Why shoot in b&w?

[Keith]

Bill has a point here ... the op's question is posted in the M8 forum and it relates to the preference of a camera setting or post processing procedure.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the qualities of black and white film compared to digital conversions ... I say this as a confirmed film junkie! 😛

 

[ovredal73]

I shoot DNG+basic jpg for the single reason to have my jpg set to B/W while shooting so I can chimp the contrast in the scene and not be disturbed by the colors which I don´t care about. I usually have it set as high contrast as well, knowing that my DNG is fine anyway.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Certainly, I can't see a reason to shoot B+W on an M8, when you can always post-process AND you have the option of colour if you see a colour shot -- though in all fairness it does save time and the 'out of the box' results are quite good.

But then, I regard the M8 as a colour camera and much prefer film for B+W (except IR, where I am firmly of two minds).

Cheers,

R.

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

i shoot raw, so all colorinformation is available...... BUT i follow a complete B&W workflow:
- my lcd is set to B&W
- I proces files in C1 wirh B&W profiles

I never watch how a picture i took looks in color ... i am dedicated to B&W shoot with B&W in mind and proces accordingly.
!

When I first got the M8.2 I very much shot the same way and set the camera to provide a RAW and b/w JPEG same set up as I had on the GRD2 with both LCD's set to b/w. Files were processed in C1 for the M8 using the JFI profiles especially the FP4. The GRD2 files were put through Grubba's standalone program TrueGrain. I wanted to retain a film like quality to the images - However recent projects have triggered an interest in color brought about simply by having access to the RAW files and experimenting with different RAW processors (RAW Developer is a recent discovery that I very much like) (emulating an approach I used in the darkroom when combining different film developers, papers, enlarger light-sources, paper developers and toners until I achieved a look I was after or that specifically suited a particular project). Soon after I swapped my setups in both cameras: M8.2 shoots just RAW with its color LCD and the GRD2 RAW and JPEG and color LCD. The M8 opened my eyes to color that I couldn't see before and this has been a great step forward for me. If I'd stuck to my original approach with my b/w LCD's, I think I'd have missed this opportunity. I'm not making a point in favor of digital over film (as both of them have a place in the work I produce) but having my eyes opened was unexpected when Ive been so comfortable with a film/ developer/camera combination that has always worked for me and that I'd hoped to emulate with Digital Cameras. I put this experience down to simply shooting in RAW and being able to capture the maximum information to work with later. It's a big learning curve for me but it keeps me moving forward creatively.

 

[peewee]

Simon, your work is very inspiring. Can i ask, do you use other camera/s as well as the M8? I really enjoyed looking at your work, thankyou

 

[Stephen S. Mack]

For fun.😀

With best regards.

Stephen S. Mack

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Peewee thanks. To answer your question with no intention of derailing the thread and OP's question - I've pretty much used the whole gamut of film cameras from 10x8", 5x4", most 120 formats, panoramic, 35mm to Holga - 120 and 35mm rangefinders being my preferred choice and 99% b/w. The digital camera venture is quite recent and was initiated by a commission for a whole series of Charles Dickens' book-covers here in the UK, with low production budgets, so low that the first three that I shot with film blew my entire fee and expense budget per cover! So I began to make the book cover images with two digital point and shoots GRD II and Sigma DP1 and with the proceeds I bought the M8.2.

To bring it back on track with the OP's question about shooting in b/w with the digital cameras - it was exactly this approach that I adopted and used it for 13 out of 14 covers that I've shot so far. It was my own personal interest in color that has made me change my set up.

 

[myM8yogi]

When I first got the M8 I couls not believe how goog the in-camera BW files were. I always shot RAW/DNG together with a BW jpg. I inevitably found that no end of hours micro-adjusting channels, curves and various sliders in CS2 on the RAW original could give me anything as nice as the M8 just doing its own thing. Since then I've got Lightroom2, and downloaded some really awesome BW presets. This has made all the difference. I now shoot exclusively DNG/RAW and process in Lightroom to taste.

In short, I would strongly recommend shooting BW jpgs in the M8 if, like me, your BW postprocessing skills are not that hot, and/or you don't want to spend the time pushing sliders one way then the other....