Using non-6bit on M8

[jeff_kim3]

<p>I am wondering if you are required to have your lenses 6bit coded to use on M8?<br>

What does 6bit coding work with M8? Besides detecting what you have on mounted? Framelines?</p>

[Alex_Es]

<p>Absolutely not. The coding is there to correct so-called cyan corners when using primarily wide-angle lenses with the IR/UV cut filters. The camera will function without coding. You may not even need coding for lenses 50mm and over. If you shoot black and white you do not need either coding or filters. </p>

[jeff_kim3]

<p>Thanks Alex.<br>

How would 35mm work with out coding? As you have said, it wouldnt really matter that much?</p>

[steve_unsworth1]

<p>Jeff, 35mm is probably ok without coding. Anything wider than that will probably need coding.</p>

[Alex_Es]

<p>You"re welcome, Jeff. I used my Summicron 35/2 Asph. without coding and found nothing awful in terms of cyan corners. I might have missed something that a more neural eye would have caught. I'll since switched to a hand-coded Nokton 35/1.4 on the M8 and the other lens on my film Ms. </p>

[jeff_kim3]

<p>Thank you both!!</p>

[ray .]

<p>Try no coding with no ir filter and lens ID turned off if you're shooting landscapes or cityscapes. Unless there is synthetic black fabric, overall color is very good. I think Sean Reid shows examples where without filter or coding there is a little vignetting with either black and white or color pics- where the edges are minimally darker, not cyan in color but just a bit darker. The edges only go cyan if you have an ir filter on the lens with no coding and/or lens ID turned off. No filter with no coding may suit your tastes fine with the only noticeable vignetting showing in flat blocks of tone or color like sky. It's also possible to clean up most or all issues showing up as result of not using coded lenses or filter via photoshop or corner fix if you are proficient with those tools.</p>

<p>In my experience color in other than natural light with the M8 usually sucks, but with that it is one of the finest or <em>the</em> finest digital black and white picture taking machines out there.</p>

[steve_unsworth1]

<blockquote>

<p>Try no coding with no ir filter and lens ID turned off if you're shooting landscapes or cityscapes. Unless there is synthetic black fabric, overall color is very good</p>

</blockquote>

<p>My experience has been that foliage reflects large amounts of IR in summer, and this affects the colour of the grass and leaves giving them a reddish colouration.</p>

[ray .]

<p>OK, I haven't had the M8 through a summer yet.. ;)</p>

[ray .]

<p>If I know I want to shoot color though, the 5D wins hands down anytime and every time- filter or no filter, coding or no coding... With b&w, it's the opposite..</p>

[carol_christopher]

<p>While the emphasis seems to be on the IR, I have yet to use my IR filter, I have seen no vignetting nor fringing. But the lens coding has other uses. The camera uses the focal length to keep the shutter speed roughly to 1/focal length, just as you would if shooting manually. It does this by changing the ISO, when the camera is set to "auto iso." It also passes the focal length in the EXIF data to raw processing programs, so corrections can be applied when processing the raw image. I think there may be other adjustments the camera makes to the image based on focal length, but I am not sure. The lenses I have used without coding have sometimes shown inconsistencies in exposure, but I do not know if this relates to the coding or not. The focal length is also sent to the flash, which adjusts the zoom.</p>

[aplumpton]

<p>For me, the physical vignetting question with wide angles has some importance, true for colour or black and white photography. But in normal shooting (without even areas of sky or other backgrounds) and with uncoded Leica and other wide angles (down to 12mm), I have had few problems.</p>