THE M8 FRAME LINES

One of the trickiest parts of focusing a M8 is composing the frame when the subject is off-center. The M8 frame lines are not precise and depending on the focus distance, their precision varies.

My favorite lens is the Leica 50mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH. Fortunately 50mm is fairly forgiving when it comes to framing. I also have the 75mm F1.4 Summilux-R and 90mm F2 Summicron-M APO. Framing with 90mm is very difficult because the frame line area for 90mm focal length is quite small, thus any imprecision has a significant impact. With small frame lines and their imprecision, composing with either the 75mm or 90mm feels like hit or miss at times if the subject is shifted towards the right or left.

Frame lines are not just right and left, they are top and bottom too. The subject might be within the horizontal, but the top of head may be inadvertently cropped, or hands may get chopped off. This is not a deal breaker for me, but I do check the LCD to make sure the composition turned out okay. The Leica M8‘s frame lines are optimized for .7M (the minimum focus distance), so if you like to shoot really tight and close-up, the M8 is quite good for this. The Leica M8.2 frame lines are optimized for 2M, so perhaps better for landscape shooters. The Leica M9 split the difference and is optimized for 1M.

8-BITS VERSUS 16-BITS

Leica M8 raw files are saved as a 8-bit DNGs. Internally the M8 is 16-bits. After the raw data is processed by the in-camera processor, the raw data is downward compressed to the 8-bit DNG format. Leica’s explanation for using 8-bits is: “The LEICA M8 is equipped with a nearly loss-free compression of the image data in the case of files in DNG format. This doubles storage speed while requiring only half of the storage capacity. During the prototype phase, tests were performed with a 16 bit version, but they did not reveal any image quality advantages. As a result, Leica opted for the 8 bit technology.” Section 1.5 --- Leica FAQ Document

Having processed tens of thousands of raw files from the 12-bit Canon 1Ds Mark II, 16-bit Phase One P25 digital back and 14-bit Canon 1Ds Mark III - I feel experienced enough to comment on the value of a 16-bit raw file format. The Leica M8 should have a menu option where the user can select to write either 8-bit or 16-bit DNGs. Leica probably evaluated 8-bits vs 16-bits based upon the image as seen in their software BEFORE any editing in Photoshop, etc. In my opinion, the advantages of 16-bits is not readily apparent when previewing the raw files in their respective viewer or editor. The advantages of 16-bit files shows up later, after the file has been processed and converted to a 16-bit TIFF and then edited in Photoshop. The added bit depth translate into smoother transition and gradients.

Despite the 8-bit DNG format, the M8 files do have good shadow information and boosting the mid-tones often reveals some hidden treasures. Overall, the M8 captures the same or more dynamic range as the Canon 1Ds Mark III. With Canon 1Ds Mark III the dynamic range can be teased out with some levels work (selecting areas, boosting and cutting highlights & shadows, etc). The M8 files seem to have more effective (or net) dynamic range on the surface, but there is less hidden dynamic range that can be teased out of the file. This is especially true in the highlights. When editing M8 files in Photoshop the upper mid-tones such as skies, clouds, brightly lit opaque surfaces and so forth are far more likely to show banding, noise patterns, solarization or aliasing during the editing process.

The Phase One P25 files do best with this type of editing and the Canon 1Ds Mark III is a close second-place. The M8 comes in third. This short-coming is not a fundamental flaw that compromises every image. It happens only when the M8 files undergo moderate editing. Overall the Leica M8 does nicely with color and dynamic range, but I can’t help but feel like there is some hidden potential left behind due to the 8 bit DNG.

M8 COLOR

I use Phase One’s Capture One (C1) to process the Leica M8 DNGs. The C1 Canon color profiles are not my taste, but I do like C1 for the Phase One P25 and Leica M8 conversions. Overall the C1 M8 profile is pleasing, but the profile is over-saturated in the reds and yellows. Maybe Phase or Leica were aiming for a canned “Leica look”. Working with yellows and reds can be delicate since the C1 profile tends to push the values to the gamut’s limit and regions will clip / posterize / band when levels or saturation are pushed in CS3. If using C1 Pro color editing is quite easy with the color wheel palette. Upgrading to the pro version is expensive, but being able to edit the color within C1 at the raw stage does help. If an image is on the cusp of having gamut issues, being able to pull back the problem colors at the raw stage is much better than trying to fix the subsequent 16-bit TIFF in Photoshop.

The Leica M8’s color via C1 is pretty good, not necessarily accurate, but pleasing. This page has some exaggerated color examples which are intended to show how far the M8 files can be pushed in Photoshop. With firmware 2.004 updated for the Leica M8, Leica improved the auto-white, and I think it is pretty good now. Like most cameras, indoor tungsten is too warm and needs to be adjusted. Sometimes the M8 assigns too cool of a AWB value in the shadows; again, easily fixed in C1 or other raw editors. RAW Developer also works well for the Leica M8 files. RAW Developer does well with the M8 files, but the Leica M9 files are so-so. I am guessing that the Iridient software engineers have not created a finely tuned profile for the Leica M9.