fstops
-
If you like a picture, it does not mean everyone should like it. Photography is not practiced in kindergartens for that reason... So, don't start splitting hair (sorry for the pun) if someone thinks otherwise about a picture than you.
Joe AC
Well-known
That's a beautiful instrument Cal. They are definetly from the D'Aquisto school of guitars. I've had my sights set on a Benedetto for quite some time now, I guess I'll have to prioritize.
Joe
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Joe at this level guitars are crazier than cameras. Right now the short list at Monteleone is eight years and then there's another three year wait on the short list to get a Monteleone after that. Some people who get impatient are being told by Monteleone to go to Cristian Mirabella if they can't wait over a decade for a guitar.
Anyways back in 2004 I saw that Cris was being groomed to be the next "Guy" that's when I locked down a price. Already own a Mirabella BTW. Look at the red electric with the P90.
Cris just completed a round sound hole DiAquisto/Mirabella. Some guy bought some of the contents from DiAquisto's studio, and a guitar was made from bent sides, and carved top and back, along with a neck that forensics indicated was an guitar that was started and never completed.
Cal
D&A
Well-known
Hi Kristian & All,
I've throughly have enjoyed carefully looking over the many splended MM images Kristian has posted along with previous MM files from others I've kindly been supplied with and no doubt, there is much to both admire and comment on. Seperating the abilities of the talented photographer (such as Kristian) and their images from simply the capabilities and attributes of a new camera like the MM, is sometimes difficult. It also depends where each one of us come from...a background of using film? Medium format film, MF digital, both?, Maybe 35mm film or possibly acombiantion of some of these mediums and/or more? This I feel even more so than with color images, impact our feeling about this new camera.
Lastly web based images also don't reveal the whole story and making judgements solely on them is only part of the story, in my opinion/
Unlike other MM images I've worked with, Kristian's, especially his penchant for using a high(er) contrast look in his B&W work (at least in the images recently posted), yeilds a look that reminds me not of 35mm B&W film but of Medium format (MF) film, processed and printed to yild a high contrast look. Why? generally this look is/was very common with many MF film based photographers and often the resulting images would be extremely clean with almost a grain fee look....not unlike what we see here with some of Kritian's images. That's why some feeel the need to add a bit of "noise" to the images. It depends on what they are most used to and comfortable with. No right or wrong, simply preference.
I selected the accompanied Kritian image as one of the few I find disconcerning. When I look at the yong ladies fingers of her right (lower) hand and also a bit in the surround of her headpiece accross her forehead and cheeks, I almost see a "cookie "cut-out appearance...almost like "cut & paste". Yes, I know some can describe this as a 3D effect. Also with her hand covering her neck and her head surrounded by a completely black background...it almost looks like it's *her head) flaoting in space. The extreme sharpness and detail of course lends to this phnominon (against a detail-less background). This all has nothing to do with Kristian's technique or "eye" nor the splended detail displayed in this image. It's just something I've noticed with this and a few other MM images I've been supplied. How some of the other mediums (film or digital) that I mentioned above, would reproduce this picture and the anomoly I described, I can't say for sure.
On the other hand, Kristian's other image of the girl in the hat with concentric circles of light and dark just below her, is simply sublime and one of my favorites posted of any MM image so far by anyone.
The MM camera I believe has tremendous potential. Even if an accompanied M9 could sometimes reproduce similar images on a percentage of occasions where both are shot simultaniously, my belief is that this camera due to it's versitilty in being able to shoot cleaner higher ISO images and demonstrate better DR, (especially in the shadows) along with offering a file with greater lattitude to start with during post processing, will consistantly achieve certain B&W "image goals" of the photographer whereby the M9 might have a somewhat harder time doing so. This camera I believe will do very well in fine art and reportage type images where tonality (and it's imact) play a substatial role to the success and impact that an image makes (aside from the photographers "eye" in framing and the subject matter chosen). This to me points to a digital camera (the MM), where many of these goals appeared to be the specific objective of its design and from what I have seen and worked with so far, has succeeded on many levels. Has it reached a level of perfection? Of course not. Iit will improve with time (like protection, recovering and reproduction of highlights)...but so has most every generation of color digital camera improved over time.
Thanks Kristian for posting these very fine examples. Looking forward to seeing more.
Dave (D&A)
L1000441 by Kristian Dowling, on Flickr[/quote]
I've throughly have enjoyed carefully looking over the many splended MM images Kristian has posted along with previous MM files from others I've kindly been supplied with and no doubt, there is much to both admire and comment on. Seperating the abilities of the talented photographer (such as Kristian) and their images from simply the capabilities and attributes of a new camera like the MM, is sometimes difficult. It also depends where each one of us come from...a background of using film? Medium format film, MF digital, both?, Maybe 35mm film or possibly acombiantion of some of these mediums and/or more? This I feel even more so than with color images, impact our feeling about this new camera.
