Any "Black & White Mode" tests done yet?

Jaime Valles

Jaime Valles

Veteran
A while back there had been talk of the AF100 having a dedicated "Black & White" shooting mode, which supposedly resulted in better B&W images than if converted to B&W in post. Has anybody experimented with this yet? Does that mode even exist? Just curious.
 
Yes the mode exists. Haven't done much with it, but an interesting aspect to it is that changing the color settings in the camera does result in seeing changes in the B&W version. The B&W mode has no chroma in its signal, but changing the color matrix does result in visible changes in the B&W mode.
 
This is really good to hear. Any photographer will tell you that a good black an white conversion requires good color settings and curves. Usually pumping the greens.

Barry_Green said:
Yes the mode exists. Haven't done much with it, but an interesting aspect to it is that changing the color settings in the camera does result in seeing changes in the B&W version. The B&W mode has no chroma in its signal, but changing the color matrix does result in visible changes in the B&W mode.
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That's interesting Bob. I always thought that red was a big player in B&W photos - but then again maybe I'm thinking of infra-red photography.

Can one get a quality B&W by shooting in color and pulling saturation in post? I'd really rather work this way to preserve flexibility. Any recommendations?
 
Of course there are no real rules but I find landscapes need more red and people more green for B+W conversions. That said, I would also do this in post rather than in camera - but I'm sure there can be reasons to do it in camera.

Steve Kahn said:
That's interesting Bob. I always thought that red was a big player in B&W photos - but then again maybe I'm thinking of infra-red photography.

Can one get a quality B&W by shooting in color and pulling saturation in post? I'd really rather work this way to preserve flexibility. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
 
Red filters are used a lot in black and white portrait photography and cinematography. It tends to give the the skin a very milky, smooth look. I am personally a big fan.

Would the black and white mode actually result in a cleaner image as there is no need to worry about colour sampling?
 
So... has anybody done any tests in black & white mode yet? I'm very curious to see some results, especially with a red filter on the lens.
 
I don't have an AF101 yet but my GH2 arrived a couple of days ago and I've been playing with B&W in that. I think the output is beautiful, frankly, in both stills and video, so I'd have high hopes that the AF101 will be stunning.

When I've done B&W with previous digital cameras I did it on the computer and usually fiddled with the colours to get a better looking image. Mostly trial and error, whether it was red or green that needed adjusting depended on the picture, the result was entirely subjective. I have to say I think the natural B&W out of the GH2 is better than the majority of my efforts - of the 3 modes available it's Smooth I think I prefer best.

I suppose I'll have to swallow my pride and post some images at some point, although I've been to busy playing with the camera to upload anything.

Barry, the 20mm pancake is absolutely stunning, I'm going to spend a lot of time out in the evening doing night shots with it.

Cheers

Neil
 
In the end I think B&W in post processing allows more options (e.g. Magic Bullet Looks).
 
the thing I find weird about this whole 'let's do black & White in post' business is just that I compose and work differently when I'm shooting B/W, I compose with shape and bold light more.

there's an old adage in stills B/W, 'compose for the shadows and let the whites take care of themselves'.

so you then take pics digging into the shadows with exposure and often just ignoring what's happening in the whites and just getting bold shapes of composition. the colour doesn't get in the way.
and having a B/W display with that characterstic in place only enhances the composition for me.

so I don' really understand the idea of using B/W as an effects filter, because I would never have composed and worked my 'digital neg' and thrown round it's contrast range to get the bold composition when I took that picture in the first place.

for that reason in my mind I would choose my B/W in the beginning, and shoot B/W with a B/W display.

mind you, I'd aim to get as pure a rolloff to White as possible while shooting, and then I'd probably just add some proper Shake FilmGrain over it all, emphasising especially those beautifull grain transitions into the highlights that film used to have, and bold blacks, but with deep rich grain in the shadows, alive not still and noisefree.
 
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Just did some shooting with monochrome mode.. and surprise surprise i COULDNT AUTOFOCUS with it.

still awesome resolved details though
169135_490736969853_716164853_5691640_8134434_o.jpg
 
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from dcloud to the cloud(s)... (sorry...couldn't resist!). Nice still, dcloud!

Jaime- this probably isn't what you're looking for (composing, lighting, etc. for B&W), but it is B&W mode (+ Interval Recording- a 2 for 1 deal!), so here you go.
Should've stopped down a bit more, and as I said elsewhere, next time, I'll do it in post...

http://vimeo.com/19008623

 
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