In-camera digital photos

[Pfreddee]

I'm not sure if this is the place to post this question, but here goes anyway. Does anyone use the Monochrome setting on their digital camera, if it has one? My Nikon D7000 does, and I think it looks pretty good. Not trying to start an argument, just curious about other people's photo habits. Most people seem to shoot in color, and then convert and process the color to monochrome. What is the most common practice for you?

Thanks to all who reply.

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Ken Ford]

I shoot my NEX7 in RAW+JPG with monochrome turned on - this gives me B&W in the VF to assist previsualization but still forces me to do conversions in post.

I rented an X100s last May and was very impressed with the OOC monochrome results. I just ordered one and will hopefully be using it this way most of the time.

 

[Scrambler]

I second the RAW+JPG approach, which allows the "best of both worlds." You have the JPGs to use if you want, or can convert.

My concern with JPG only is that you have to rely entirely on the cameras monochrome JPG engine, when you may prefer some other type of filtering or adjustment.

It's not quite like film, this digital lark. The cameras are smart enough to ignore strongly coloured filters. Without going to a lot of trouble, it's better to filter after the event.

 

[jwc57]

I do the same Raw + Jpeg deal. I was talking to a someone I mentored and she is in art school now. They will only allow them to shoot jpeg. I told her the Raw + jpeg trick and she was going to start doing that. She didn't realize that RAW would be in color.

 

[JoeV]

On my Lumix G5 I'll sometimes use one of its two B/W modes (either the B/W scene mode or the Dynamic Monochrome effects mode, which has a bit more contrast and bite), while recording RAW files (you can choose to either do both JPEG + RAW or RAW only), while being able to see the scene in live-motion B/W through the EVF. Even when the intended output are color files, sometimes being able to compose realtime in B/W is a game-changer. This is one of the primary advantages to a mirrorless, live-view camera, IMO. Having the RAW file on hand means that either a color or a B/W image can be processed as output in post.

Pfreddee, I tend more to work with the full RAW file, which could end up either as a color or a B/W JPEG in post, so the in-camera B/W mode is more for the sake of in-camera visualization.

~Joe

 

[hepcat]

You should experiment with your camera's b&w .jpg mode. Some in-camera processing for b&w (like the M8 for example) is amazing and hard to duplicate in post processing from RAW. I shoot RAW+jpg myself.

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

You should experiment with your camera's b&w .jpg mode. Some in-camera processing for b&w (like the M8 for example) is amazing and hard to duplicate in post processing from RAW. I shoot RAW+jpg myself.

I second this. I very often use my Ricoh GR in High-Contrast BW jpg mode, and the results, at high ISO, are fabulous.

 

[grandallj]

I use the XPro-1 .jpg quite a bit. It even has simulated yellow, green, and red filter settings that are pretty good.

 

[Ken Ford]

I love the simulated filters in my X100s - no filter factor!