First Week with the New M Monochrom

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

Week 1- this camera is everything I knew it would be. It’s my second Monochrome Digital camera. The first was bought 20 years ago.

Day 1: Gunston Hall, Virginia. Home of George Mason, Patriot.

1950 Jupiter-3 5cm F1.5. If people know me from other forums, they’ll understand why this was the first lens on the camera. With a wratten 25 Red filter, +1 exposure compensation.

1st Picture that was not an RF test. At F1.5.

L1000008 by

L1000028 by

At F4.

L1000021 by

L1000053 by

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum, Dulles VA.

1936 Uncoated Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm F1.5, converted to Leica mount using a Jupiter-3 focus mount.

Wide-Open.

Udvar Hazy, Dec 2012 by

Udvar Hazy, Dec 2012 by

Udvar Hazy, Dec 2012 by

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5, wide-open.

Udvar Hazy, Dec 2012 by

The 90mm framelines give a 100% view on this lens.

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

I’ve been on a kick lately to convert 50mm SLR lenses to RF coupled M-mount. 50/1.7 AR-Hexanon, 50/1.4 Pentax Super-Takumar, and a Canon FL mount 50/1.4.

The Canon 50/1.4 FL mount on the M Monochrom. The CA on this lens is very low.

Wide-open, FL-B filter to put a dip in Green to increase contrast.

M Monochrom with Canon 50/1.4 FL mount by

M Monochrom with Canon 50/1.4 FL mount by

M Monochrom with Canon 50/1.4 FL mount by

The SLR lenses maintain RF coupling to ~0.65m.

Canon 50/1.4 FL by

Canon 50/1.4, now RF Coupled by

Coupling made from cutting up the leg of an old broken tripod, and retaining ring from a Parts Jupiter-3. “Shimmed” using mylar tape between the shim and tube. Fotodiox M adapter, $30. Total cost, about $50.

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

[rikoNew Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 4 Offline]

Congrats Brian.
Glad that finally you received it.
what you do like the most about M Monochrom? Resolution or High ISO capabilities. Nice pics btw especially the young girl you took with J3/ Nice contrast on the Nikon 10.5 cm
Best,
Riko

[rikoNew Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 4 Offline]

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]

The clean images: sensor uniformity, resolution, and dynamic range- just amaze me. ISO 2500 performance is incredibly smooth. I’ve used Kodak detectors for 20 years, starting with the KAF-1600. This one is the best ever. I am biased towards CCD’s. It will be interesting to see images from the new M, but I am satisfied with the current setup. M9 for color, M Monochrom for B&W.

[BrianNew Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 57 Offline]