Photography

Shinjuku, 2022
Hasselblad X1D2, 45mm

Looking at this pic after having clicked on the black and white button on LightRoom, the resulting conversion made me think about my bw camera, the Leica M246. As much as this is about the 50mp X, it really is also about the 24mp Leica Monochrom. As I have always thought, one can think of the M246 as packing a medium format punch on a 35mm sensor.

If you’re thinking about getting the best of both worlds in terms of color and bw output, an X1D2 might be a good option.

If you have a M246 and you’re thinking about upgrading to a M10 mono, you don’t have to unless you want the thinner case profile plus improved features on the latter. That’s the practical side talking but boys will be boys, yes?

Now, if you’re thinking about waiting for the latest and greatest, packing the most pixels on a sensor, here’s a caveat not based on scientific evidence but more anecdotal in terms of observation from a friend who arguably is the best digital printer in my neck of the woods.

He recently printed files from the 60mp Leica M11 and the Hasselblad 100mp X2D. He noticed fringing and diffraction issues on several files.

Fringing aka chromatic abberation are those unwanted color outline on edges of objects or persons in a photograph. At first we thought it to be a function of lens aperture when we were using the M240 for example. And we were unsure if it was lens or exposure specific but on a 21mm, beyond f/5.6 (or was it f/8) those lines would appear. You won’t notice it right away if don’t pixel peep but start working on those files and chances are, those unwanted outlines might appear. I noticed it even on the M10 with the 21mm.

Diffraction, on the other hand, borrowing a definition from the internet, is an optical effect which limits the resolution of your photography no matter the mp count on your camera. This usually results in softness, lacking in pop, or not as sharp as you’d expected.

My friend noticed it on these high res sensors. He said that he never encountered fringing and diffraction on his old 40mp med format Hasselblad, a 15 year old tech.

Which led us to this theory. With current computational photography algorithms employed to boost mp count in what I would view as being in its early stages, it’s highly possible that these algos are hitting certain limits on what is essentially fixed real estate on a camera sensor. So we’re thinking that based on current tech and under certain conditions, a 24mp might be the optimal number of pixels that you can cram on a 35mm sensor. Or that 50mp might be the optimal number for a medium format sensor. Of course, as tech gets better, these issues will get addressed. On that note, we’re not even sure if others have noticed it, let alone the guys who test/make these sensors. I’m sure they’re aware. I’ll also say that i don’t frequent photo forums other than this one so my view might be limited.

All I’m saying is, if you can afford to get the latest and the greatest, go get ‘em. There are lots of features that go beyond these toys other than just image quality. For example, the photographs you get out of a rangefinder, you’ll be hard-pressed to get using a slow AF of a cam like a X1D2. And the M11 is undoubtedly the best digital M iteration thus far. On the flip side, if you have a gen -1 or -2 camera, worry not. It’s still a hell of a lot of gear. Case in point, I was talking to a Leica boutique consultant and he told me that several friends of ours who upgraded to the M11 from the M10 chose to sell their M10 but keep their M240. When asked why, they said something about liking the files more on the M240. They were unable to articulate why but it might actually be a data point that supports our observations.

Thanks for reading through all this and have a great weekend or what’s left of it

A great photo!

I use their inputs as data points to arrive at my own conclusion on what will work for me. I’m the guy who’s a bit on the opposite side of the quality spectrum vis-a-vis my more technical friends. These guys want the best when their pixels transition from sensor to paper. In my case, I can live with gen -1 tech knowing full well how it translates to print. I have M246 prints in my place staring at me all day long and I can safely say it can easily stand head to head with a color camera that has double the pixels. And these are fair sized portrait prints (32x24). Even at 40x30, they easily hold up. Of course, if I had the money, hahaha!

I am missing Shinjuku as well! It’s becoming my preferred home base in Tokyo

Hope you’re able to go out and shoot in snow. All the while I was in Fukushima, I had your Hokkaido images running in the back of my mind. Tough act to follow that series

The more pixels you can cram onto your sensor the more side effects get created. Poor low light performance, highlighting lens deficiencies, etc. Sometimes simpler is better. If one could find an M9 in good health with a replaced sensor you might be happy and content with less.

I think the kit and the boundaries of the kit set out what the optimal style or use case a camera will have, but that’s about it.

I think a good photographer can certainly understand those boundaries

definition works great in black and white . There's always a small amount of 'trade-off' I guess, regardless of what gear you choose to go with, simply put in an honest effort to get the most out of it .... Cheers, Filip

Kudos

I like the image regardless of the tech used, but wow the technical quality sure looks great from here!