Sunday, January 27, 2013

DNGMonochrome and the LEICA M (Typ 240)

Got my hands today on a few DNG files from the new Leica M (see here - scroll down for the DNG files), in firmware called 'LEICA M (Typ 240)' and obviously I had to see if these DNGs could be converted to monochrome by DNGMonochrome.

[edit: much nicer examples can be found here]

Happy to report they could.

I'd show you an example, weren't it for the fact that would constitute a copyright violation.

Let's say that the examples of the second link were impressive (in itself, but also the conversion to monochrome, especially the 'snow' photos).

It was a very quick test, but it seems that the only issue I have to solve is the embedded preview image. For the Leica M8 and M9 (al beit stored differently between the two models) the preview image is an uncompressed bitmap. The Leica M DNG stores a JPG preview.

I'll have to run some more tests - filtering, noise reduction etc, - and obviously test again when the camera is officially launched (see if the non-beta firmware didn't change anything) - but I suspect the next release of DNGMonochrome will also be prepared for the Leica M, then you can give these examples a go yourself.

[edit: it seems the embedded preview image is 160 by 120 pixels - rather small (half the size of the M9 preview image) - a JPG, and there's a black bar on top of it, also visible when you open the DNG directly with e.g. Picasa Photo Viewer or when you import the DNG into Lightroom. I suspect this might be solved when the firmware reaches a production stage...]

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