This is where Ian Burley, DPNow's editor and founder, shares his unique thoughts and impressions on subjects that he hopes will be of interest to others on the subjects of digital photography and other related or loosely related topics! You can follow DPNow Editor's blog on Facebook and Twitter, too.
Why I need to be convinced that a mono digital camera makes sense
Posted 15-05-12 at 05:56 PM by Ian
Tags black and white, colour, leica m, mono, monochrom
In my book to make great digital black and white you need to start with colour
Last week I commented on the arrival of Leica's M Monochrom, a specialised version of Leica's M-series digital rangefinder camera fitted with a purely black and white full frame sensor. At the time I wondered at Leica's audacity and vision to create such a camera, but the more I thought about it the more I began to feel this was a flawed mission. And this is why:
All three black and white versions of this image were adapted from the colour original at the top left. No changes to contrast or brightness were made. The only changes were adjustments to colour channels in the original that affected the mono conversion. This is an immensely powerful facility that Leica M Monochrom photographers won't have because the camera's sensor only records luminance. No colour data is recorded, so there are no colour channels to play with.
It may be possible, as in the old black and white film days, to use colour filters over the lens to darken or lighten selected hues, but this is not confirmed and even if it was, the range of tonal adjustments available would be much more limited and fiddly to achieve compared to using a colour original.
I'm seeing Leica tomorrow and will be hoping to debate the above with them - I'll certainly be reporting back.
Last week I commented on the arrival of Leica's M Monochrom, a specialised version of Leica's M-series digital rangefinder camera fitted with a purely black and white full frame sensor. At the time I wondered at Leica's audacity and vision to create such a camera, but the more I thought about it the more I began to feel this was a flawed mission. And this is why:
All three black and white versions of this image were adapted from the colour original at the top left. No changes to contrast or brightness were made. The only changes were adjustments to colour channels in the original that affected the mono conversion. This is an immensely powerful facility that Leica M Monochrom photographers won't have because the camera's sensor only records luminance. No colour data is recorded, so there are no colour channels to play with.
It may be possible, as in the old black and white film days, to use colour filters over the lens to darken or lighten selected hues, but this is not confirmed and even if it was, the range of tonal adjustments available would be much more limited and fiddly to achieve compared to using a colour original.
I'm seeing Leica tomorrow and will be hoping to debate the above with them - I'll certainly be reporting back.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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Oh dear, let the battle of the endless variety in matters of taste begin.....as if it ever wasn't going on .......
Having too many options can often be paralyzing. Not having the option that you want/need is equally disabling.
The M-M will be a tool for those folk that used to use only one emulsion for B&W and maybe a filter. It was souped in one developer and they had their "LOOK". Digital has made many of those old styles seem really restrictive.
Definitely a situation of trade-offs.
BobPosted 16-05-12 at 04:04 AM by Bob Ross 
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Had a very interesting conversation with Leica consultant photographer, Brett. And had some hands-on time with the camera see: http://dpnow.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=13342 More images to come in a feature article on the main site.
Posted 16-05-12 at 07:18 PM by Ian
