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Author Topic: More from Erwin Puts on the M9  (Read 1493 times)

ErikKaffehr

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More from Erwin Puts on the M9
« on: December 23, 2009, 02:51:39 am »

Hi,

On a previous posting Mr. Puts compared the M9 with B&W film. The comparison was based on digital color prints from the M9 and wet process printing from the M7. The focus was on resolution. A side effect of that comparison was that there was very much color artifacting seen in the M9 images.

Erwin Puts revisited the issue and compared different raw processors, check this page:

http://www.imx.nl/photo/leica/camera/page165/page165.html

It's pretty clear from his tests that almost all raw-converters he tested have a lot of color artifacts, with an somewhat odd raw-converter using neural networks as a single exception.

Admittedly, these artifacts are seldom seen in real life. The main reasons are:

1) Excellent technique is needed, tripod, critical focusing medium aperture (to limit diffraction)
2) The subject needs to have contrasty detail with similar spacing to sensor pitch
3) It seems that some observers are more sensible to aliasing artifacts

On the positive side, it is nice that signal processing theory holds according to it artifacts are unavoidable without low pass filtering. Also on the positive side, the effects seen under lab conditions can seldom be seen in practical photography according to users of the M9.

A side note:

Oddly enough, Ken Rockwell (our famous friend) seems to like the Leica, even if the camera doesn't matter. He even has three DNGs to download, on this page:

http://kenrockwell.com/leica/m9/sample-photos-3.htm

With LR 2.6 a healthy amount of "Purple Fringing" can be seen in at least one sample. It can be totally eliminated using detail->Defringe->All edges.

Best regards
Erik
[attachment=18836:M9_purple_fringing.jpg]

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Rob C

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More from Erwin Puts on the M9
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2009, 03:41:44 pm »

Well, say what you might about him, Señor Rockwell, his images on the link are as good as any others I see around. Pity Leica is so expensive... quite fancy something light!

Rob C

ErikKaffehr

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More from Erwin Puts on the M9
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2009, 04:04:14 pm »

Hi,

Yes, the images are impressive.

It seems that the Leica M9 is much liked by a lot of people. It is obviously small and light weight and can match the performance of the leading DSLRs, unfortunately at a hefty price. There are of course some limitations with the rangefinder concept, so it's not for anyone.

Best regards
Erik


Quote from: Rob C
Well, say what you might about him, Señor Rockwell, his images on the link are as good as any others I see around. Pity Leica is so expensive... quite fancy something light!

Rob C
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