B&W Day! (More about the Monochrom[e]s)

Thursday, April 13th, was "Black-and-White Day," with the new Pentax K3 Mark III Monochrome officially announced (it will ship at the end of this month, according to reports) and the new Leica M11 Monochrom finally moseying along after the M11 (which has been out for a year and three months).

The new Pentax Monochrome

Monochrome sensors don't deserve all the fierce disputation and hand-wringing they inspire. The most popular video review of the new Pentax seems to be Samuel Lintaro's, on his Samuel Streetlife vlog. He points out the real reason for a dedicated B&W camera at about the 20:40 mark: "Also, [I] never questioned why I was shooting black and white. I never missed color. Whenever I shoot black and white on my color sensor cameras, because I can quickly change my image preview to color, I sometimes want to see it in color. But here, I can't do that, so I don't think about it. So I guess the main selling point of a monochrome sensor is that whole experience."

That's it. The experience is really the main thing about it. And it's not very complicated...it's simply that it enables you to ignore color, see tonally, and not have to constantly decide whether a particular shot should be color or not. Which for some people helps them concentrate. Personally, as I've written, I'm unable to concentrate exclusively on B&W when I'm shooting with a color sensor. I see how the camera sees, meaning, both ways, color and B&W simultaneously, so I continually have to make decisions about what kind of shots I'm looking for. It drives me nuts. YMMV.

Of course, a lot of "color shooters" out there in the multiverse aren't sensitive to colors as they shoot color, and they wouldn't pay any attention to tones either, so they're convinced they do equally well at both. Actually they do, except you'd have to say they do "equally poorly" at both. Everyone within the sound of my voice excepted from this judgment, of course!

Experience
As I pointed out yesterday, you have to consider that unless they shot a lot of B&W film in pre-digital days, most photographers have actually not experienced what it's like to shoot with a dedicated monochrome camera. The only options have been very expensive, and until fairly recently they were rangefinders—already a niche, an acquired taste. What the world needs is a good $650 Fuji ILC monochrome, so people could easily afford one as a secondary body and find out for themselves what it's like. Most people, when they discuss this, are only imagining, in their heads, what they think it must be like to shoot with a dedicated monochrome camera (and many of them aren't dedicated monochrome shooters), and they derive their conclusions from that. It's a poor way to experience things, generally...in fantasy only. It's better to have actual experience. A cheap-yet-adequate B&W-only camera would give more people the opportunity to try it and make up their minds based on experience.

"Special"? Bah.
And as an oh-by-the-way, all the seductive verbiage you might read about "specially designed sensors" is highly likely a load of BS. These are just normal sensors with the CFA (color filter array) and anti-aliasing filters removed. They're not special in any way. And they're not "designed" for B&W. They differ in a few ways from color sensors: they are more sensitive to light by up to a stop, unless you put an optical filter on your lens; they're sharper, not that today's color sensors lack for sharpness by any sane standard; and there's no chroma noise. In practice, there is not much highlight headroom, meaning you have to expose for the highlights in camera (Samuel Lintaro addresses this nicely), which works because shadow recovery is awesome; and they're not as sensitive to ISO as color cameras are. If you see comparisons of a converted color file and a dedicated monochrome file, and they look pretty much the same, ask to see a comparison at, say, ISO 12,800. You'll see more difference there.

A sensor actually designed for B&W would be legitimately exciting. Without knowing what I'm talking about (because I'm not a sensor designer or expert), I would guess that it would feature spectral correction, calibrated lifting of the mid-tones probably in software, and ND filtration on up to half the pixels for highlight rendering/recovery. Fuji, which long ago designed a special dual-photosite sensor with areas of different sensitivity (someone will have to remind me what that was called) would have the technical know-how to actually design a sensor for B&W. [UPDATE: Fuji SuperCCD SR II, found in cameras such as the Fujifilm S5 Pro—thanks to Peter Cameron for this. —Ed.]. But the economics probably aren't there.

Last point: the Pentax is for the Japanese homeland market, full stop. That's how Ricoh made the decision and that's where it cares about the response. So those out there who want to whimper on about how the K3-III Mono does or does not appeal to them should keep in mind that unless they're Japanese and living in Japan, it's not actually really for them. Be grateful they're even offering it in other countries. (All of this paragraph is my opinion only.)

In sum
Does anybody need a dedicated B&W camera? There's a lot of strident I-know-what's-best-for-everybody bullcrap out there on the wilds of the World Wide Web. If they don't want one, fine; if they already have what they need, bravo; but I'm standing up in the audience and applauding Pentax. I question the wisdom of testing the concept with a premium-price product—I've always wanted to see a cheap option that would make sense as a second (or third, or fourth, etc.) body, for proof of concept (I certainly felt the same way about the Leicas). But a group of intrepid photographers will find their creativity served by the new camera, and I look forward to seeing the work they will do with it.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Chris H: "I believe the mono Pentax is a HUGE advent for the market, whether the sales will reflect it or no. Something that does the Leica Monochrom thing, at roughly a quarter of the price of a new Leica Monochrom. I hope this is wildly successful, as that can only be a good thing for the industry and hobby, and maybe convince others to become fish in a growing pond. That would really be great."

