Best Monochrome Options 2025 - Leica? Converted Files? Converted Cameras?

[Benjamin Marks]

I already have more cameras than I can ever "use up" in the years remaining to me including an M9 and a Nikon Z8. However, there is one itch that I have yet to scratch: the fully dedicated monochrome camera.

I have seen wonderful images here from converted Pentaxes, from the current (and former) crop of Leica M Monochrom sensors. And I have and use Silver FX Pro to get pretty good results from color RAW files. I know Mike Johnson over on TOP has a monochrome-converted Sigma FP, which he loves.

I have been on a camera purchase hiatus for the past year, but my mind is turning again in this direction. So I have to ask: RFF, what's your current thinking about monochrome cameras? Is there a best-in-class out there right now? Or is it such a specialized market that this isn't really the right question. My current cameras that get the most use are a Pentak K-1, Leica M9, Nikon Z8 . . . and I tend to use the native lenses.

All input/advice gratefully considered. Lemme know.

 

[Godfrey]

The Leica M10 Monochrom is my personal high-water mark. It never fails to inspire me when I see what I shoot expressed virtually exactly as what I had in mind. I could sell all my other cameras and just use it, and not come to my limits ... or its.

G

 

[dave lackey]

I chose film… 🤗… for my Monochrom work and I am delighted with it.

One day, (if I win the lottery!) maybe there will be an M10 (something) in my hands but it will never replace my film work. I like to do both.

 

[sojournerphoto]

The Leica M10 Monochrom is my personal high-water mark. It never fails to inspire me when I see what I shoot expressed virtually exactly as what I had in mind. I could sell all my other cameras and just use it, and not come to my limits ... or its.

G

I’m delighted with the M11M, but note the Pentax K3iiiM is also very capable - see the thread here. Given these are available, converted cameras look like a substitute with limitations (lack of microlenses, ‘wrong’ internal processing etc)

Or, an MA of course😉 and it can do native colour too!!

 

[Godfrey]

I chose film… 🤗… for my Monochrom work and I am delighted with it.

One day, (if I win the lottery!) maybe there will be an M10 (something) in my hands but it will never replace my film work. I like to do both.

As do I ... I only shoot B&W film. I shoot a couple of rolls/packs of film per week. Currently, the IIIc is loaded with HP5 and has about 8 exposures left on the current roll, and I am on the verge of fitting the Hassy with the NONS InstaxSQ back and a pack of B&W film for a little change... 🙂

G

 

[dave lackey]

As do I ... I only shoot B&W film. I shoot a couple of rolls/packs of film per week. Currently, the IIIc is loaded with HP5 and has about 8 exposures left on the current roll, and I am on the verge of fitting the Hassy with the NONS InstaxSQ back and a pack of B&W film for a little change... 🙂

G

Love it!👍👍👍

 

[shawn]

You can also use RAW processors that skips the demosaicing of a color sensor and goes straight to monochrome. That eliminates the potential sharpness increase of a monochrome sensor.

 

[Ken Ford]

I was converting files for years but finally jumped on the dedicated monochrome train in 2022 with a Q2M. I loved (and love) it! The files were and are much more satisfying for me.

When a very reasonable used M246 popped up a few weeks ago I decided it was time. Very early days, but I’m absolutely smitten with it.

The only thing I’m giving up with my Monochroms is my ersatz “hand tinting” that I occasionally do by bringing back selective color to a desaturated image. No biggie, I can still do it with my other cameras.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I chose film… 🤗… for my Monochrom work and I am delighted with it.

One day, (if I win the lottery!) maybe there will be an M10 (something) in my hands but it will never replace my film work. I like to do both.

I still have my M's and my II's and III's, and my Pentax 67, Hassies, 4x5's, 5x7 8x10 . . . and I am sad to say that I haven't developed a roll of film, or a sheet of it, in 20 years -- since my son was born. I should sell that gear, but I am too attached to it. No, the question really is about B&W-only digital and the current state of today's sensors and other tech. If the answer is as simple as "the M11 is king" then so be it, but it seems like there are shutter lag issues that distrub some and threads here at RFF about the camera locking up. All other things being equal, I'd rather get trailing edge tech that was reliable, but as in all things, IQ is king for me.

Part of me wonders whether converting the Pentax K-1 would be the way to go. I like the idea of Full Frame. Too many lenses that cover the format. But there is always the of wides, and I think Leica has that licked with its own lenses.

 

[Freakscene]

Unless you need the colour information for digital monochrome conversions (usually to separate close tones) monochrome digital cameras have a lot of advantages in sharpness, ISO performance and tonality.

You can also use RAW processors that skips the demosaicing of a color sensor and goes straight to monochrome. That eliminates the potential sharpness increase of a monochrome sensor.

