Lens that gave me some headaches in the past. The RAW files are amazing in terms of sharpness, detail and stored information. The out of camera jpegs, however, are rather washed out, with muted colors, too much contrast and pink hues where there shouldn’t be any…. in the mid-day sky, for example. And they are clearly overexposed, while the raws are not.
Some enthusiasts can argue that those are the “realistic” colors. I beg to differ. It may be a difference in terms of preferences, fair enough, but definitely what comes out as jpeg is nowhere close to accurate.
I adjusted the camera vibrance, exposure, contrast settings and white balance multiple times to no avail, so despite my personal preferences, I take this lens for a ride only when I am prepared to edit the outcome. And because the raw files are every bit what one can expect from a Leica lens, I can make a compromise in terms of less SooC and more quality.
This being said, a manual TT Artisan on TL2 gives MUCH better processed images (of course, when I can get the focus right, because the red fringe that is supposed to “help” doesn’t really cut it in most frames).
Some examples of differences between SCOC Jpegs – Raws converted in Adobe auto Camera Raw settings (shot in Aperture mode):
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