black and white pictures.

Film Photography & Darkroom discussion

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nandman83
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Post by nandman83 »

Of course it can. Most digi SLRs like the fuji S2pro and d70 have a b/w option built in that allows you to shoot in B/W. Even if they dont there's always Photoshop to convert images to grayscale. Though you might have to play around with the tones before you get a proper image that looks like original B/W and not just a mixture of grays as is the case with printing color negatives in B/W without the magenta filter. Have fun...

Nandakumar
When in doubt, don't.

Trojan
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Post by Trojan »

"Can digital cameras take b&w shots?
I'm a camera newbie, and looking for a new camera...so...yeah."

There's a far better option - traditional cameras which use film come in three versions:

There are black and white cameras which shoot black and white pictures.
You could always look for a colour camera which can take colour pictures.

However the best traditional cameras which use film are the most amazing!! These can take black and white pictures as well as colour pictures. With a medium format camera, you can even shoot colour and black and white at the same time by changing the backs! With a scanner, you also have a 12 megapixel camera using ISO 100 film, at the fraction of a price of a digital camera, scanning to 5400 dpi using a Minolta Scan Elite, creating huge digital files.

A digital camera can......well, someone's got to buy it to help the sales pitch ;)

nandman83
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Post by nandman83 »

Hahaha! Well said Trojan! I'm a film fanatic myself!! :lol:
When in doubt, don't.

brianmcgloin
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Re: black and white pictures.

Post by brianmcgloin »

b&w newbie wrote:I know its a dumb question, but i'll ask anyways.

Can digital cameras take b&w shots?
I'm a camera newbie, and looking for a new camera...so...yeah.

Newbie - to answer your question, there are many digi cameras that work in B&W. If the cameras you have in mind don't have a B&W setting, there are other ways of getting B&W such as software or even at the time of printing at some photo finishers.

Some of the cheaper digi point and shoot cameras work rather well in B&W - I received a Sony DSC-S40 that does well in B&W.
Of course, I keep the LCD off, the sharpening at minus, the saturation at minus, the contrast at minus, the flash permanently off and the fake camera sound off.

I shoot it like a film camera. I have some photos on my blog and on Flickr (there is an orange link on my blog to my Flicker photos).

By no means is the image quality the same as my trusty old Nikons (or even the Miranda Sensoret!) but I can stick it in my pocket and it's also completely silent.
Comitting a crime isn't illegal - getting caught is.
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tigerbox
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Post by tigerbox »

Shoot your digital photos in color and convert them in photoshop. The only reason you should use the B+W camera setting is to check if uyour shot matches what you have visualised.

Cameras at best to a half-assed job at converting and you dont save any memory card space.

brianmcgloin
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Post by brianmcgloin »

True.

And Photoshop does a nice job making duo tones ... or at least converting to plain old B&W.

However, it's nice to eliminate steps in front of the computer.
Comitting a crime isn't illegal - getting caught is.
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tigerbox
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Post by tigerbox »

and surrender more control to the evil automatic machines? :shock:

brianmcgloin
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Post by brianmcgloin »

tigerbox wrote:and surrender more control to the evil automatic machines? :shock:
It takes a little effort to make a decent duo tone ... it's not automated but it's not exactly digging ditches.
It's just as fast and easy or slow and labourious to make pictures in the darkroom as it is on the computer.
I won't use exposure meters in the darkroom nor do I use auto focus or auto exposure on the cameras. I shoot digital in the same manner I shoot film.
Comitting a crime isn't illegal - getting caught is.
http://mcgloin.blogspot.com
www.brianmcgloin.org

tigerbox
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Post by tigerbox »

I was refering to letting the camera do it for you.

I found a page witch contains mock formulas for interrepting b/w films with the channel mixer with very good results don't remember the adress though.

As for recreating/faking film grain: are the any good plugins? I tried super-hyped Grain Surgery but it didnt convince me.

brianmcgloin
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Post by brianmcgloin »

tigerbox wrote:I was refering to letting the camera do it for you.

I found a page witch contains mock formulas for interrepting b/w films with the channel mixer with very good results don't remember the adress though.

As for recreating/faking film grain: are the any good plugins? I tried super-hyped Grain Surgery but it didnt convince me.
That doesn't help much.
How did you find the mock formulas? A Google search? Luck?

As for film grain ... the only fake way I know is in Photoshop.
Comitting a crime isn't illegal - getting caught is.
http://mcgloin.blogspot.com
www.brianmcgloin.org

clarita
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Post by clarita »

I agree with trojan, get an slr and shoot real b&w film. Photogrphy really became real once I started using an slr and you can always scan the negs or get you pics put on a cd if you want to play with them on photoshop.

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