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m9 easier to shoot b&w

gooomz

Member
everyone is different and i know this is subjective, but for me it seems easier to produce a strong image in black and white then it is to produce a strong color image. also a b&w image, to me is easier or more "simple" to post process.

just wondering if others feel the same way?
 

thrice

Active member
RAW's from the camera are always in colour. I shoot to the best of my ability for every shot, and if the resulting shot has typical aspects that lend themselves to monochrome (texture, repeating shapes, a lot of 'grain') I will convert to B&W but I mostly see in colour. If I'm shooting black & white film I will seek out the aforementioned aspects in a scene.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I don't know that the M9 has anything to do with it.

B&W and color in digital capture are both rendering processes. Which one you see better with is probably what affects how difficult or easy they are to produce for you the most.

There are days when I cannot see a color photo to save my life, and other days when B&W photos just run and hide when they hear me coming.
 

ramosa

Member
Like thrice, I shoot and then ponder color vs b&w later. I almost always end up in b&w. Perhaps, that's how I primarily see.
 

David K

Workshop Member
I make my decision based on whether the color adds or subtracts from the image...then process accordingly. Recently it occurred to me that at least part of the high cost of Leica glass is attributable to it's ability to render color particularly well. I wonder if it would cost less to design lenses that were primarily designed for B&W? I don't recall seeing a discussion on this point but perhaps I just missed it.
 

henningw

Member
I find it very hard to shoot colour and B&W at the same time; ie, switching between them. I do better when I do one or the other and focus on that. I just see differently when I shoot one or the other and when I go shooting for myself usually pick which I will shoot before I start out. The pictures benefit from that.

When shooting film for clients, and both were wanted, I always tried to determine which was the primary requirement for them if a single shoot had to include both.

Since almost all digital cameras are set up basically for colour, and most can't even show you a B&W image on the chimping screen when you shoot RAW, I only shoot B&W with the Oly EP-1, which works slightly better in B&W than most digital cameras I've used, or I shoot film. The M9 I use almost exclusively for colour. The M8 gets used for B&W at times, but only in IR.

Henning
 
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