[NitroDC]

I'm going to try this. I've ignored my K20D since purchasing the K-01, and feel bad about it. Maybe turning it into a faux 'film' B&W-dedicated JPEG shooter will spark some extra creativity. Really cool idea.

[wildman]

Was in the deep woods when I saw this and I thought of this thread and "thinking in BW" so...

...K5 in mono mode, Zeiss 50mm ZK, f/11, ISO 100, tripod mounted, not much PP beyond ACR.
Just let the natural light do it's thing - If the light is good enough for God it's good enough for me.

[Kobayashi.K]

To add some food for those who like experiments here an example of a macro photo in black and white.

With Macro we usually get a straightforward description of small objects or animals but it can also be used for artistic purposes. Creating macro images with an interesting contents combined with a good composition is far from easy, even more when color is left out of the equation. BW can give images a surrealistic atmosphere because subjects are less recognizable, so that's a possibility that can be exploited.

This example is a piece of wood with moss, about 10mm wide.



Camera: K5-II + DFA50 Macro.
F16, ISO = 80.
Lighting: Continuous, single tungsten spot.
Custom Image: Bright, Contrast +1, Sharpness +1 (= Default).
Original image: JPEG 4928x3264 px
Post processing: PaintShopPro X5, Hue, Saturation, crop = 3000x3000 px
Published here: Resized to 700x700 px + border.





Camera: K5-II + DFA50 Macro.
F16, ISO = 80.
Lighting: Continuous, single tungsten spot.
Custom Image: BW, Contrast +2.
Original image: JPEG 4928x3264 px
No post processing, crop = 3000x3000 px
Published here: Resized to 700x700 px + border.

In this case the image is not a conversion from color, it is a separate photo with Custom Image set to BW in the camera.

[Arjay Bee]

A couple from the last few days - very dry here so these scenes are common:





More anyone?

[wildman]

More anyone?

Quarry Workers on strike at a political rally.
Bright overcast rainy day.
K5, ISO 6400, F/8, 600mm glass

[Kobayashi.K]

For some reason interiors are great in BW.
This is my 'studio' in sixties style, its atmosphere beautifully caught with the right vibes IMO.




K-50 + FA43 Ltd.
F11, ISO = 100.
Custom Image = BW, Filter settings = none (0).
Original image: JPEG 4928x3264 px
No post processing, 100% crop of complete photo.
Published here: JPEG resized to 950x630 px, compression 20%.

This setup is used for tabletop and macro. The K-5II, with battery grip and Refconverter A, on a vintage Slik Master tripod. It is (semi) permanently connected to the PC with an USB cable. Lighting is still provisional.

[Kobayashi.K]

Shooting in-camera black-and-white (BW) photo's allows us to set additional filters for Contrast, Sharpness, color filters (Yellow, Blue, Infrared etc.), High/Low Key, Contrast, Sharpness and Toning. With Toning you can give the image a sepia or blue touch, and I took some photo's to compare them.

Toning has 9 possible values, from -4 .. 0 .. +4. The negative values are blue, the positive values sepia. Showing them side by side gives a good impression of their differences. From the blue values only value -1 is shown because they aren't used much, I think.

These samples are from the K-50.
They can be set via:
| Menu Rec. Mode | 1 | Custom Image | BW |, | Button INFO | Toning |





Other camera's supporting in-camera BW have the same possibilities, but I don't know if the colors are exactly the same. The +3 and +4 values for K-50 are quite heavy.

An extra test was done to see if a (sepia) toning on the JPEG can be undone in post-processing, because a neutral image is the preferred source when it must be edited after all (the RAW can be used too).
It appears that the JPEG BW Custom Image is still in the sRGB color space (it is not a Greyscale image with one channel) and it can be converted to pure BW again by using the Channel Mixer (GIMP, PaintShop Pro, Photoshop and others), in the same way as a color image can be converted to BW. So, that allows us to freely use in-camera toning without being nailed down.

[Arjay Bee]

Again thank you for this information. The K20D has s similar range of filters as you describe. I have the yellow and the high contrast and a bit more sharpness selected in my current default setup. I have played with the toning but nothing to show for it yet.

[Racer X 69]

Oh what the hell why not?
Note the two sleeping cats was taken with a Canon S95 PS all converted from full color RAW files.

Is there supposed to be some photos here?

[p38arover]

Dont get me wrong, But I fail to see the point of a "B&W" camera.

Personally I much, much prefer to work off a Full color Raw file.)

I find that it gives me an immediate representation of the pic. Besides, I'm not a PP person. Generally, I spend very little time on PP, maybe straighten and crop. Once I've taken the photo, I look at it and forget it. I'm done with them.

Sometimes, I don't even look at them. I took hundreds of images during the Sydney International Fleet Review and have only looked at a few of them.

[Arjay Bee]

Sometimes, I don't even look at them. I took hundreds of images during the Sydney International Fleet Review and have only looked at a few of them.

I sometimes take a camera to an event just to give me something to do. Or something to hide behind -useful for distancing, objectivising or othering whatever is taking place. Sad but the reality.

[Arjay Bee]

A B&W K20D image from today - JPEG straight from the camera (with a little sharpening and leveling and resizing and stroke).



K20D + Super Takumar 85mm 1.9 @ F2.8 1/1000 ISO 200

[Arjay Bee]

Approaching wet season.



In camera B&W with Vivitar 75-250

[Arjay Bee]

And another with same set up:

[Rupert]

Hollowed out and installed about 50 feet up in a big Oak tree, the K20D Rupert gave me is a great place to store exotic nuts in a weatherproof container! Sure beats the leaky box I was keeping them in!



Regards!
Otis Squirrel