I want to start exploring black and white photography again... on digital and possibly on film (cost is an issue). I find a lot of B&W pictures a bit boring honestly, especially some street photography that seems to have boring light and boring subjects... I'm talking about the current crop of artsy street photographers, not the fine people in this forum of course
But on some pictures, if the light is right, the focus on luminosity makes it seem like you're almost in there in the picture, even though it doesn't really look like the scene. It can be quite engaging in that way.
Interestingly, I find that modern lenses don't look quite as interesting for B&W as film-era lenses, but that might be because I've had some great film-era lenses and have always have more budget-oriented digital-era lenses. Also, it seems like I get better results from some non-Pentax lenses. The 4 that have given me the best results in my short black and white photography journey are:
1. Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 -this lens seems to show luminosity differently, it's very sharp but also delicate at the same time. It also seems to naturally give more detail into darker areas - that is probably because the contrast is not so high.
2. Vivitar (Cosina serial number starting with 9) f/2.8 - a very nice focal length for black and white photography and the lens seems to give a bit of a nice dramatic look to the pictures.
3. Rikenon P 50mm f/1.4 - also a favorite for color, there's really nothing this lens isn't good at. An old-school lens that has sharpness in spades without hard edges, and gives out details and nuances so well. This is at f/1.4.
4. Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Art - Now this is a modern lens with an old soul, for sure. It is super sharp but not overly corrected, which caused a lot of people to frown on it because it has CA wide open. To me it's basically a perfect lens optically, and B&W hides the CA that it has at f/1.4...
Pardon me for the boring shots...
I haven't experimented with filters, like the orange, red and yellow filters a lot of people use for B&W. I guess for digital those aren't needed.
So I'd like to know everyone's favorite lenses to shoot black and white, IF black and white is something you enjoy.