Summilux 21mm greenish vignetting on colour film.. Can anyone help?

Hello everyone,

I recently went for a trip where I shot with the Summilux 21mm on the MP using expired Kodak UltraMax 400 film.

What I have realised is that many of the shots have this greenish vignetting, even when my aperture was stopped down to f/8 and f/11.

Yes, the Summilux 21mm is known to give vignetting, but when stopped down to f/4 and smaller, the vignetting is usually gone.

Understandably, coupling of the Summilux 21mm to the M9 would have 6 bit coding and the corresponding algorithm compensation for the vignetting, something which the film MP doesn't have.

But my question is:

Have any one of you experienced this issue with your Summilux 21mm's on film M bodies? And how do you solve this issue?

I tried post-processing on Lightroom 3 but I just can't get the greenish vignetting out nicely.

Thank you all for the help!

Hi Limwhow,

Take a look here Summilux 21mm greenish vignetting on colour film.. Can anyone help?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!

I apologise if this is an irrelevant reply, but the effect you show is very like one I also had, as follows:

I don't have the Summilux 21mm, but I do use the 21mm Elmarit and the only time I experienced this effect was when, transferring the lens from my M8 to my M6 I forgot to remove the UV/IR filter.

Tim

I apologise if this is an irrelevant reply, but the effect you show is very like one I also had, as follows:

 

I don't have the Summilux 21mm, but I do use the 21mm Elmarit and the only time I experienced this effect was when, transferring the lens from my M8 to my M6 I forgot to remove the UV/IR filter.

 

Tim

Hello Tim,

Now that is a very interesting point.

Indeed, the IR filter WAS on my summilux 21mm all the way while I was using it on my film M body.

That is something new to me, that the presence of the filter could actually have caused a greenish vignetting effect like this.

So yours was exactly like that which I have, Tim?

And if I may ask, after removing the UV/IR filter, did this greenish vignetting go off?

I think that Tim has provided the correct diagnosis for you. When used on the M8 those filters are taken into account and are part of the antidote for magenta vignetting (red edge effect with some wides sometimes). They arent meant for film M's.

On of the members here,Sandy McGuffog, has made available a program called Cornerfix which may assist with the files you have. Here's the link for download.

CornerFix | Free Security & Utilities software downloads at SourceForge.net

Expired film is the culprit here. Try with fresh film.

I think that Tim has provided the correct diagnosis for you. When used on the M8 those filters are taken into account and are part of the antidote for magenta vignetting (red edge effect with some wides sometimes). They arent meant for film M's.

On of the members here,Sandy McGuffog, has made available a program called Cornerfix which may assist with the files you have. Here's the link for download.

CornerFix | Free Security & Utilities software downloads at SourceForge.net

Hello Geoff,

Many thanks to you too.

I have used Coernerfix previously. But haven't been too successful as perhaps I wasn't able to create appropriate enough a template.

Would give that a try again.

Expired film is the culprit here. Try with fresh film.

Ornello, thank you for your input.

I would certainly go ahead and shoot a roll of non-expired colour film to test it out.

Just a thought, if it were to be the effects of the expired film, would it not affect the whole picture across the film rather than just the edges?

If you had the IR filter on the lens, I'd be shocked if it WASN'T that.

Limwhow, Sandy provides useful comment on why the UV/IR filters cause edge discolouration as part of the discussion in his blog here.

Look at the Background paragraph.

ChromaSoft: Vignetting Correction Issues on the Leica M9

If you had the IR filter on the lens, I'd be shocked if it WASN'T that.

Haha... well, I have just removed the IR filter on my Summilux 21mm and loaded another roll of the same colour film. I am going to give this set up a go over the next few days and have it developed.

Limwhow, Sandy provides useful comment on why the UV/IR filters cause edge discolouration as part of the discussion in his blog here.

Look at the Background paragraph.

ChromaSoft: Vignetting Correction Issues on the Leica M9

Oooh... lovely!

This is very very useful information for me.

Thank you so much!

Hello everyone,

I have just tested another roll of the same film using the Summilux 21mm but this time round without the IR/UV filter.

Gone are the green vignetting.

I have purchased a Series VIII skylight filter to be used as the protection for this lens so that I may use it interchangeably between my Digital M's and my film M's.

Many thanks for all your feedback!

Just for clarity regarding using the UV/IR filter on your 21mm.

Yes on M8. No on M1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9 and later ;-)

The UV/IR can still be useful sometimes on longer focal lengths with the M9. The elimination of IR is not 100% and you might still notice some slight magenta with some subjects. That is the same for other cameras too.

I've never had occasion to need to use one though.