Friday May 15, 2015

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A new camera today. The new version of the Leica Monochrom arrived in my life this morning. I’ve been shooting the original Monochrom for just over three years now. Remember that the Monochroms produce black and white only files; the absence of a Bayer filter over the sensor (which is how cameras see in color) doubles the effective resolution; and the absence of color information leads to a simpler “de-mosaicing” step in in-camera processing, which results in smoother, deeper files. This works for me because I shoot only in black and white.

The old Monochrom produces lovely film-like black and white renderings; based on limited initial experience so does the new Monochrom (which is referred to as Model 246 to distinguish it from the older camera). The new camera doesn’t offer much in the way of resolution improvement: 24 megs without a Bayer filter (up from 18 with the current Monochrom), which produces the equivalent of 48 meg resolution, solidly in medium format land. Based on initial impressions the files are even more flexible than the original Monochrom in terms of ability to bring out shadow detail.

I got the new camera because of some minor sensor issue with the old one and because although it looks exactly the same it just a better camera with improved weather sealing, quieter shutter, better rangefinder, more useful frame lines, faster start up and frame to frame speeds, better high ISO performance and better battery life.

From this point on assume that the images you see on this site are taken with the Leica Model 248 Monochrom. I spent the day shooting familiar scenes to begin to get a feel for the camera.

Day 2038 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.

On this day two years ago (day 1308): Basil our Norwich Terrier, breaking my “no photographs of cute pets” rule.