YES you should. Highlights blow out more easily with a monochrome sensor than a Bayer sensor because there is no blue channel (blocking more light than the green and red channels). So under-exposing at least by one stop helps (I do that systematically), all the more as what we can recover from low light areas is amazing compared to color sensors.
I’m careful about not blowing highlights with my M10 Mono, but I also try not to underexpose too much. I have the overexposure blinkies set to 245 and will reshoot if possible whenever I see ‘em on the rear screen post exposure. When I know I won’t have time to chimp I do set exposure comp to -1 stop or so. There is a *huge* amount of shadow recovery available with these cameras.
Hi I use mine also with Highlight-weighted and yellow or orange filters to keep the sky under control with very good results. Thanks for share this video and info ..............waiting for more.
I believe this is true for my Q2M as well. Expose for the highlights and recover the shadows. I have never gone EV -3 or -4 though. I will have to try this.
I’m tempted to purchase one but not sure yet because of the edit process. If you don’t mind, please make some of the underexposed sample images available for download and add the link to the description. That would be great, I’d really appreciate.
M11 Monochrom is by far my most favorite camera I have ever owned. From the feel and look of the camera to the quality of files. It’s inspiring. Would love to hear your take on the new Summilux 50mm on the M11M. Great vids!!!
There are no highlights issues with the M11 and M10M, only you have to metering correctly for the highest light values with the spot meter (looking for the highest shutter speed!!
Really interesting note about the under-exposing. I've just started experimenting with highlight weighted metering on my Q2M and so far it's been nice. Haven't underexposed that far though, yet. Thanks for the great video, Matt.
11:58 Turning the camera off to change lenses is good because of the electric contacts (if the lens has some). The shutter however is way more delicate then the sensor (it's behind filter glass) - you can clean dust off your sensor, but dust between the shutter blades is a reason to get a CLA. If there's an option to keep the shutter open, I'd use it..
I've read the Leica monochrome cameras respond to colored filters the same as with b&w film. I'm curious to know how using color filters on the M11 compares to digital post-possessing and/or underexposing..
If people would just bear with me a couple of sentences please. All sensors are manufactured as monochrome. The addition of the Bayer Matrix at a later stage is what changes one from a monochrome to colour. In essensce the extra sensitivity of the Monochrome sesnor is mainly due to the absence of the Bayer Matrix, but at the same time the sensor itself remains the same, and so its ' Full Well Capacity ' of its pixels. This ' full Well Capacity ' is what determines the Highlight Level and ultimately the Dynamic Range. As the Monochrome sensor is more sensitive to light, it reaches its Full Well Depth quicker than the colour sensor, so the photographer has to expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows, ala good old film days with transparency. In fact, despite all the claimed improvements for the dynamic range, the ability of a digital camera to retain detail in highlights has not changed that much during the years. What has changed is the introduction of very powerful microprocessors inside the camera, and the noise elimination process that these processors carry out to bring out acceptable detail from the shadows. So meter the highlights, open up two stops or so, and be done with it.
I mean if you’re not shooting the full 60MP you can set the ISO to something higher like 640. The raw will still capture all the highlights detail and you’ll have a correct preview. You won’t even have to underexpose. Also the raws being flat is a stylistic choice by Leica a gamma encodier raw file from a high end digital camera would still have all the informative or Leica decided to use punchier look. It’s not baked in.
I'm curious if you do anything special in post to deal with the dark/flat files? Is it simply a matter of cranking up the exposure and contrast? Do you use a specific curve or set the levels? I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to create a preset.
hello.. thanks for the video.. a question I am working with the leica m11 monochrome. What limit experience could you give me for the iso? I want to take photos of low light but that do not contain noise when increasing the photo to 200%.. up to what limit would you use it?
There's an interesting moire pattern in the high ISO shot samples starting at 6:38. It's present in the ISO 32,000 shot and then gets more severe as the samples go up through the ISO range. Do you know what causes this? Is this some weird artifact of importing such high resolution images into your video project? I am intrigued by it getting stronger on higher ISO, as it would suggest this noise has a high periodicity to it, which is not usually the case with sensor noise (as far as I am aware). Are these SOOC jpgs? Maybe the camera adds some artificial grain to mask the sensor noise, and that artificial grain has such periodicity?