Lastly web based images also don't reveal the whole story and making judgements solely on them is only part of the story, in my opinion/
Unlike other MM images I've worked with, Kristian's, especially his penchant for using a high(er) contrast look in his B&W work (at least in the images recently posted), yeilds a look that reminds me not of 35mm B&W film but of Medium format (MF) film, processed and printed to yild a high contrast look. Why? generally this look is/was very common with many MF film based photographers and often the resulting images would be extremely clean with almost a grain fee look....not unlike what we see here with some of Kritian's images. That's why some feeel the need to add a bit of "noise" to the images. It depends on what they are most used to and comfortable with. No right or wrong, simply preference.
I selected the accompanied Kritian image as one of the few I find disconcerning. When I look at the yong ladies fingers of her right (lower) hand and also a bit in the surround of her headpiece accross her forehead and cheeks, I almost see a "cookie "cut-out appearance...almost like "cut & paste". Yes, I know some can describe this as a 3D effect. Also with her hand covering her neck and her head surrounded by a completely black background...it almost looks like it's *her head) flaoting in space. The extreme sharpness and detail of course lends to this phnominon (against a detail-less background). This all has nothing to do with Kristian's technique or "eye" nor the splended detail displayed in this image. It's just something I've noticed with this and a few other MM images I've been supplied. How some of the other mediums (film or digital) that I mentioned above, would reproduce this picture and the anomoly I described, I can't say for sure.
On the other hand, Kristian's other image of the girl in the hat with concentric circles of light and dark just below her, is simply sublime and one of my favorites posted of any MM image so far by anyone.
The MM camera I believe has tremendous potential. Even if an accompanied M9 could sometimes reproduce similar images on a percentage of occasions where both are shot simultaniously, my belief is that this camera due to it's versitilty in being able to shoot cleaner higher ISO images and demonstrate better DR, (especially in the shadows) along with offering a file with greater lattitude to start with during post processing, will consistantly achieve certain B&W "image goals" of the photographer whereby the M9 might have a somewhat harder time doing so. This camera I believe will do very well in fine art and reportage type images where tonality (and it's imact) play a substatial role to the success and impact that an image makes (aside from the photographers "eye" in framing and the subject matter chosen). This to me points to a digital camera (the MM), where many of these goals appeared to be the specific objective of its design and from what I have seen and worked with so far, has succeeded on many levels. Has it reached a level of perfection? Of course not. Iit will improve with time (like protection, recovering and reproduction of highlights)...but so has most every generation of color digital camera improved over time.
Thanks Kristian for posting these very fine examples. Looking forward to seeing more.
Dave (D&A)
L1000441 by Kristian Dowling, on Flickr[/quote]
leicashot
Well-known
Excuse me fstops, I can take abuse and negative criticism of my pictures but I won't stand for personal insults. Please refrain from any more commenting on this thread unless you're intentions and words replicate some sort of positive meaning.....in other words, please go away!
Tina Manley
Newbie
I have had my MM a few days now and have posted some of my initial experiments and comparisons:
http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/leicamm&page=all
I'm still just playing and learning how to expose, very different from the M9! So far, I'm very impressed with the amount of detail in the shadows and highlights and the quality at high ISOs. I'm not sure how much you can tell from the jpegs on pBase, but the DNG files are amazing. I'm happy!
Tina
http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/leicamm&page=all
I'm still just playing and learning how to expose, very different from the M9! So far, I'm very impressed with the amount of detail in the shadows and highlights and the quality at high ISOs. I'm not sure how much you can tell from the jpegs on pBase, but the DNG files are amazing. I'm happy!
Tina
ricnak
Well-known
Thanks for the link Tina. Great to see some side by side comparisons with the M9.
leicashot
Well-known
Yeah cheers Tina, please feel free to post some pictures here...it's a open thread, not just about my own pictures....lets see some variety!
Pirate
Guitar playing Fotografer
I just read a review that said the JPG files have a different look than the DNG files. Can anyone comment on that?
leicashot
Well-known
Yes the jpeg files come out more contrasty with less shadow detail, but noise is very well controlled and detail is still there...quite impressive. I now shoot both and just use the jpeg if I can't be bothered editing.
These examples are unedited, straight from camera....please don't comment on blown highlights as the exposure difference between the model's face and the mirror lights is very large, and not even the mighty film could capture that much information. This is as good as it gets.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I love the gentleness of this image! ^ 
Onya Kristian for being so tolerant of the people in this thread who just seem to want to jam their fingers up your nose!
