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Sensor Highlight Posterization (M9 CCD)
The M9 sensor can posterize highlight transitions at ISO 80. ISO 160 is more forgiving, so in situations like this, avoid ISO 80.
It has a specular highlight issue (CCD related), but also shows ugly transitions when highlights are blown, as shown in the example below.
Example
The M9 has made a hash of the highlights, with ugly posterization of the transition from pure white to other tones. This image was converted in Photoshop CS5, using 16-bit ProPhotoRGB, then converted to sRGB for display (color space has no effect on this issue).
Click for a larger view and crop.
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