Top Quality.

Here is the Top Quality post I was anticipating some days ago.
When Maria spotted the writing on this wall, she immediately wanted to use it for some photos.
She was full of ideas for new photos, and most of the time I was delighted by them, and you will be also, granted!

But Maria is not the only top quality element here.
You have spotted the ex "Mysterious Camera" in the hands of Barbora in Saturday's post, by now you should have found out it is another Leica M, with the same Summicron-M 50mm I have been using for many years.
But it is also a unique model, with a MONOCHROME sensor, a concept I've been admiring since the introduction of the first iteration in 2012, and is renown for performances without compromises.
This is the M10 Monochrome with 40MP, introduced in 2020, and replaced by the M11 Monochrome with 60MP in 2023.

In my mind, it is a one in a lifetime opportunity, like my Caterham Seven, something totally unnecessary, but also irreplaceable if you want that kind of performances and experience.
Even if you brake them or they get stolen, and you can never afford another one, you will still be grateful for having had the opportunity to own them.
But either of the 2, if they last, are meant to be forever!

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Neither film, nor sensors are meant to render color informations, but just luminance values between black and white.
Right from the start of photography, they tried to emulate colors, complicating the process tenfold in order to provide an experience similar to our eyes.
During the film era, you were still allowed to buy a black and white film, giving up color, but getting back the best black and white achievable.
But in the digital era, all sensors are created equal, to provide color informations, with every single pixel filtrated to one of the main colors (Red, Green, Blue).
Each digital image is a kind of mosaic, and each of the main colors is rendered using only a percentage of the MP (depending on the color) you can count on, so if you have 40 MP camera, and you’re taking the photo of a red umbrella, you will be using only 1 pixel every 4 (10MP), the rest of the image is guessed by the processor, to give you a plausible image demosaiching the output from the sensor.
The Bayer filtration in front of the sensor meant to make it sensitive to color is degrading the quality of the image and diminishing the luminous signal, whilst the demosaiching software is amplifying the signal, creating noise and degrading the quality even more.
When you have your color file in the computer, you can decide to convert it in black and white, it is easy with any software, but that means you will degrade the quality of the image even more, with another lossy process in terms of quality.
So, if you know you want a BW file right from the start, you may as well use a BW sensor in the first place, with no color filters, no demosaiching software, no conversion of the file… you just have every single pixel registering the exact quantity of light reaching the sensor, with no filtration in front to limit quality or diminishing the sensitivity, and you are producing a file already in BW that will not require to be processed with another conversion.
It’s like translating a book from Italian to English, and then translating it a second time from English to Italian because you actually want it read in Italian, and then ask a stammerer to read it for you.
The book is still there, the story may even be more or less the same if both translators were capable, but all of the nuances of the Italian language might have been lost after this useless process.
It’s like drinking a cheap blended whisky, with ice, in a paper glass - compared to tasting a single malt, single barrel, 20 years old whisky at room temperature.
If you want a more professional explanation, please refer to this video: https://youtu.be/oPgpGWceUWo

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And the combination of Maria + the M10 Monochrome is intoxicating and inspiring at the same time, so much so that I'm already working on future photographic ideas in my mind, maybe something to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bramley Apple Project due for November 2026, something to celebrate also this new muse.
I shouldn't have worried too much about her dark eye sockets, it was just a matter of allowing her to wear some make-up, and the problem is solved, leaving what is quickly becoming my new favorite model.

If you want to learn more about the Bramley Apple Project or Archives, or DA subscriptions, ask me on bramleyapple@yahoo.com