Ode to the JPG

I love film. I love the time it takes, the tiny imperfections that always pop up and the end result when properly done. When I shoot digital, I shoot in RAW to give me the most latitude when working on the image in post. So imagine my joy at discovering a new world, albeit a smaller one.

Reading a blog post I encountered a comment that the JPG B&W images created by the Leica M9 were perfect to this one photographer's eye. This is obviously something very subjective, but since I had some free time I wanted to take a look at them myself. Never wanting to settle for the simple, I decided to compare a couple of shots in JPF B&W setting between my M10 and M9 (in reality it is an ME which sold for 1500 USD less than the M9 but was essentially the same camera).

During the test I discovered a few things worth noting. The first is that I loved both renditions of the Leica JPG B&W.  The second is that they bring in a certain imperfection that brings me back to my film memories.

So why the interest in rediscovering JPG potential? I love my M10 but also shoot my ME a great deal.  There are a variety of reasons for this which I won't go into but lets say that I take my ME out a great deal.  The ME has an 18 mp sensor which is plenty for my shooting but has two substantial draw backs.  The first is that the back screen is crap. It was on the M9 as well. It is barely good enough to check composition and not much else. Nothing to be done about that. The second is that it is slow. Recording images in RAW even with a fast card causes a bit of a delay. Shooting in JPG solves the second issue completely allowing me to take out the Leica ME on JPG mode in B&W and avoid time consuming conversions.

There are low light performance issues with the older sensor of the ME but coming from film, grain does not bother me.  JPG have limitations as we are not given all the data to be able to alter much.  Again, coming from film, this is normal for me. I don't like pictorializing my digital or film images.

This is another reason for me to pull out my trusty ME and capture some nice images straight out of camera. They will not be perfect, they will have their small issues but this is something that I love in film, so why not embrace in digital as well. Limitations and overcoming them is part of what pushes our creativity.  

The shot above was taken with a Leica M10 using a Zeiss 50mm f/2 Planar lens (old design with modern construction makes this one of my all time favorite lenses).  This is straight out of the camera with no adjustments made. 

For comparisons, below is the same scene taken with the ME and the same lens.