Onya Kristian for being so tolerant of the people in this thread who just seem to want to jam their fingers up your nose!
leicashot
Well-known
I love the gentleness of this image! ^
Onya Kristian for being so tolerant of the people in this thread who just seem to want to jam their fingers up your nose!
It's ok. Film lovers are passionate people and don't want to see their passion fade. If cameras like the Monochrom keep gaining more attention, use and sales, film will probably die a faster death. That I understand, and as much as I love film, I don't want to see it go. If it wasn't a workflow issue, I'd be using it still.
As for the Monochrom, I'm not trying to justify my purchase by praising it without very good and deserved reason. It deserves the credit it's been recieveing because it delivers on Leica's promises, and I haven't come across one Monochrom 'user' who thinks otherwise. Trust me, if I wasted $8k on this, you'd know about it!
Pirate
Guitar playing Fotografer
Never mind, I'm just an idiot. It was from Tina's pictures linked above, but she was showing the difference between the M9 and MM. The MM shots were darker than the M9 shots. After seeing those I read there's a difference between the JPG and DNG's and my brain wrongfully linked the two. Sorry about that.
leicashot
Well-known
Hmm,not my experience. To me, the jpeg having more contrast makes more sense, almost like selecting sRGB vs Adobe RGB in colour. Here are two more untouched examples....
D&A
Well-known
Kristian,
Regarding my lengthy post of a few hours ago (posted on the previous page this thread), only very high contrast lighting situations are somewhat in question when shooting with the MM, even if initially the written DNG's out of the camera are "flat" This is the only real area of concern on my part. Aside from that, each image you continue to post, reinforce the lovely nature of this camera's images. I love this last posted image of yours...even though its straight out of the camera, I can already see the richness in tones, especially the lush blacks.
I too can understand the passion in using film, having done so for more years than I can to recall and although some very valid arguments can and will be made with regards to how well this camera emulates that medium, I can only say it has for the most part convinced me of its potential.
Oh by the way Kristian, when shooting with the M9, I've always converted a DNG to B&W and never worked with its jpeg B&W option. Just curious, in oyur opinion, how does the B&W M9 jpeg llook and is it simply a simple conversion algorithum or was some thought put into it?
Dave (D&A)
Regarding my lengthy post of a few hours ago (posted on the previous page this thread), only very high contrast lighting situations are somewhat in question when shooting with the MM, even if initially the written DNG's out of the camera are "flat" This is the only real area of concern on my part. Aside from that, each image you continue to post, reinforce the lovely nature of this camera's images. I love this last posted image of yours...even though its straight out of the camera, I can already see the richness in tones, especially the lush blacks.
I too can understand the passion in using film, having done so for more years than I can to recall and although some very valid arguments can and will be made with regards to how well this camera emulates that medium, I can only say it has for the most part convinced me of its potential.
Oh by the way Kristian, when shooting with the M9, I've always converted a DNG to B&W and never worked with its jpeg B&W option. Just curious, in oyur opinion, how does the B&W M9 jpeg llook and is it simply a simple conversion algorithum or was some thought put into it?
Dave (D&A)
thirtyfivefifty
Noctilust survivor
Lovely shots. I really miss living in Melbourne.
Sylvester
Well-known
The thing is... I see no differences between my D5100 and those Digital M shot on flickr... RAW files could be nice to see, no?
leicashot
Well-known
leicashot
Well-known
Let me put it this way....the Monochrom is not the be all end all in B&W. Unless you see side by side comparisons or RAW files you wouldn't know so it's understandable. Also, I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about perceived dynamic range vs exposure, especially in contrasty scenes. Some scenes have more tones and some don't. You can only compare side by side to fully understand why the Monochrom is unique in it's abilities at recording such tonal range.
I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to give out my RAW files. If I was providing these as a review then I would, but instead I am providing samples of my 'work' so can't be giving out my livelihood.
Pirate
Guitar playing Fotografer
"unique in it's abilities at recording such tonal range."
I think this is the key statement. The MM uses every pixel to capture a tonal range, not every third pixel as in an RGB chip. The RAW image gathers so much more information than a D5100 could ever hope to capture that it gives you that much more information to edit with. Seeing comparable images in full size prints would surely show that. On the computer screens, yes they all look the same, but I believe we should keep our eyes on what these cameras were truly made for= making prints. And that's where you will see the difference.
I think this is the key statement. The MM uses every pixel to capture a tonal range, not every third pixel as in an RGB chip. The RAW image gathers so much more information than a D5100 could ever hope to capture that it gives you that much more information to edit with. Seeing comparable images in full size prints would surely show that. On the computer screens, yes they all look the same, but I believe we should keep our eyes on what these cameras were truly made for= making prints. And that's where you will see the difference.