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 8 - Vignetting on the Full Frame M9?    next---->

With the new sensor in the M9, one issue Leica had to tackle head on was vignetting. Imagine shooting the W.A.T.E. at 15mm and getting minimal or ZERO vignetting from the camera. Well, Leica did it and it works well. When you use a 6 bit coded lens, the camera will automatically fix the vignetting/cyan corners. If your lens is not 6 bit coded, you can go in and enter that lens manually into the camera. If you forget to do this like I did a few times, then you will be rewarded with some vignetting when using fast, wide lenses!

Me, I like some vignetting every now and then and feel it adds a pleasing look to some images. BUT, sometimes I get carried away with it and go a little overboard. Still, when I do want it, I like to add it myself.  I like the fact that you can shoot wide angles and fast glass on the M9 without any real vignetting issues. I did find the 24 Summilux still has some vignetting wide open at 1.4, but this is actually normal for a wide, fast lens like this. With the camera’s built-in software, it keeps it under control, even at 1.4.

Here are a couple of samples using the 35 Summilux and the 24 Summilux...

In this first sample, I had the 35 Summilux ASPH attached and the Lens Detection was on AUTO. My lens is 6-Bit coded so the camera recognized the lens and fixed the MINOR vignetting.

Here is the same image, but this time I set the lens detection to OFF. The camera did not correct the slight vignetting in the image. These were shot at 1.4 and for full frame, this tells me the 35 Lux is a great performer.

But, even with lens detection ON and shooting with a blue sky in the background at wider apertures, I did get some slight vignetting in the corners as  you can see in this image, shot at F2:

Still, the vignetting I have in the above image is easily fixable in photoshop if needed and remember, this was shot at F2. If I would have stopped down to F5.6 this vignetting would not of even been here.

So how about the 24 Summilux with and without correction? I will let the samples speak for themselves. If you own an M9 and 24 Summilux you will have the lens detect set to Auto to minimize vignetting.

The 24 Lux will have some slight vignetting, even with Lens detection on Auto. Remember though, this is a wide fast lens and this amount of vignetting is MINIMAL.

If for some reason you forget to turn on the Lens Detection you will get some slight vignetting with the 24 Lux but this could actually be used for some images to add to the “mood”. Even with no correction, the 24 lux exhibits just a small amount of vignetting.

I love the 24 Lux and while it was PERFECT on the M8, it does show some very minor vignetting on the FF M9. BUT you get to use it as it was meant to be used, as a 24mm! I am hoping to get a hold of the 24 again when I have my own M9 so I can spend more time with it.

As for other Leica wide angles, I have seen samples with the Wide Angle Tri-Elmar on the M9 and saw NO vignetting or distortion. The above shots with the 24 were shot at F2. The WA Tri Elmar is usually shot at F4-F5.6 so this is probably why I saw no vignetting in the M9 images with that lens. Soon, I will have reviews of the Leica 18 and hopefully W.A.T.E. on the M9. I can not wait, but am afraid I will really fall in love with that W.A.T.E. and my bank account (and the wife) can’t handle any more of this!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PAGE 9  - UNTOUCHED FULL SIZE SAMPLES TO DOWNLOAD

The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality.  - Henri Cartier-Bresson