them. does that mean i do not need a better camera than a lomo? sorry, but this discussion gets ridiculous.

obviously, the artistic value of a photographic print is not only determined by the megapixel size or even the iso of the film.

peter

 

I can only fully agree!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Colt Seavers

Some say even the latest and biggest Phase-Backs are not good enough for A3, it all depends on how crazy you calculate and how close you view your prints :p

Link to post
Share on other sites

sorry, but this discussion gets ridiculous.

 

This discussion was ridiculous before it even started. In fact, 99% of the discussions on the M8 forums are ridiculous at this point. There is literally no productive discussion about the M8 that hasn't been covered in the past and can be looked up in the archives.

 

Trust me, I always want the latest and greatest, and sometimes I want to go out and do street photography with Ektar 100 loaded in my Contax 645. Oh boy, I just started another discussion: would the quality even be better than my M8 files? way to fuel the fire.

 

Yes, 18mp would be better for A3 size prints. Would it be good enough for A2? Quickly, Leica, we need an M10. Or maybe we just need to get off our computers and go take some pictures. I include myself in this criticism since after all, I am writing this right now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

A3 is very good but not perfect with a 5D2's 21 MP. A4 images look slightly sharper when both prints are viewed from ~20 cm (laser prints from a Fuji lab in this case).

 

1) learn to sharpen depending on the print size

2) do not look different print size of the same picture at the same distance, and not 20cm

 

Because when I print an A3+ from a 15Mpix picture, I see less details than on the original image at 100%.

So an A3/21Mpix is not perfect for you, the camera and pixel count may not be the problem.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Colt Seavers
As for the M9 being launched in September: yes, when Christmas and Easter fall on the same day in 2009, that's when the M9 will be launched.

 

Can you hire Santa and Easter Bunny in September? I think yes, they are unemployed that month, that makes them cheap enough for saving some bucks for the new camera being launched in some weeks.

Link to post
Share on other sites

A3 is about 12X17 inches; I've been printing a few 13x19 (in DIN sizes this would be B3) M8 shots recently; they look great and have no visible artifacts. At these sizes digital prints from the M8 finally start to look better than optical prints from 35mm film. Would an 18MP image produce a better print? Probably, but the improvement would be marginal.

 

If there is an M9, the improvements I'm looking for would be elsewhere than pixel count. Better high-ISO sensitivity, an effective integral IR filter, and a stiffer power/mode switch would be the big three. If I get a bonus fourth feature, it would be exposure compensation and ISO adjustment via one-touch controls.

Link to post
Share on other sites

sometimes I want to go out and do street photography with Ektar 100 loaded in my Contax 645. Oh boy, I just started another discussion: would the quality even be better than my M8 files?

 

I have recently run some B&W film through my Contax 645 (Adox CHS 25), and while I used a tripod, the resulting quality, scanned to 25MP on an Epson V750, exceeds the results from the M8 visibly. If I had used ISO 100 film, it would have been closer. I think that the M8 probably has more DR than colour film though, even if the shoulder of film makes highlights look nicer.

 

Film is underrated, but the M8 is still an awesome camera, to my mind the best non-MF digital camera on the market.

Link to post
Share on other sites

As for the M9 being launched in September: yes, when Christmas and Easter fall on the same day in 2009, that's when the M9 will be launched.

 

Bernd, I think the September release of the M9 is pretty much an open secret at this point. Even my local Berlin dealer has more or less admitted it, without saying so directly.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...