velocette
enthusiast
Reged: 10/08/2006
Posts: 247
Loc: North Surrey
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I have a friend who’s a long long time Leica fan and has an M8 which he’s fairly disappointed with as he finds his results somewhat soft. He’s had Leica’s before with the last being an MP and also digital SLR’s by Nikon and Canon but as soon as the M8 came out he was back with the old firm. He’s a straight from the camera person totally opposed to any form of digital manipulation. So my question is before he trades in the M8 in for a Canon/Nikon do M8 files NEED sharpening before printing? And is he expecting too much from the digital format, I.e. for it to perform like his MP.
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Malcolm_Stewart
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/07/2005
Posts: 2385
Loc: Milton Keynes, UK
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Quote:
...has an M8 which he’s fairly disappointed with as he finds his results somewhat soft.... do M8 files NEED sharpening before printing?
Almost certainly, yes. The combination of the anti-alias filter and the Bayer array ensure that some of the lens sharpness gets "lost". So tell your friend to try some USM sharpening. If he doesn't like it, he can always go back to where he was. (In Photoshop I use 200, 0.6, 4 as parameters and these work well with images from my Canon primes. Occasionally, the image is soft and a larger radius may help, but I wouldn't expect that with a Leica lens.)
Quote:
...And is he expecting too much from the digital format, I.e. for it to perform like his MP.
I wonder if this has more to do with the M8 not having a full-frame sensor. I use both full frame (EOS 5D) and 1.6x crop bodies (30D & 10D). There's no doubt that I prefer the 5D images - which in general are far better than I ever achieved from film using the same lenses and an EOS3.
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Malcolm Stewart
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Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1138
Loc: London, UK
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The M8 doesn't have much in the way of an anti-alias filter. Is your friend shooting RAW (Adobe DNG) or using the in-camera JPEGs? I adda touch of sharpening in C1 but your friend needs to make sure he's focussing correctly. Really critical on an M8 and the lenses and rangefinder may or may not be correctly aligned.
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Mark
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velocette
enthusiast
Reged: 10/08/2006
Posts: 247
Loc: North Surrey
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Thanks for the replies. He's shooting RAW and only has the problem of softness with the M8 which he's obviously comparing with his previous MP and Canon 20d and also his Leica compact none of which he had/has problems with. Although very PC literate he's totally against any form of manipulation for his digital camera files and taking care when capturing an image believes that it should then be printable as it came from the camera.
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Roger_Provins
Made-it Man
Reged: 22/10/2005
Posts: 2814
Loc: Gloucester, UK
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The M8 can create astoundingly sharp images. So it's either a fault with the camera or user error.
The third paragraph here is especially worth reading
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Rog
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velocette
enthusiast
Reged: 10/08/2006
Posts: 247
Loc: North Surrey
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Thanks for that I'll refer it to him before be becomes an ex Leica owner, again.
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Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1138
Loc: London, UK
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RAW images are not ready for printing, by defnition. They require post processing into a TIFF or JPEG and that process allows the user the option to fine tune the exposure, white balance, sharpness to name but three.
The in-camera JPEGs are the other option which are fine for casual work but cannot compete with a processed RAW file. I find the M8 JPEGs too "hot" as standard and turn down the contrast and sharpening a notch from default. I also think Leica lost the plot when they thought anyone would want to use the M8 for anything other than full resolution, minimum compression JPEGs.
Comes back to the focussing issue. The M8 is much more sensitive to focussing accuracy that film ever was because the image forming layer is thinner with film and easier to fit inside the zone of acceptable focus created by the lens. The M8 rangefinder - which is a system which sets focus by proxy rather than sensing the actual focus as in an SLR - is stretched to the limit as a result and can only work if precisely adjusted. I think the whole issue of focussing accuracy has been a bit of a wake-up call for Leica.
I recommend your friend sets the camera up on a tripod, self timer release and focus brackets to obtain the best the camera can deliver. If that is still not good enough, there may be something wrong with it. Users who can hold an M8 steady and focus accurately have little to complain about in terms of image sharpness and plasticity.
Incidentally, Auto White Balance is much improved in the latest firmware.
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Mark
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