Author Topic: Leica M Monochrome (Read 1628 times)

leaf · « **on:** May 10, 2012, 13:08 »

a new rangefinder camera from Leica.

It only shoots B&W, crazy enough to be interesting.

http://www.togtech.com/leica-m-monochrome-leaked/

Tabimura · « **Reply #1 on:** May 10, 2012, 13:22 »

I can't imagine anyone in his right mind buying this.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #2 on:** May 10, 2012, 13:28 »

It is May 10 and not April 1, isn't it?

And what does 100% sharper mean? Sharper than what?

leaf · « **Reply #3 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:01 »

here's the hands on preview from DPreview with sample photos.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/10/Leica-M-Monochrom-hands-on-preview

Tabimura · « **Reply #4 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:12 »

I don't get this. I do quite a number of monochrome stylized portraits and I will always preffer to work on separate channels, rather than on a grayscale image.

Perry · « **Reply #5 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:13 »

Quote from: leaf on May 10, 2012, 16:01

here's the hands on preview from DPreview with sample photos.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/10/Leica-M-Monochrom-hands-on-preview

It's a totally crazy camera, but the full-sized samples look nice.

The resolution is totally amazing, for example: http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/3202320681/download/1950542

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:22 »

Quote from: Perry on May 10, 2012, 16:13

Quote from: leaf on May 10, 2012, 16:01
here's the hands on preview from DPreview with sample photos.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/10/Leica-M-Monochrom-hands-on-preview

It's a totally crazy camera, but the full-sized samples look amazing!

No they don't, look at the horse's nose, the detail is completely blown out, skies that might have some detail are lost and most of the images look flat with poorly controlled contrast. It's probably not the camera's fault, but how many people remember how to shoot B&W these days?

Perry · « **Reply #7 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:25 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on May 10, 2012, 16:22

Quote from: Perry on May 10, 2012, 16:13
Quote from: leaf on May 10, 2012, 16:01
here's the hands on preview from DPreview with sample photos.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/10/Leica-M-Monochrom-hands-on-preview

It's a totally crazy camera, but the full-sized samples look amazing!

No they don't, look at the horse's nose, the detail is completely blown out, skies that might have some detail are lost and most of the images look flat with poorly controlled contrast. It's probably not the camera's fault, but how many people remember how to shoot B&W these days?

Hehee... I changed my amazing -> nice. I wouldn't look at the horse too closely, they have just over exposed the image (heck, they have used an exposure compensation of +1.33 on a dark-ish scene). Look at the detail in the images, no bayer-interpolation-crap here...

sharpshot · « **Reply #8 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:42 »

I like it but I don't buy Leica cameras. They're great cameras but I like value for money. If Canon did a B&W only camera, I would be very interested.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #9 on:** May 10, 2012, 16:52 »

Quote from: sharpshot on May 10, 2012, 16:42

I like it but I don't buy Leica cameras. They're great cameras but I like value for money. If Canon did a B&W only camera, I would be very interested.

My Leica R4S ModP was value for money, at about $170, and it happily uses interchangable black and white or colour sensors.

grp_photo · « **Reply #10 on:** May 10, 2012, 17:09 »

It's a great concept you loose color but you win overall technical quality, you can't compare it to a BW-conversion like you can't compare a real IR-shot to some fancy pseudo-IR computer conversions. But for a microstocker this concept/camera is certainly not the right tool.

jbarber873 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 10, 2012, 17:50 »

The theory of a B&W camera is actually a good one, since all camera chips are B&W. Color is achieved with an overlay of RGB filters. This means that you are only capturing 1/3 of the light, and by breaking up the image into arrays of filters, you are losing sharpness. A true B&W chip could in theory be much sharper than a RGB camera, in that all the pixels are devoted to the tonal scale. My first digital camera was a leaf DB2 camera, which had a rotating wheel in front of the camera. It took 3 shots, one through each color (RGB), and the software put them together. The images were only 12MB in size, big enough for a quarter page, but you could upsize them to full page and they were crispy critters. The camera was even better at straight B&W. Sharp as a tack, with an amazing tonal range, far more than could be printed, even with gravure at a 200 line screen. BUT, it was tethered to a computer, so it was studio only. This camera could be a great idea for a limited market, if the reality is anywhere near the possibility. And of course, you have to like to shoot B&W, which I don't.

leaf · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2012, 04:00 »

thanks for the background info jbarber

I am certainly tempted by a camera like this. I've been drooling over a Leica rangefinder for a while now. You don't buy one because it 'makes sense' or would be a good work tool, you buy one because you'd like to take pictures with it.. at least that's how I feel. Anyhow, I don't think I'll be dishing out the $8000 needed for this camera for a while (if ever) but I still like to dream. Perhaps as a 40th birthday present to myself instead of a sports car.

sharpshot · « **Reply #13 on:** May 11, 2012, 04:18 »

I'd like to see other companies like Sony and Fuji get in to the full frame mirrorless EVF or rangefinder market. In the film days, I wanted a Mamiya 7. I'm sure a digital version of that camera would be great. Leica cameras just don't appeal to me. They seem like the equivalent of Porsche cars, an old design that either appeals to you or doesn't. Every new model is almost the same design as the old one.