M8 Color Green to Brown

[scjohn]

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First, let me say that I have read of the complaints and was not troubled. I essentially understood that certain image issues could be "reproduced" but were pretty rare. More importantly, this is a Leica and I trust Leica to fix any problem that comes up.

 

But I shot some photos of my son with a coded tri-elmar (The 28-50) under conditions everyone seems to be describing as ideal... overcast and outdoors. Looking at the photos I was generally pleased until I noticed that his moss green jacket came out as chocolate brown in every single image. I didn't appreciate how stunning the color error is.

 

I attach two images both taken under identically overcast conditions. The picture of my son shows the color error; the picture of the jacket shows its true color.

 

Has anyone reported this problem before and will the filters fix it?

[Jamie Roberts]

First, let me say that I have read of the complaints and was not troubled. I essentially understood that certain image issues could be "reproduced" but were pretty rare. More importantly, this is a Leica and I trust Leica to fix any problem that comes up.

 

But I shot some photos of my son with a coded tri-elmar (The 28-50) under conditions everyone seems to be describing as ideal... overcast and outdoors. Looking at the photos I was generally pleased until I noticed that his moss green jacket came out as chocolate brown in every single image. I didn't appreciate how stunning the color error is.

 

I attach two images both taken under identically overcast conditions. The picture of my son shows the color error; the picture of the jacket shows its true color.

 

Has anyone reported this problem before and will the filters fix it?

 

Did you shoot JPEG or RAW? What did you WB on?

 

It's impossible to answer your questions without that information; I'm not trying to be difficult

[scjohn]

I shot this in JPEG and used auto white balance

[cmb_]

Read Joseph S. Wisniewski's posts in the thread entitled "Why Leica did what they did..."

 

Green's turning to brown is another example of the IR problem.

[Joseph S. Wisniewski]

First, let me say that I have read of the complaints and was not troubled. I essentially understood that certain image issues could be "reproduced" but were pretty rare. More importantly, this is a Leica and I trust Leica to fix any problem that comes up.

 

But I shot some photos of my son with a coded tri-elmar (The 28-50) under conditions everyone seems to be describing as ideal... overcast and outdoors. Looking at the photos I was generally pleased until I noticed that his moss green jacket came out as chocolate brown in every single image. I didn't appreciate how stunning the color error is.

 

I attach two images both taken under identically overcast conditions. The picture of my son shows the color error; the picture of the jacket shows its true color.

 

Has anyone reported this problem before and will the filters fix it?

As a veteran of years of use of cameras with IR sensitivity problems, with and without filters, I assure you that the filter will fix the jacket.

 

IR doesn't just affect some synthetic blacks, it affects practically any color.

 

What infrared does, a summary...: Leica Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

 

The big issue is that some colors are easier to fix with a profile than others, but in the end there are still errors in many colors. The profile can only correct for the average error. So subjects (fabrics, leaves, etc) with more IR contamination than average are undercorrected, while subjects with less contamination than average are overcorrected. Your son's jacket is undercorrected, as is his skin.

 

Filters will fix all of this: with a filter there is no more contamination, so colors are always constant. Unfortunately, that means existing profiles are wrong: all colors are less contaminated than an "average" that no longer exists, so all colors are visibly overcorrected. So, you need a filter, and a new profile. Combine those, and the color is now spot on.

 

And the IR blocking filters fix all the IR induced issues with sharpness, contrast, flare, ghosting, surface vein visibility, dark circles under eyes, underwear lines on clothing, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.

[jaapv]

In the original post the photograph of the little boy seems to suffer from a colour balance that is shifted to cool. Shooting raw is a lot better for WB correction.Having said that, I got my first IR filter today and colour balance straight out of camera seems a lot more stable.

[adan]

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Like Joe W. says.

 

My wife has an olive-colored parka the same color as the olive patch on a gertag card. With the M8 unfiltered the cloth shifts towards brown (whereas the test card stays pretty accurate with a good profile and correct WB).

 

In fact her coat is a great "IR detector". It was the color that most obviously shifted orange or brown with the R-D1, even more than blacks.

[lars_bergquist]

Question: can't we white-balance in Kelvin while shooting jpeg's?!

 

The old man who's just seen a ghost