p.1 #1 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
Just curious for when folks are NOT USING a MONOCHROME camera ... WHICH COLOR camera do you reach for when you KNOW you want to make your best monochromatic work(s)?
Strange question, of sorts. BG is, while I own both my M246 (dedicated monochrome) and some different color cameras, I'm curious what folks find as their favorite non-mono camera for mono work. That, and WHY they find a PARTICULAR color camera best suited for their mono work.
No need to mention / discuss / debate the merits advantages / disadvantages of a dedicated mono vs. color. We've been through that plenty, and it is already well known. This is from YOUR perspective of using color > mono ... what's your best choice / favorite rig (owned or wish list) for color > mono?
p.1 #2 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
I shoot with a Fujifilm XE-3—mainly because it’s the only camera I own. Recently I’ve been really into the Acros film simulation. I love the results, and the best part is I don’t have to spend time on post-production at the computer, which I neither know how to do nor particularly enjoy.
p.1 #3 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
The best results I have achieved with digital B&W have been with the GFX 100S. This is very likely due to the larger sensor's combination of high dynamic range and 16bit as I tend to really push and pull on a raw file when converting to B&W. Smaller bayer sensor conversions in the past more easily reveal artifacts in my experience.
p.1 #4 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
I use whatever I have on hand cause I own 1 camera and 1 lens any given time. M10-P is giving me really nice mono conversion. Previously the M9 is pretty great too, giving more bite to the contrast while M10-P render very rounded tonality.
p.1 #6 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
RustyBug wrote:
what's your best choice / favorite rig (owned or wish list) for color > mono?
Whatever I have with me from a micro43 GM5 to a Leica M11 including a Ricoh GRIIIx.
In low light, the M is better I've done some comparison in good light and I do not see any difference on an A3+ print.
I find it hard enough to shoot an interesting picture and to get the best out of it during post-processing so I do not care about getting some extra percent in final quality nobody will ever notice.
p.1 #7 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
I'd say the Panasonic S1R. The combination of high res files with excellent dynamic range is probably what makes it work, much like the GFX mentioned above.
p.1 #8 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
My favourite for both colour and B&W is the same, the Sony A7R3. I love the vibrant colours I get using Batis lenses which translates into rich B&W images. I use SilverEFX to help with my processing.
p.1 #9 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
Creative Edge wrote:
my favorite camera for B&W conversion is the GFX100sll
I wholeheartedly agree with what Tariq posted above..
I tend to agree with the point about push / pull revealing artifacts more readily in the smaller format. Interesting to hear others of similar perspective.
p.1 #10 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
pmeheut wrote:
in good light and I do not see any difference on an A3+ print.
Understood. I recall abandoning a larger format (FF) for a smaller format (FZ1000, iirc) on a trip years back. The hit revealed itself in lesser light, but in good light, it held up well enough that I opted for the convenience.
p.1 #11 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
chez wrote:
My favourite for both colour and B&W is the same, the Sony A7R3. I love the vibrant colours I get using Batis lenses which translates into rich B&W images. I use SilverEFX to help with my processing.
You mention of the Batis glass, raises an interesting (to me) question, regarding the contribution (preferences) of lenses for mono. What attributes of lenses (high / low contrast, micro-contrast, etc.) do they prefer for their mono.
I've not used SilverEFX ... basically doing my PP via PS, and more recent years, via LRc. I mention that because your posted image has very nice tonal transitions (soft lighting, etc.). Begs the question of what SilverEFX brings to the PP table vs. PS or LRc ... just different approach / built in tools ... or significantly different algorithms. While I'll take a look at it (demo, etc.), curious to hear your .02 about what's under the hood with SilverEFX. Or, is it simply your developed mastery of the tool to your vision that renders well.
p.1 #13 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
Never was happy with editing my Canon 6d MK2 files in BW - I have even gone back to some favorites and tried - but unless things were 'just so' - I felt that there was something missing (and I had the whole suite of Sigma Art glass that I lugged around).
When I got my Sony a7IV I started to 'see' and process more and more in BW. Lenses run from Viltrox 16 to a Tamon 20-40 zoom to a couple of small G series, my favorite being the 135GM.
I'd love to have a dedicated mono camera, maybe even one with a squiggly L on it someday... but for now, with various things competing for my time (mainly paragliding) I think about a quote I alter from a certain former secretary of defense: 'You make photos with the camera you have, not the camera you want or wish to have a later time.'*
p.1 #14 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
90% is Sony A7riii, just because that's what gives me the most versatility and conversions hold up very well. BUT, I have a soft spot for my DP Merrill's, which convert *extremely* well in Sigma PhotoPro (even if it takes a few fortnights to process). The files have a certain grittiness/grain structure that I just really like.
(I think this is where the Foveon really comes through - there is none of that Bayer smear at 100% in a B&W conversion.)
p.1 #15 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
I really like my Fuji XH2 files for conversion to mono. Before I had the XH2, I had the GFX100s, and I also loved it's abilities with mono. Caveat is I also use C1 to convert from raw and it has an excellent onboard B&W conversion tool with color filtration, and then also some nice toning and grain tools. So that's the combo I currently use.
p.1 #16 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
Another vote for the A7R III...of course, it is my only camera but over time I've learned to use it and find B&W profiles that I like in Nik Silver EFEX.
p.1 #18 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
All of my digital cameras which I have used so far did a good job converting color into B&W photos. Reason I chose a dedicated monochrome Leica M 246 camera for my work is more to replace B&W film work when on travel and having a bit better grey scale tonality in the DNG files that just converting from color with other digital cameras. IMO it is more on the PP software used to transform color into B&W images than from files in the camera itself.
Digital cameras I have used successfully to convert color into B&W files:
Sony DSC-P5
Canon Rebel XT
Canon 5D MkII
Sony A7R
Leica M 240
p.1 #19 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
You can make roughly identical conversions using RAW files, so I'll focus on the built in mono workflows.
APS-C: X100V, have a custom Acros-based film sim that I just love
Full frame: Nikon Zf, really enjoy the various mono picture profiles available (deep mono, graphite, and others) and the dedicated B/W switch is fantastic
Medium Format: GFX 100S and newer, again use the same custom Acros sim as the X100V
p.1 #20 · Your Favorite Color Camera, for Mono Images ...
This is just silly, but because Zf has the B&W switch, I tend to shoot more B&W photos with it. And that's the reason FOR ME why I use this particular camera to shoot black-n-white. The photos are quite contrasty by default and that pleases me. The photos tend to tell the story this way.
Contradictory, I use my M11 sometimes to shoot B&W, I like the low-contrast tonality it produces by default. So that's just the opposite to Zf. Dunno, I just don't like the more linear and low-contrasty profile of Zf, and don't like the high contrast profile on Leica
Black and white photography as a broader topic, I'm not very good at it. I don't see in black and white. I'm not used to look at things I photograph in grayscale. But I envy B&W work. I've seen numerous exhibitions from different black and white photographers and I like the stories that individual photographs can tell in B&W.
