THE LEICA M9 REAL WORLD REVIEW

PAGE 1 - THE FULL FRAME BEAUTY ARRIVES

PAGE 2 - The goods. What comes in the box and what’s new?

PAGE 3 - Is FULL FRAME really that much better?

PAGE 4 - High ISO low light photography, and the M9

PAGE 5 - Color - M9 packs a PUNCH!

PAGE 6 - Some M9 Black & White conversions

PAGE 7 - The 35 Summilux and the M9 - A match made in heaven or hell?

PAGE 8 - Full Frame = Vignetting? Not on the M9!

PAGE 9 - Untouched Full Size Sample Downloads

PAGE 10 - My favorite images form my time with the M9

PAGE 11 - More M9 from other Leica photographers

PAGE 12 - My final thoughts and conclusion

PAGE 13 - Why I prefer shooting with a rangefinder camera.

NEW! > - My Ongoing Leica M9 Daily Diary - Updated DAILY!

PAGE 6 - The Leica M9 and Black & White.    next---->

Leica M cameras have a reputation as “the” reportage camera and those who shoot film M’s like the M7 and MP know that throwing in some Tri-X or Neopan will bring you timeless results. So many famous black and white photos have been taken with a Leica M camera so it is only logical to expect great B&W performance from the digital M9.

Some of you have e-mailed me saying that some of the early black and white M9 samples floating around the web have not been as nice as those from the M8 and M8.2. I wanted to see what was up with this, so I set out to shoot some images to convert to B&W. Yes, convert. I do not shoot IN CAMERA B&W. Instead I feel I get better results shooting color and then converting to B&W using software.

While converting the following images, I did the same exact thing that I would always do to my M8 files. I either used NIK color efex pro or the Alien Skin plug in. Below are some of the M9 images that I converted to B&W. In my opinion, the M9 can do black and white just as good as the M8 and M8.2, and in some cases even better.

This image was converted from color to B&W using Alien Skin Exposure. I used the Delta 100 preset and then lightened up the face using the dodge tool in photoshop. This livened up the image and made the one man band dude stand out. This image has a 3D feel and to me has that rich full frame quality.

This one was snapped during a walk in the rain with my wife. Shot with the 50 Summilux PRE-ASPH at 1.4. Converted this one with Silver Efex Pro, the BEST B&W conversion tool available today.

I was at a fall festival and was testing out the 24 Summilux on the M9 and this one shows vignetting because I forgot to set the lens detect back to Auto. It was set for my 90 Cron so the camera could not correct the vignetting. This is one thing that can be easy to forget. In any case, this is another Alien Skin conversion.

I really like the tonality here and I used Color Efex pro for this conversion. To bring out clouds after the conversion, I used the “shadow/highlight” feature in photoshop. I like the smooth, rich tones here. Just like the M8 but full frame. Love it.

My Nephew John wanted me to take his portrait so we shot this inside the old Abandoned factory that you see in many of my test shots. Converted to B&W in Nik Silver Efex pro.

I was driving through an old town which looked deserted when I saw this old dog who looked to be the only resident of the run down town. He looked sad and when I drove by he looked at me as I snapped the M9. Kind of haunting.

So what do YOU think? They look pretty good to me! So rest easy, the M9 can also do B&W and can do it very well. Another thing I found with the M9 is a new feature in the color selection menu called “Vintage B&W” - When you select this option in the camera, you get sort of a sepia effect. I forgot to test this mode, mainly as I did not have the time to do so. I will add a couple of images using this mode to this page as soon as my personal M9 arrives.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PAGE 7 - THE 35 SUMMILUX AND THE M9 - HEAVEN OR HELL?

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” – Dorothea Lange