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Posted: July 15, 2012

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Would you buy a BW only camera?

*Fuzzypiggy Jul 15, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

Leica are making a bit of news with their release of monochrome only digital cameras. Leica obviously have a position where they could issue a camera that would only shoot skyblue-pink and some people would fall over themselves to buy it, just for the name.

If the price was right and more reasonable, would you buy a monochrome only camera or do you think it's simply a gimmick that will die a quiet death after fus dies down?

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~pyonkotchi96 Jul 16, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I like to convert some of my photos to black and white, but I don't think a black and white only camera would be the right fit for me. I love working with color. (:

`FallisPhoto Jul 16, 2012

With the filters removed, you'd get a far better image than you would if you just converted a digital color image to b&w. I like b&w too, but that said, I think there is a lot more versatility with a film camera, especially in b&w. There are a few b&w films out there that can show more detail than any digital cameras short of medium format.

~craigblackmoore Jul 16, 2012 Student General Artist

If i could afford it, I would definitely buy one!

=Xcetera Jul 16, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

And it would have to be much, much cheaper.

=Xcetera Jul 16, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I always shoot black and white raw on my Mark but I wouldn't buy an only black and white digital camera because I like the option of going to color if I like. There would have to be a significant difference in sharpness or quality to interest me.

!OldaGardner Jul 16, 2012

I would definitely be interested, but I would never pay the Leica price for one.

As has been said, removing the Bayer filter would give you much more detail at the same megapixel size as well as higher sensitivity (able to go to higher ISO's without noise issues). You would need to use old fashioned black and white contrast filters instead of digital ones, but I prefer the look of traditional filters on film to digital ones which aren't quite the same for technical reasons (again having to do with the how the Bayer filter generates color). I still shoot film occasionally, but without a darkroom and enlarger, it still has to be digitized and loses some of its charm. If its going to end up as a digital image anyway, might as well do digital all the way if digital could provide the necessary detail and resolution.

It's technically doable right now, but will still be expensive unless there would be a large enough market for it (making a sensor costs a lot more per unit if the market is smaller). For most it would be a niche extra camera and not the main system, so most will not pay more for the niche add-on than they did for their main camera.

Off-topic:
By the way, after a long hiatus I'm back to voting on submissions to interface lift, I decided to get back to it this week. I noticed one I voted for today (Lilypads at Sunrise) was by fuzzypiggy. Great work. It looks like getting up so early is paying off.

=Vargson Jul 16, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

If I could effort it, I would buy it. Like said before, there are some awesome technical advantages to it.

~ManualFocusPhoto Jul 16, 2012 Student Photographer

No I wouldn't.

On that note, I wouldn't buy a digital Leica either, they were great in the film days, now they're just overpriced outdated technology, which is a shame, I could really use a good digital rangefinder for street photography.

~darkmonkey78 Jul 16, 2012 Photographer

I think I would

~Bryce-Photo Jul 16, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

A digital B&W camera is meaningless.

Better get an old film camera and scan the film after, you will get a more appealing result with a good B&W film grain

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