Shooting B&W from camera and question about RAW file

12 years 8 months ago #133528 by Moossmann
I hope this isn't a dumb question, but if I set my camera to take photos in B&W will the RAW files only have B&W data, or will the RAW files have color in them too?


Photo Comments
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12 years 8 months ago - 12 years 8 months ago #133531 by MLKstudios
The sensor in your DSLR is filtered for color. However, the sensor itself can only see light and dark.

RAW capture is after the light is filtered so yes, it has color.

The difference is -- you doing the conversion later in post, or letting the camera do it for you.

Matthew

Matthew L Kees
MLK Studios Photography School
www.MLKstudios.com
[email protected]
"Every artist, was once an amateur"

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12 years 8 months ago #133541 by Moossmann
Ohhhh gotcha

Good to know. I haven't shot yet, but was wondering how that worked.


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12 years 8 months ago #133697 by Henry Peach
The raw files can be converted back to color even if shot on BW mode in the camera. If you are using the raw processor that came with the camera they will probably stay BW, but somewhere you should be able to turn off the grayscale. If you are using some other raw processing software it may reprocess them according to it's own default settings, which are probably full color.

For instance the Adobe Camera Raw defaults I've saved are in full color. When I open a folder of photos that were shot in the camera on BW the thumbnail jpeg that is attached to the raw file pops up in BW for a second or two, but it's quickly replaced by a full color thumbnail jpeg processed according to the ACR defaults. If I switch it back to BW in ACR it will stay that way unless I open it again in some other software that can't deal with the ACR settings. The processing settings are saved as an attached file like a recipe. The actual raw file remains untouched. It's like the original, whole ingredients, ready to be made into something according to the recipe applied.
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