One hour with the Momochrome by Steve Huff (Click here). Leica Momochrome thoughts by Luminous Landscape (Click here): “I am confident in saying that the MM’s 18 Megapixel sensor performs more like a 26–32 MP Bayer sensor camera.”. Henri (Click here) posted a couple of image samples.Hands-on pictures by Photographyblog (Click here). And Imaging Resource (Click here) tries to find an answer to the following question “Is Leica Pricing Out Its Loyal Customers with an $8,000 Black-and-White Camera?“
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Leica M Monochrome is available for preorder at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Leica X2 and accessories are available for preorder at Adorama (Click here) and listed at BHphoto (Click here).
Leica 50mm Summicron is available for preorder at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
29 Responses
amazing, imagine the possibilities if Leica used a modern sensor!
Leica manufactures “Veblen goods”. The demand increases with the price.
As any Veblen good it is also independent of reason. I have three film Leicas and 2 digital. I will stay however with my 18Mpix Bayer and NIK Silver Efex Pro to get B&W.
> I have three film Leicas and 2 digital.
Reading more and more Leica related news, the impression that most Leica buyers are collectors, not photographers, deepens with literally every second user comment.
Or you are going to say that owning at least five cameras is “essential to photography”? 😉
> The demand increases with the price.
You have left out the “luxury” and “high-status” adjectives, associated with the goods.
> As any Veblen good it is also independent of reason.
Not in the Leica case. The price of a Leica camera is the price of a high-precision mechanical device, hand made in Germany. 6-8K€ is how much an average qualified and experienced employee over here costs to a company per month.
But you are still off. Veblen goods are the goods where price is really makes no sense and is simply raised for no reason and yet that results in increased popularity. E.g. a lady hand bag for $2500, or a t-shirt for $500 with D&G letters on it.
Leica is made in Portugal and assembled in Germany – this has been like this since 1974 (might be wrong with exact year)
LOL. OK. You have convinced me: Leica is a Veblen good.
most of leicafags just speak and dont shoot.
It takes a month to assemble one camera?
My Kodak Tri-X looks much better, no need to use Eflex neither.
I shoot it on my $200 Nikon FM2 or Contax G2…wonderful.
You are right with regards to quality–film rules! I use my MP when feel “artistic” and have the time…
Mike1, your Tri-X really looks better? I also have a Contax G2, and Canon F1N with Canon’s best FD glass, and I’d estimate the best I can get from Tri-X on 35mm film is about 5-6 megapixels maybe a lit less, before I hit the grain limit. i.e., If I scan in at a 16+ megapixel equivalent, all it does is make the silver grains look bigger. My NEX-5 and NEX-C3 take much sharper black and white images than my film cameras, even with the Bayer filter. The only thing I get from film is a greater tonal range.
Tonal range is all I need for B&W. I also like the grainy film look in certain situations. Otherwise I would also shoot with my NEX5N and convert it into B&W.
There are many other B&W films that are more suitable for scanning to bigger sizes. But I started shooting B&W with Tri-X and still stick with it. It is the look.
If you want more IQ from film, shoot a medium format rangefinder. They are not heavy, just larger, and just as easy and fast to shoot as a small format rangefinder. They scan better with commodity scanners and if you get a scanner with a true optical resolution of around 4000spi, you’ll be able to print very large at 300dpi.
And you can shoot ISO3200 BW film with far less grain than small format but yet enough grain to not have that sterile color converted to monochrome look you get from digital.
Leica fans are blind to anything Leica can’t offer.
This level of clients ignorance is something
every company in the world is only dreaming about.
And I mean this as compliment.
Respect, Leica!
Of course it is highly personal, I often pump the D700 to 6400ISO to get grain in color. B&W medical xray photos should be high resolution for sure…
+1 🙂
wrong response.
“MM’s 18 Megapixel sensor performs more like a 26–32 MP Bayer sensor camera”
Oops, guess the D800 still beats it. For half the price.
/suckacock
Can I get it in a color that matches my Cayman?
Until there is real competition in its niche, the cameras will sell at a premium.
I’m OK with that.
that’s nice. still waiting for the lottery jackpot before i would even consider getting one 🙂
18 b&w mp is about 20 bayer mp equivlent. This is from measurements, not subjective feelings.
Erwin Puts tested M9 and marked its effective resolution at 62 lp/mm (line pairs per milimeter) or 15% below the Nyquist limit of 73 lp/mm.
http://www.imx.nl/photo/leica/camera/page164/page164.html
That is a very good result (low loss), more typical figure is 35% below Nyquist in the lens-filtering-sensor-converter-software chain.
In the same test he finds the resolution of Ilford Delta 100 on a film Leica M at the same 62 lp/mm. With a high resolution Orthopan film he gets 70 lp/mm. All that presumably at 50% contrast.
Dpreview tested Nikon D800 and found 3200lph (lines per picture height). That is 67 lp/mm for the 7360×4912 pixels sensor. 35% below its Nyquist of 102 lp/mm. D800E improves to 3400 lph or 70 lp/mm, 30% below Nyquist (with false color). The contrast is not given, let’s make it easy for D800 and say also 50%.
To sum up:
M9 resolves 62 lp/mm
M + Ortho film 70 lp/mm
D800 67 lp/mm
D800E 70 lp/mm
M Monochrom?? Probably just below it’s Nyquist of 73 lp/mm,
ca 70 lp/mm ?
Now wait what a 36Mpix Leica M10 can show. 15% below Nyquist would make it resolve 85 lp/mm.
PS
Please spare the usual comments of “wrong methodologies, lens,…” etc etc. If one can point to other published tests–please do.
Interesting comment you made. I don’t understand why Leica launched the MM now if they’re really launching a M10 with significantly improved sensor in just a couple of months. Don’t make sense to me, but there could be good a explanation. Like no M10 in the immediate future or a M10 with just a slight MP upgrade.
And then your numbers. IMO resolution tests should be comparable from site to site, but they aren’t. Comparing resolution numbers tested with different tests will in most cases be (slightly) different. That doesn’t mean you can’t compare, but you shouldn’t rely on small differences to be correct.
Next, you imply that Leica can get a new sensor with twice the number of pixels to maintain a 15% below Nyquist “rating”. I don’t say it can’t be done, but IMO it’s unlikely to scale that well.
One problem with resoltion test is that they are done with a high contrast test chart. I understand that it’s neccessary, but this type of test patterns are fairly easy for the sensor and noise reduction to handle well. Two cameras which scores virtually identical in resoltion tests can behave very differently in real world photography because some handle low conctrast details much better that others.
Hello Mike 1. I’m with you. I dabble with digital (D Lux 5) and do enjoy the quality of both its colour and B&W processing. In fact I actually earn my living with it. However, I still indulge in ‘organic’ photography and really do prefer the tactile feel of film images, both scanned (Nikon Coolscan V) and silver prints. I’d have to say that though I feel the M9-M (or whatever we’re going to call it) is a beautiful piece of gear $8000 does buy a lot of film. A luxurious indulgence for me is to wander around with an old M6 and a handful of TMax 400. It’s nothing to do with pixels, grain, or whatever – it’s what of what we like and enjoy most.