Black & white mode?

W

wilhelmson

Member
Has anyone found any advantages of shooting in B/W in-camera instead of doing it in post? I'm specifically thinking of the possibility of fewer artifacts - not that the video is not good enough for my purposes anyway, but just curious...
 
i just shot a 3 minute short in the camera's Smooth BW mode.
the GH1 does very nice BW in camera, so if you know youll be using BW, id do
it in camera. ill be posting my short as soon i get a chance to put it on vimeo.

Smooth BW seems to work best for video. it has a softer feel without loosing much
sharpness. Dynamic BW i use if im shooting BW stills, but in video mode it tends to
blow out highlights.
 
Shooting color and converting in post production ALWAYS has the advantage, as one can choose what color balance to convert from. I advice to never use an in camera BW mode, you'd lose a lot of options in post.
 
Chibs said:
Shooting color and converting in post production ALWAYS has the advantage, as one can choose what color balance to convert from. I advice to never use an in camera BW mode, you'd lose a lot of options in post.
Click to expand...

That is not correct. Depending on the camera, the processing before the data is encoded may occur in 10, 12, 14-bit or even higher. If you camera, like the GH1 and many other cameras, writes to a 8-bit codec, data is dithered, throw away, processed etc.

To make matters worse, the 8-bit data is compressed especially in color channels (GH1 is 4:2:0), so what data is actually in the file in post production is a very small sample of what was processed in camera.

So, with the GH1 and other cameras adjusting color and/or BW in camera can give a better and/or more unique look than you can ever obtain in post.

Post only gives the flexibility to change but may mean reduced quality.

Bottom line - there is no "always in post" rule - each camera, codec and production/project needs careful evaluation to figure out if in-camera or post or combo thereof is best in each situation.
 
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=2463stephenvv's on the mark. Doing B&W conversions in post rarely matches shooting native B&W - even on 35mm color film stock scanned in at 2k, there are advantages to shooting B&W stock instead (in terms of the look that is achieved vs. what is possible in post).

In RAW workflows, it shouldn't make a difference, but any camera that has internal compression should theoretically benefit from creating the look in-camera as much as possible. Shooting flat gives you more options, but not necessarily the best possible results if you already know exactly what you're going for.
 
stephenvv said:
So, with the GH1 and other cameras adjusting color and/or BW in camera can give a better and/or more unique look than you can ever obtain in post.
Click to expand...
You have a point in regards to 8-bit compression, but I have to disagree with your statement quoted above...when it comes to black-and-white.
There are only 2 black-and-white modes in the GH1, and no way to internally filter the color spectrum like some DSLR's do. So the ability to control the look of black-and-white in the GH1 is very limited without using color filters on the lens, which make you lose light.
In post, you can tweak your black and white in very interesting ways by selectively altering the R, G, and B color channels. And since your are simply removing saturation, nothing is being boosted, so you aren't creating any noise or artifacting that wouldn't appear otherwise.
That being said, using color filters meant for black-and-white photography on the GH1's lens would produce better results, and I admit I've never experimented with them.

But I wanted to point out that, in the case of the GH1's black-and-white modes, it is possible to produce better results by shooting in color, in some cases.
 
portishead said:
Oooh, battle of the moon avatar, I love it!
Click to expand...

Enceladus has ice jet volcanos & and a possible subsurface ocean full of aliens.., that earth moon's got nothing... :D

But yes, I didn't say in camera was better as if the GH1 B/W modes are limited you need to evaluate what will give best results. I just was pointing out that "always do B/W in post is better" is not in fact correct - the correct approach is "it depends".

If the channels are not controllable, then yeah, in-camera would need on lens filters for best results in theory but then again, shooting B&W in-camera with post work might still be usable for some looks - only testing will show.

Of course, if Panny makes a pro version with a RAW 10 or 12-bit codec, then post starts to look really good...
 
stephenvv said:
I just was pointing out that "always do B/W in post is better" is not in fact correct - the correct approach is "it depends".
quote]
In that case, I agree completely. And yes, 10 or 12-bit would provide much more information for post-production noodling.
But as far as moons go...well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :D
Click to expand...
 
Here it is. Full details in the Still/Motion Gallery Thread

The Lonely Desk & imploding Light Bulb: BW GH1 Short

NO color/level correction done in post.
This is straight out of camera in Smooth BW.

Screen Shots:
1-1.jpg


3-1.jpg


2-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top