This is a lightroom error that appears when the lens correction is on... it bugged me until i found out that it disappears is you turn off the corrections.... it only appears if you heavily underexpose the images at high ISO
Why is this so evident on Leica M series. I mean even on the M10R and I guess M11 blowing highlights was an issue compared to other cameras. And for the monochrome is even more evident. How does one calibrate this? How much underexposure does one use to protect the highlights. -3EV with highlight weighted metering is nuts! I guess one can never share an out of camera JPEG online and needs to process every RAW image?
For such a high-end luxury camera you would think that Leica would correct this problem BEFORE delivering them to retailers. This is not the only problem that comes with the M11s. Quality Control is nonexistent.
Isnt it weird and kind of shitty that such an extremely expensive and new camera that only shoots b&w is so sensitive to over exposure that you have to underexpose and work with the files that much to get good pictures..?? It may be a beauty to look at but feels ridiculous to buy imo😅 i mean like a xpro 3 is probably just as beautiful, just not full frame but still, you can buy a good car for that leica money, not trying to hate, just had to be said😂
NO, never ever underexpose your photos ( 100% light flux ) and control the exposure totally manually ‼️just need to know the type of metering method with the different lighting situations!!
The problem with 35mm films is that they are nowhere near as sensitive to light as digital camera sensors; I have seen photos taken on 3,200 ISO film at deep-level enclosed Underground stations, but even with 3200 ISO film, the photos were still too dark, had to be in order to use a fast shutter-speed. But with modern Full-Frame digital cameras you can take the exact same photos at 600 ISO and still get well exposed grain free photos.
Bonkers. I maybe need to book a few more weddings and shoot this thing in the dark
The kind of videos that are actually helpful :)
My man. That's great to hear. 🤝
YES you should. Highlights blow out more easily with a monochrome sensor than a Bayer sensor because there is no blue channel (blocking more light than the green and red channels). So under-exposing at least by one stop helps (I do that systematically), all the more as what we can recover from low light areas is amazing compared to color sensors.
I’m careful about not blowing highlights with my M10 Mono, but I also try not to underexpose too much. I have the overexposure blinkies set to 245 and will reshoot if possible whenever I see ‘em on the rear screen post exposure. When I know I won’t have time to chimp I do set exposure comp to -1 stop or so. There is a *huge* amount of shadow recovery available with these cameras.
Hi
I use mine also with Highlight-weighted and yellow or orange filters to keep the sky under control with very good results.
Thanks for share this video and info ..............waiting for more.
I believe this is true for my Q2M as well. Expose for the highlights and recover the shadows. I have never gone EV -3 or -4 though. I will have to try this.
I was surprised at how well the files hold up! Gonna keep testing it in some upcoming videos.
I’m tempted to purchase one but not sure yet because of the edit process. If you don’t mind, please make some of the underexposed sample images available for download and add the link to the description. That would be great, I’d really appreciate.
M11 Monochrom is by far my most favorite camera I have ever owned. From the feel and look of the camera to the quality of files. It’s inspiring. Would love to hear your take on the new Summilux 50mm on the M11M. Great vids!!!
Super helpful. Thank you.🙏 got the M 11 Monochrom two days ago and still figuring it out😎
There are no highlights issues with the M11 and M10M, only you have to metering correctly for the highest light values with the spot meter (looking for the highest shutter speed!!
Really interesting note about the under-exposing. I've just started experimenting with highlight weighted metering on my Q2M and so far it's been nice. Haven't underexposed that far though, yet.
Thanks for the great video, Matt.
11:58 Turning the camera off to change lenses is good because of the electric contacts (if the lens has some). The shutter however is way more delicate then the sensor (it's behind filter glass) - you can clean dust off your sensor, but dust between the shutter blades is a reason to get a CLA. If there's an option to keep the shutter open, I'd use it..
You mean shutter blades. There are no electric contacts on M lenses.
@@davidmb2587 Thanks for correcting :)
I've read the Leica monochrome cameras respond to colored filters the same as with b&w film. I'm curious to know how using color filters on the M11 compares to digital post-possessing and/or underexposing..
I am really surprised you are not using center weighted to match your ton of M6 experience. That’s what I do since I am used to that from my MP.
