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Leica Monochrom test turns up the ISO, doesn't bring the noise
In the case of "why would you pay $8k for a black and white camera," exhibit 'A' would surely be the lack of a color filter array corrupting the image. Without one, the Leica Monochrom -- with a similar CCD to its M9 stablemate -- should have less noise. Tests comparing the two cameras on Red Dot Forum confirm it, with the Monochrom cleaner in glorious black & white at all ISO's up to the M9's maximum of 2500. Past that, a touch of NR gave the Monochrom a pleasing film-grain look to our eyes at ISO 5000, but at ISO 10,000 images started to sparkle and approach the "barely usable" range. Still, combined with the increased sharpness and resolution, very well-heeled purists might be tempted.
Film vs Digital, told through the story of Mr Pixel and Mrs Grain
The film vs digital debate is one of our favorites. It is easily as interesting as plasma vs LCD or 1080i vs 720p, but has much more history. In today's LCD age where some don't want things to look real, but instead would prefer unrealistically bright colors, it can be hard for some people to understand what there is to appreciate about grain. In fact these same people would probably always say that the word grain, is a bad word. True movie fans know better though and almost laugh when someone proclaims Planet Earth is the best looking Blu-ray Disc ever. So while we've never been really good at explaining what is so great about film, we really got a kick out of Mr Pixel and Mrs Grain, which is three short video clips that explain the benefits of both mediums in a fun way. So if you've always wondered what others see if film, or just looking for some laughs, click on through.
Sleepy Hollow HD DVD review roundup
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and nowhere does that appear to be more true than in reviews of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow as released on HD DVD by Paramount. One thing that seems to be shared by all the reviews we read is that in this case the source material, with dark, largely colorless backgrounds and very present film grain. It's not the kind of movie that you look at in high definition and it practically jumps off the screen in 3D at you, making it a difficult choice for the format. However in the three reviews we found plus a discussion on AVS Forum, reactions to the quality of Paramount's 1080p VC-1 encoded effort varied widely.
