I always found the skin tones on my Nikon D4 a bit strange and my buddies 5D MK3 too red. Post editing them usually requires tweaking on saturation on the orange tone.

On the lower ISO, it seems to be acceptable on the D4, boost up the ISO to 800 and suddenly the skin turns barbie like.

In my early days, i just slide the LR’s clarity bar to the left and make the model looking like complete plastic. Later on, i progressed by using the Nik color Efex pro’s Dynamic skin softener, and managed to make the model looking …plastics again.

While i had some satisfaction publishing such photos and seeing how the models love their plastic, out of this world’s skin, i am oblivious to the pros in the community laughing their ass off while during tea time.

When i was told that the XVario produces one of the best skin tones ever, my curiosity piqued. While i do know that Leica have a bunch of smart engineers, German’s heritage and talents, i was skeptical the company could produce anything that would be exceptional compared to the existing veteran players.

i was a previous owner of M9, and i am largely disappointed it was more of a “logo” prestige than an exceptional technical experience and i have not changed my decision to stay away from the M system until its more reliable and at least worth half its price.

The XVario, however, is a different beast, auto sensor and everything non-M, i am surprised it was once Mini M 😉
Now, the XVario, did produce skin tones that continues to puzzle me. Like a curious child, i often gets surprised by the results. All the images below are unedited, JPGs OOC.

You tell me…