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Photo Forum / Digital Photography / DSLR Cameras / March 2006Another newbie question: why B&W mode?
Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? >Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, >you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as >late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? No, advantage. Just like there's no advantage to shooting anything but RAW. Remember JPEG throws away data also. ***************************************************** "Vietnam is what we had instead of happy childhoods." Tim Page in "Dispatches" by Michael Herr >>Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >>B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > "Dispatches" > by Michael Herr Of course there are reasons to use JPG, e.g. when you only want to document something and don't need RAW for manipulation. JPG is easier. "Vietnam is what YOU GAVE US instead of happy childhoods." >>>Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >>>B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >Of course there are reasons to use JPG, e.g. when you only want to document >something and don't need RAW for manipulation. JPG is easier. What's to maninupulate in raw? Just run a batch action ACR of you have the exposes right? Then another set of acts if you must have JPEG with the sharpening you've found works best and its done. But you still have the RAW for any shot that you thing needs or deserves more than 8bits of lossy information. ***************************************************** "Vietnam is what we had instead of happy childhoods." Tim Page in "Dispatches" by Michael Herr > >Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in > >B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > No, advantage. Just like there's no advantage to shooting anything > but RAW. Remember JPEG throws away data also. There's no *image* advantage to shooting anything but RAW. There is a *rate* advantage to not shooting RAW, since the files are bigger and take longer to write to the card, so the buffer takes longer to empty, which may prevent your getting that key shot.  SignatureDavid Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b@dd-b.net>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/> > Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in > B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, > you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as > late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? I haven't tried B&W on my D200, but I started to use it on my old Nikon 995, which is a fairly noisy camera. Shooting at a meeting, having to use ie 400 I slipped it into B&W. The pics were so much better than the color images from the same camera. Much less noise, seemingly sharper (less noise reduction?). Next step make the 995 an infrared only camera. Don't think there would be a noticable difference on the D200 as the files are much cleaner. With the D200 you don't get into objectionable noise until ie 1600. Tom I just sold a 995 on Ebay by stressing the IR features. The 995 was one of the last Coolpix cameras with "good" IR sensitivity. They filtered MUCH LESS back then. There are a couple of guides online that talk about how to do the the full conversion to IR (ie removing the last of the IR block that it still has). BTW, I located a hack where the 995 can be made to output an undocumented RAW format as well.... http://www.burren.cx/photo/e950ir.html > I just sold a 995 on Ebay by stressing the IR features. The 995 was one > of the last Coolpix cameras with "good" IR sensitivity. They filtered [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > http://www.burren.cx/photo/e950ir.html Interesting the bayer filter doesn't work with IR so that would really be much sharper. >Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, >you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as >late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? I don't know how it is actually done in the camera, but it is theoretically possible that you could get a B&W JPEG of higher quality than you could get from a color JPEG. If you shoot RAW, then you have the original data, and can do anything with it. Signature<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> John P Sheehy <JPS@no.komm> ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< >>Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >>B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > than you could get from a color JPEG. If you shoot RAW, then you have > the original data, and can do anything with it. Some people direct print from camera. In this case B&W mode proves useful. > Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in > B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, > you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as > late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? When shooting in Raw + Jpeg I its nice to do it B/W. I can directly see the result on screen, and later, get the best out of the Raw file. kr Aad >> Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >> B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > kr > Aad B+W film had a bias towards blue. It was more sensitive. This meant dark dense negatives in the blue area. This meant whited out skies and very bad rendition of green. Yellow filters and green filters were used to counter this. I beleive the B+W mode in cameras have colour filter 'options' that is you select the 'filter' from the menu and not physically place one on the camera. Many people prefer film for its 'true rendition' but the film doesn't actually accurately record the scene. It has been discussed that putting a preset adjustment in photoshop to 'correct' the colour rendition when in fact what has happened is that the sensor registers the colours more equally than the film. However film has been established for so long that the rendition by film is considered THE way to record the image. All in all b+w film settings in camera are an improvement on a desaturated image in photoshop and the electronic equivalent of the 'filters' help but a genuine green filter on the lens is still the way to go if you want to emphasise certain tones in b+w. Of course if you are sufficiently skilled in photoshop you could just use that. I have seen an 'S' shaped curve inserted into photoshop graphical representations of colour to make it more 'film like'. >Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in >B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? There may be some small advantage to doing JPEG compression on a B&W image vs. a color image. It'd certainly use less storage space. > Either way, >you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as >late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? If speed and sorage are not issues and you're shooting RAW then there isn't much point to having the camera do it. If you're only interested in B&W (such as for a newspaper) then you might as well let the camera do it. SignatureRay Fischer rfischer@sonic.net > Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Is there any advantage to shooting in > B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Either way, > you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as > late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? Since the camera sensors are already filtered for color anyway, there is the advantage of having the color version (that may be useful) that you can also convert to B&W in photoshop. Signature-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm -- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm -- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin -- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch. > Why do some DSLRs have a B&W mode? Because it sells? Because it is somewhat similar to using a SLR with B/W film? > Is there any advantage to shooting in > B&W vs. shooting in color and converting to B&W in PhotoShop? Yes: - no need to fire up PhotoShop (faster turn around time) - direct feedback how the shot looks in B/W. Can you immediately tell how everything will look in B/W? > Either way, > you're throwing away data, and it seems to make sense to throw it away as > late as possible. Or is there more to it than that? If you want all you can get, use RAW and manually handle each single image, converting it lovingly from RAW and photoshopping out any problems. If you have less time, (say, you are some reporter and (the best of) your images of the game tonight _must_ be in tomorrow's morning paper) shoot it right instead of photoshopping around later (that always helps) and reduce your conversion steps to a minimum, down to 'shoot JPEG' and 'print them as you shot them' (and that often _is_ in B/W). Of course, doing it that way also needs some skill --- as it did with analog film. There are aftermarket focus screens with lines telling you what will be chopped off left and right at some image formats, exactly for this reason. -Wolfgang |
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