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Advantages in shooting B&W with digital?


8 years 11 months ago #439619 by MM Images
My father was a long time film photographer who taught me that with film the advantage to shooting in B&W was you could pick up contrast and resolution.  Do any of these principles apply to digital? 
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8 years 11 months ago #439622 by Stealthy Ninja
With my Sony I shoot black and white when doing manual focus. It helps with focusing.

If you shoot RAW you keep the colour information anyway... so if you were going to shoot black and white so you can see the contrast/resolution, then shoot RAW so you have the option of colour later on.
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8 years 11 months ago #439630 by Robert Chen

Stealthy Ninja wrote: With my Sony I shoot black and white when doing manual focus. It helps with focusing.

If you shoot RAW you keep the colour information anyway... so if you were going to shoot black and white so you can see the contrast/resolution, then shoot RAW so you have the option of colour later on.


How does that make a difference when focusing? 
Nikon D300 24-70mm f2.8
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8 years 11 months ago - 8 years 11 months ago #439632 by garyrhook
There are no advantages to shooting in B&W with digital, if the camera captures color images. Kinda illogical.

Aside from focusing, if the display presents a grayscale image, which I believe is about being able to detect contrast more easily in B&W instead of color. I can see that being a good thing.

Aside from that, I think it's a somewhat apples and oranges comparison. B&W film doesn't work the same way as a digital sensor, and your conversion in post still brings you to the point where you can manipulate exposure and contrast to your heart's content. Digital provides so much more control and possibility in post that film can't touch. I think. Others may disagree, in which case I await education.
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8 years 11 months ago #439649 by Stealthy Ninja

Robert Chen wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: With my Sony I shoot black and white when doing manual focus. It helps with focusing.

If you shoot RAW you keep the colour information anyway... so if you were going to shoot black and white so you can see the contrast/resolution, then shoot RAW so you have the option of colour later on.


How does that make a difference when focusing? 


A7 has an electronic viewfinder.  You see everything in black and white.  Because it's black and white you can pick up if it's sharp easier (more contrast).  The old TV cameras had black and white viewfinders for this purpose (maybe they still do, I haven't used one for a long time).
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8 years 11 months ago #439658 by MM Images
:thx:   well there's my education for the day  ;) 
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8 years 11 months ago #439676 by tganiats
The May/June issue of DIgital PhotoPro (I'm not a pro, but...) has a lot on B&W.

I use to agree with garyrhook, 

There are no advantages to shooting in B&W with digital, if the camera captures color images. Kinda illogical.

and I still do, because most of our cameras do.  I agree, shoot color and convert to B&W later...You get a lot more control, including being able to use many different color filters later (your father couldn't change filters once the image was captured)

But what I didn't realize is that the dedicated B&W digital cameras offer an advantage over the "normal" digital cameras.  Color cameras need a grid of 3 pixels (one for green, one for red, one for blue) that is later combined for the color.  If you have a dedicated B&W camera, then you, in essence, triple your pixels.   With some advantages.

Worth a read, if you can find it.
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8 years 11 months ago #439763 by Joves
I do not know so much that even in the film days you got more contrast, and resolution. You only got the contrast if you exposed the film correctly. The one thing with B&W is you had to think more about what you were shooting for that contrast. Resolution is dependent on the media itself, the f-stop, shutter, and in the case of film, what you were shooting with. All of the film makers films had different resolutions, and then the ISO, and grain decided that. 
It is the same with digital in that you need to see in your minds eye what you are shooting will look like in B&W. But any properly exposed image will show good contrast, and range. If your shot is too far out, then converting to B&W will not make it any better, in fact it will look worse. Having a B&W mindset will make you more picky about what you are shooting as well. At least that is how it is for me.
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8 years 11 months ago #439775 by Glen Martin
Good post :agree:
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8 years 11 months ago #439780 by icepics
I'm not sure what you meant when you said the advantage to shooting B&W was that you could pick up contrast and resolution. I'm a longtime film photographer too, but I'm thinking along the same lines as Joves, it depends on what you're photographing, the lighting conditions, the time of day, etc. I've sometimes decided to shoot B&W film or not if the weather was overcast/cloudy if I didn't think I'd be getting some nice contrast in the scene. I find I do something like Joves does, thinking about the subject/scene and if I think it will work in B&W, because obviously shooting film you have to be able to do that without seeing the results immediately.

I like the look better of what I've done in the darkroom, the paper and gloss, etc. I haven't done nearly as much digitally but I did have one photo I shot in color digitally and did a B&W version of it and got it accepted into an exhibit. Maybe shooting in B&W gets you thinking more about the tones and contrast in a scene or subject since B&W is basically the absence of color.
Sharon
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8 years 11 months ago #439788 by TGonzo
Why bother? Why not shoot in RAW and convert to B&W in post?
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8 years 11 months ago #439928 by Shadowfixer1
The main advantage of shooting in B&W mode in my opinion is to help people pre visualize how the image will look in B&W. If you shoot in RAW with B&W mode then you still have all the info but if you struggle knowing what would look good as a B&W it will help. One other advantage is if you are a person that hates post processing images. If that's the case, shoot RAW and record both RAW and JPG large files. The RAW just gives you that cushion for recovery that jpegs won't if it's needed.  
www.betterphoto.com/?ramshots
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8 years 11 months ago #439971 by MM Images
Good stuff guys, thank you.  This has added much clarity for me.  Or at least food for thought. 
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