If people would just bear with me a couple of sentences please. All sensors are manufactured as monochrome. The addition of the Bayer Matrix at a later stage is what changes one from a monochrome to colour. In essensce the extra sensitivity of the Monochrome sesnor is mainly due to the absence of the Bayer Matrix, but at the same time the sensor itself remains the same, and so its ' Full Well Capacity ' of its pixels. This ' full Well Capacity ' is what determines the Highlight Level and ultimately the Dynamic Range. As the Monochrome sensor is more sensitive to light, it reaches its Full Well Depth quicker than the colour sensor, so the photographer has to expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows, ala good old film days with transparency. In fact, despite all the claimed improvements for the dynamic range, the ability of a digital camera to retain detail in highlights has not changed that much during the years. What has changed is the introduction of very powerful microprocessors inside the camera, and the noise elimination process that these processors carry out to bring out acceptable detail from the shadows. So meter the highlights, open up two stops or so, and be done with it.
Thanks for commenting on the color channels!
Great work, Matt. Question-how much noise was introduced when trying David’s minus 5 stop exposure trick. Did you think the files were still usable?
I mean if you’re not shooting the full 60MP you can set the ISO to something higher like 640. The raw will still capture all the highlights detail and you’ll have a correct preview. You won’t even have to underexpose. Also the raws being flat is a stylistic choice by Leica a gamma encodier raw file from a high end digital camera would still have all the informative or Leica decided to use punchier look. It’s not baked in.
From a technical POV, shooting high ISO and significantly under-exposing is going to kill the dynamic range.
I'm curious if you do anything special in post to deal with the dark/flat files? Is it simply a matter of cranking up the exposure and contrast? Do you use a specific curve or set the levels? I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to create a preset.
Matt, do you find yourself using the medium or small DNG files? It seems that everybody says to use the large files unless there is a storage issue.
300 video anniversary Matt! Happy UA-cam bro! 😅
Do you still have your m6 with u or are u still using it after purchasing the m11m?
hello.. thanks for the video.. a question I am working with the leica m11 monochrome. What limit experience could you give me for the iso? I want to take photos of low light but that do not contain noise when increasing the photo to 200%.. up to what limit would you use it?
There's an interesting moire pattern in the high ISO shot samples starting at 6:38. It's present in the ISO 32,000 shot and then gets more severe as the samples go up through the ISO range. Do you know what causes this? Is this some weird artifact of importing such high resolution images into your video project?
I am intrigued by it getting stronger on higher ISO, as it would suggest this noise has a high periodicity to it, which is not usually the case with sensor noise (as far as I am aware). Are these SOOC jpgs? Maybe the camera adds some artificial grain to mask the sensor noise, and that artificial grain has such periodicity?
This is a lightroom error that appears when the lens correction is on... it bugged me until i found out that it disappears is you turn off the corrections.... it only appears if you heavily underexpose the images at high ISO
Good morning from Illinois
Mornin'!
Flat file like m9 monochrom?
Get a fuji and shoot in DR400. Best filmic highlight in the business.
Why is this so evident on Leica M series. I mean even on the M10R and I guess M11 blowing highlights was an issue compared to other cameras. And for the monochrome is even more evident. How does one calibrate this? How much underexposure does one use to protect the highlights. -3EV with highlight weighted metering is nuts! I guess one can never share an out of camera JPEG online and needs to process every RAW image?
For such a high-end luxury camera you would think that Leica would correct this problem BEFORE delivering them to retailers. This is not the only problem that comes with the M11s. Quality Control is nonexistent.
Glad you made it despite your mic problems! ahah
Isnt it weird and kind of shitty that such an extremely expensive and new camera that only shoots b&w is so sensitive to over exposure that you have to underexpose and work with the files that much to get good pictures..?? It may be a beauty to look at but feels ridiculous to buy imo😅 i mean like a xpro 3 is probably just as beautiful, just not full frame but still, you can buy a good car for that leica money, not trying to hate, just had to be said😂
You didn’t say if you shoot manual, or aperture priority. But I would guess manual since you spoke of the M-ISO thing.
NO, never ever underexpose your photos ( 100% light flux ) and control the exposure totally manually ‼️just need to know the type of metering method with the different lighting situations!!
I should stop watching your videos... they make me want to buy a Leica... and that is definitely not possible!!! 😅
Film is dead finally
The problem with 35mm films is that they are nowhere near as sensitive to light as digital camera sensors; I have seen photos taken on 3,200 ISO film at deep-level enclosed Underground stations, but even with 3200 ISO film, the photos were still too dark, had to be in order to use a fast shutter-speed. But with modern Full-Frame digital cameras you can take the exact same photos at 600 ISO and still get well exposed grain free photos.