Producing B&W Images

[Chris Gahran]

A respected photographer friend told me that color digital cameras produce wonderful B&W images. I know economically using a Bayer CCD is the most cost-effective method of making grayscale images (we already own a digital back) but does anyone have experience producing B&W portraits with a dedicated monochrome back like that offered by Phase or say an old Leaf back without the color wheel? Any advantage to using a monochrome chip based digital back?

[Giorgio]

Hi Chris,

I have not used a dedicated b/w digital camera yet.

But I am very happy with my b/w conversions of my digital images using ACR (adobe camera raw).

First click on the HSL Grayscale module then desaturated (-100 points) all 8 colors. Then go to the Basic module and adjust the temperature and tint sliders to taste and voila a great b/w conversion. You can also make other adjustments in the basic module like contrast etc.

Cheers,

[Barry Goyette]

I think the benefit of a monochrome type back, of course is in it's lack of color filtering over the lens, theoretically giving you higher sensitivity, less aliasing and moire issues, and greater detail. On the other side of the equation, a "color" sensor gives a file that can be adjusted via a number of parameters to control greyscale tones relative to the color data. You lose that control with a monochrome back (any adjustments would need to be made "old school", with colored optical filters prior to capture). Depending on your subject matter and shooting style, this may not be a problem, but for me I'd prefer the flexibility in post, and the black and white images I can produce off of the H4d-40 are of such high quality, I can't imagine paying a premium for a back that doesn't shoot color.

[desertdiver]

No experience with a monochrome back here either, but some good experience with B/W conversion via Nik Silver Efex plug-in for Photoshop or Lightroom. Just give it a try.

Regards, Udo

[meshuggener]

Barry, I LOVE your portraits with HTS, B&W etc !!