You get some of the sharpness back but not all of it. Some of the sharpness comes from the increased amount of light reaching the sensor through not having filtration. Also note that these processors do not skip demosaicing, they convert for luminance with “automatic suppression of mosaic patterning”. These RAW converters also therefore often introduce artefacts that can be hard to deal with.

Part of me wonders whether converting the Pentax K-1 would be the way to go. I like the idea of Full Frame. Too many lenses that cover the format. But there is always the of wides, and I think Leica has that licked with its own lenses.

Just read about and look at examples of the downsides of conversion in terms of pattern noise, losing IBIS, loss of microlenses (this depends on the camera - I haven’t looked into it for the K-1 but I think you do lose them) and, most importantly, failure rate.

The K-3iii Monochrome is really quite amazing.

The only thing I’m giving up with my Monochroms is my ersatz “hand tinting” that I occasionally do by bringing back selective color to a desaturated image. No biggie, I can still do it with my other cameras.

You can do this in Photoshop with a monochrome file using their AI recolouring, or, better, if you snap the scene with a camera phone, you can use the AI but match the colours.

 

[Freakscene]

M Monochrom 10760, 75 Summilux.

 

[Freakscene]

Leica 246, 75 Summicron

 

[Godfrey]

I still have my M's and my II's and III's, and my Pentax 67, Hassies, 4x5's, 5x7 8x10 . . . and I am sad to say that I haven't developed a roll of film, or a sheet of it, in 20 years -- since my son was born. I should sell that gear, but I am too attached to it. No, the question really is about B&W-only digital and the current state of today's sensors and other tech. If the answer is as simple as "the M11 is king" then so be it, but it seems like there are shutter lag issues that distrub some and threads here at RFF about the camera locking up. All other things being equal, I'd rather get trailing edge tech that was reliable, but as in all things, IQ is king for me.

Part of me wonders whether converting the Pentax K-1 would be the way to go. I like the idea of Full Frame. Too many lenses that cover the format. But there is always the of wides, and I think Leica has that licked with its own lenses.

I don't know whether the M11 Mono is a better performer than the M10 Mono, and it doesn't matter one bit because the M10-M is just about as perfect a camera as I could want. I have not been even the slightest interested in the M11 line because:
- the M10-M and M10-R are so good
- the M11 is a large departure from the M10 with respect to operational mechanics, and has so far proven to be fraught with many reports of operational issues.

I'm sure this will change in the future, and the M12 or whatever succeeds the M11 line will prove better, but that doesn't change the fact that the M10-M is so right, just as it is.

I've not looked at the Pentax at all. The Q2M has been purchased by two of my friends and both are absolutely gushing about it, and I understand why when I look at their photos. But the M10-M lets me use all my existing lenses...

G

 

[Freakscene]

Leica M10 Monochrom, 50mm Summilux ASPH

 

[Freakscene]

Leica M11 Monochrom, 50mm Summilux ASPH

 

[Freakscene]

Pentax K-3 iii Monochrome, 70mm HD Limited

 

[agentlossing]

Another vote for (at least looking at) the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. It's the only dedicated monochrome (non-modified) camera on the list of such cameras that I can afford, Leica Monochroms being a bit out of my price range, but it's also a splendid camera. If you choose to consider the strengths of an SLR instead of seeing it as a compromise (and I understand both sides; rangefinder and mirrorless are great technologically as well), then you won't be disappointed, because the K-3 III is definitely the top tier that an APS-C DSLR can be. It's wonderfully built, and the viewfinder is huge for its format. The output is really extraordinary.

I often think about what it would be like to have a full-frame monochrome sensor, and I am sure the Leicas have an edge on my Pentax. But strictly in terms of what can a monochrome sensor offer you, the Pentax offers a lot.

 

[Freakscene]

The biggest thing is mindset. Do you want to take monochrome photos and get into the mindset of taking only monochrome photos? For me, the potential choice is problematic, and seeing the photos in colour tends to ‘fix’ them in my head in colour. With a black-and-white canera, you never see them that way.

 

[Godfrey]

one of my faves out of the M10 Monochrom:

Unicorn & Crocodilians - Santa Clara 2023
M10 Monochrom + Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH
ISO 1000 @ f/2 @ 1/60
Green filter​

enjoy, G

 

[Godfrey]

The biggest thing is mindset. Do you want to take monochrome photos and get into the mindsetof taking only monochrome photos? For me, the potential choice is problematic, and seeing the photos in colour tends to ‘fix’ them in my head in colour. With a black-and-white canera, you never see them that way.

I use the same logic when shooting with a Monochrom (or a color camera aiming for B&W) as I do when I have a film camera loaded with B&W film: I ignore the color in the scene and think only of darks and lights, modulo whatever B&W correction filter I might have fitted (usually green).

Doesn't matter what my eyes see, it's my mind's eye that rules. 🙂

G