I am afraid I have to disagree - nothing film-like at all about them to
my eyes, far too "linear". The Leica M Monochrom's archilles heel is
much more limited dynamic range compared to e.g. a standard M9 (not to
mention the even the worst monochrome film) and it shows in the
highlights that clip very abruptly.
Tina, this is nothing personal. You have acquired an absolutely
wonderful tool, that is sure to make most of us envious. You just have
to understand that some of us around here are very passionate about film
(few more so than Ken and Myself, actually).
I shoot B&W film almost exclusively, and have come to appreciate the
great differences between ti and digital capture. The MM has
extraordinary resolution, exceeding all but the most carefully-shot
medium format film.
But the tonal response and dynamic range is like just any other digital
camera - linear, and very limited compared to film. That's not to say
you can't mess with the processing to make it appear very close to film
(I myself have attempted some successful Olympus E-5 conversions that
closely imitate Adox CHS Art film, one of my favourites).
It however takes but a single large B&W negative in the darkroom to
realise again how very different the two mediums are.
If I may use as an example your image of the dog:
http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/image/145748288
It appears flat and linear to my eyes, and it's clear that both in
shadow and highlight detail retention that the sensor did not have
enough dynamic range to capture the image. Of course, we sit with the
same problem with our (Micro) Four Thirds sensors.
If I may offer a comparable "pet" shot (don't have many of those) taken
in extremely harsh direct afternoon sunlight, captured on 35mm film:
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/339/6/8/mousse_portrait_by_philosomatographer-d4i9b7j.jpg
The white parts of the cat exhibit the gentlest transitions to
near-white, but never clips, courtesy of Kodak TMY400-2's extreme
dynamic range. This was shoot at ISO 400 at full midday sun at f/2.5, an
over-exposure of a considerable number of stops.
Digital is FAR from matching monochrome film in tonal response and
dynamic range, make no mistake.
Enjoy your wonderful, wonderful toys! I sure would like some of your
lenses for my M3... Looking forward to many more images from you with
the MM.
regards,
Dawid
On Fri, 2012-08-31 at 15:28 -0500, Ken Norton wrote:
> Those are the most film-like digital BW images I've ever seen.
>
> --
> Ken Norton
> ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.zone-10.com
--
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