The ‘go anywhere’ Leica DP does it

I mentioned in my earlier columns on the Leica DP (click the caption in the right hand column) that this camera was a rational digital replacement for the film-based rangefinder Leica, not only because image quality was comparable, courtesy of the Leica lens fitted, but also because its small size (much, much smaller than an M with a 35mm lens fitted) and near silent shutter (nearly imperceptible if the built in ‘clack’ is switched off and dramatically quieter than the M) allowed it to be taken pretty much anywhere without arousing suspicion.

In the true Leica ‘available light’ spirit, here is a snap taken the other day at a south San Francisco Bay area American Music concert of Thomas Hansen performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The camera was set to its full aperture of f/2.8 at the widest lens setting of 28mm with ISO at 400 and using the RAW format:

Earlier, the intermission had yielded this passing snap:

I couldn’t help thinking that this sort of thing is a throwback to the early Leica days when available light photography was all the rage. By the way, the camera does such a great job of automatic white balance control that no color temperature adjustments had to be made to these images. The built in vibration reduction is good for two shutter speeds, so f/2.8 becmes an effective f/1.4.

Noise Ninja does a number on high ISO noise

A kind reader suggested that Noise Ninja from PictureCode might be a worthwhile product for cutting ISO 400 noise produced by the sensor in the Panasonic LX1 (or Leica DP as I prefer to think of it, once modified with a proper optical viewfinder).

I downloaded the Photoshop CS2 plug-in and gave it a shot. PictureCode has a long listing of profiles created for many different cameras, so I downloaded that also, not really feeling up to a lot of messing about with the product’s myriad sliders, and this is what I got – the Noise Ninja version has the grid pattern as I have yet to buy and register the product:

This is the 400 ISO interior snap taken in RAW mode, best quality. While there are trade offs – look at the loss of detail in the red pin-striped shirt, you can dial in just enough noise reduction to get the color artifacts out – the standard profile might have overdone things a bit. Again, these are the size of 22” x 39” prints, so less noise reduction would be needed in regular sized prints.

Noise Ninja strikes me as a useful adjunct in the toolbox for the occasional image where ISO 400 is used indoors. Remember that the OIS vibration reduction system in the camera is good for two shutter speeds, making your ISO 100 equivalent to ISO 400, so it would be a fairly rare image that needed ISO 400.

More interestingly, Noise Ninja also has profiles for film and scanner combinations, so those plagued with noise in small 35mm negatives now have a useful tool to look to.

Rather cheekily, PictureCode provides a canned profile for the Canon EOS 5D; cheeky as the sensor in that camera has exceptionally low noise properties already.

I’ll take a look at vibration reduction, what Panasonic calls OIS, in Part VI.

Sensor noise at 400 ISO

Harley Davidson motorcycles are ridden by Real Americans who pride themselves on their rugged individuality. This means they all wear identical clothing, place piss pots on their heads – a reflection of the value of the protected part – and sport beer bellies. However, spotting one of these expensive pieces of their infatuation outside the local burger joint today, I whipped the Leica DP out of the pocket of my (rugged individualist Levi 501 Button Fly) jeans and snapped a picture of the motor with the camera set to ISO 400 – the exposure was 1/1250th second at f/4.5 using RAW.

As I mentioned in Part II, the camera automatically records a 16 mB RAW file and a medium definition JPG file, both being 3840 x 2160 pixels.

Here’s the whole image (is the Widescreen format wide or what?):

After converting the RAW variant to PSD, I created center crops from both the PSD and JPG files – the original picture is sized at 22” x 39”.

Here’s the version from the RAW file:

And from the JPG:

The RAW file is clearly holding better detail and, strangely, the JPG has exaggerated cyan (look at the reflected sky) and is almost a stop overexposed. Applying 70/1/0 Unsharp Masking in Photoshop CS2, a process that tends to exaggerate grain, gives a very sharp RAW image with tight, smooth grain/noise with no color artifacts. (I have not included the USM versions here). A 16x print would be quite acceptable. The JPG version shows color striations in smooth areas and the general loss of definition makes the grain less visible, albeit to the overall detriment of the image. So for bright light, RAW is the choice – this was taken in full sun.

Inside the same hamburger joint, where the Harley rider could be seen perfecting his figure, matters are quite a bit different. This time the exposure, reflecting a mix of natural and fluorescent light, was 1/80th at f/4.5, once again using the RAW format and ISO 400.

Here’s the whole image:

The sensor has done a fine job of color balancing and the scene looks natural.

Enlarging to actual pixels, as before, meaning a 22” x 39” print, gives the following results:

From the RAW file:

From the JPG file:

The RAW file is the sharper of the two, but displays a lot of grain – like over-processed Tri-X rated at 800 ISO. The grain is smooth but verging on intrusive. By contrast the JPG image appears much better, grain is blurred (as before) at some cost in sharpness, but the image is much more pleasant to look at.

After applying 70/1/0 USM on both, the results look like this:

From the RAW file:

From the JPG file:

The JPG is much better; at this point the grain in the RAW versions becomes objectionable.

Bear in mind these results are at a huge print size – 22” x 39”. Scale that back to a 16” x 20” print, after lopping off the sides to fit and you have a decent result, with grain visible but well controlled in the JPG file. While I have yet to try it, the highest quality JPG setting should further reduce the barely visible color artifacts at this print size.

So the Leica DP needs a bit of care in low light situations at ISO 400 to produce the best results. As ACR cannot get rid of the grain in the RAW original, I would opt for highest quality JPG (which gives over 230 images on a 1gB card!) and then use USM in Photoshop for the best results. In bright sun it’s RAW all the way and there’s little grain to worry about. All of this suggests that the DP’s sensor begins to struggle in low light at ISO 400, and it’s certainly no Canon. In the wonderful EOS 5D, the ISO setting is just a ‘crank it up to whatever you need’ control, at least up to ISO 800, yielding superbly grain free results in all light situations.

Then again, you cannot stick the 5D in your genuine, macho, Levi 501 Button Fly jeans, and will never be able to use Cleavon Little’s great line from Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles: “Excuse me, ladies, while I whip this out”.

More seriously, it seems to me that the circle from Leica rangefinder film camera + Medium Format film camera, representing the speed and quality ends of the spectrum, to their digital equivalents – the Leica DP and the Canon EOS 5D, has now been closed. The Leica DP compares well with the Leica M, offering small size, unobtrusive operation and good print quality, but limited when it comes to huge enlargements. The Canon EOS 5D equals or betters medium format film with far greater operational convenience and is the tool of choice when the very best results are called for.

More on sensor noise in Part V.

Small is good

Another thing you cannot do with your Leica M2/3/4/5/6/7/MP:

We’re talking standard issue Levi 501 button fly jeans, here, the kind Real Men wear. Zippers are strictly for the polyester set. And yes, though not visible, the 28mm viewfinder is attached to the Leica DP.

See Part IV for sensor noise issues.