Benjamin Marks (partial comment): "...Let's face it: for me (and most of us), this is play. Not a calorie of food on my table nor scrap of leather on my children's feet depends on my making an image. So all I ask myself is: 'does it look like fun?' The answer to that is,'yes'—Photo World looks more fun with a dedicated B&W camera in it."

Roger Bradbury: "I don't want one, but as a Pentax man I'm most pleased to see it and I think they'll sell every one they can make. That's great for me, as the more cameras Pentax sells the more lenses they'll sell too, and the chances of more new lens models increases.

"By the way, the price of the Monochrome was just what I expected it to be; a bit over a third more than the standard K3 III."

Andy F: "For the last four years I have taken thousands of photographs with my Huawei P20 Pro phone, in the B/W pro mode, which uses the phone's 20-MP Sony monochrome sensor, in combination with a 27mm equivalent lens to produce a B&W JPEG. I wish it did raw, like the main colour camera. My phone is really a cheap man’s Leica Q2M; the cameras & lenses were developed in partnership with Leica. I am more than pleased by the phone’s B&W jpegs, which are amazingly sharp and noise-free and have a lovely tonality—as long as you make sure you do not clip the highlights. There is zero recovery for blown highlights, so you expose for the highlights and recover the shadows.

"My experience with the Huawei has whetted my appetite for a monochrome camera from one of the camera manufacturers. There are several versions of the Leica Monochrom, but IMHO the Leica is poor value for money and I am not a great lover of rangefinder cameras. Now we have the Pentax K-3 Mono, which is a technical tour de force when compared to the Leicas. It has AF, IBIS, focus stacking, and I think even pixel shift, but in a limited form. Yes it’s a DSLR, and not mirrorless, but for me I see this as an advantage, when you are more than likely going to have the exposure compensation set to –1 stop or below, to curb the highlights.

"I have signed up with Pentax EU for notification, as to when it will be available here in the UK. I already have more than enough cameras and lenses, but the K-3 Mono has given me GAS."

almostinfamous: "It is very cruel of Pentax to do this to me just a couple of months after I got into Nikon mirrorless and have no budget left over. I have always been curious about shooting a purely monochrome camera and this would have fit quite well in the pocketbook. I suppose this is their way of paying me back for my choice to get a Nikon D200 over a K100D super in 2007."

PDLanum: "Back in the day, I used to buy 100-foot rolls of Pan-X and load my own cassettes. I developed those rolls of film and printed them in the darkroom my father and I built in the basement. It got to the point where it seemed that I 'saw' in B&W. On the rare occasion that I shot color, mostly transparencies, i.e., slides, I noticed a shift in how I 'saw' and how I approached shooting. I was used to seeing color though the viewfinder and being able to understand how the resulting image would appear in B&W. It would be interesting to re-visit those days with a camera that only produced B&W files and see if I still 'have the knack.' I also wonder how long it will take for Adobe, C1, and other post-processing companies to come out with body-specific workflows. Having B&W native files sort of removes the necessity for 'vibrance' and 'saturation' sliders."

Jeff: "@PDLanum…even using a color-based digital camera, one doesn’t need saturation (or hue) sliders in PP with B&W conversions. Color hue and saturation have no effect on black and white tonalities, regardless the camera. 'Seeing' in black and white is about luminance/brightness. HSL sliders? Ignore the first two. For me, the main benefit of a monochrome-based camera is that it allows me to shoot without looking for, or being distracted by, potential color pics. It becomes a mindset."

Jeff1000: "The Nikon Z7 has no AA filter, is full frame, and 45.7 megapixels. The drawback is that it is capable of shooting color?"

Mike replies: I assume you prefer a camera that natively shoots color? And don't you have a number of options on the market to choose from? So your needs are met. And yet for people who want a camera that natively shoots mono, you object to them having ONE reasonably priced option? Why? Why would you begrudge letting other people have what they happen to want? Does it somehow mean you can't have the Z7 that is your choice?

My attitude has always been that I want photographers to have whatever they want or need to do their work, regardless of whether I can see the need for it myself or not, and regardless of whether I have any interest in it or not.

John Krumm: "Our friend Ned has been happily shooting samples in Florida, using a variety of lenses...."

Paul: "I have a tendency to convert everything to black and white (particularly family or people) with my old cameras. While I would love to try a dedicated monochrome camera, my abilities do not justify the cost. At the rate I shoot, I can use quite a lot of black and white film over a number of years before using up $2,200 plus a lens or two."

Andrew Kochanowski: "Lost in the excitement may be the appreciation of how very fine the K-3 III is as a camera, monochrome or not. For someone who likes an ergonomic, tactile experience, for a just right shutter sound, and for a optical viewfinder that is almost as good as the ye olde 35mm versions of good SLRs (in some ways better, as you can customize what you see in the blacked-out areas around the image, and superimpose focus points and horizon lines, etc.), the K-3 III is a pleasure to use. Now, I know it doesn't get any respect from the 99% who haven't tried it, but maybe the monochrome version will be tempting."

Matthew: "I've put in my order for one, despite having a full Fuji system (nine lenses with three cameras, including an IR-converted X-T2), Nikon F6 with a few lenses, and Zeiss Ikon ZM with a few lenses. I like cameras, of many different styles and formats. I like B&W, and use it almost exclusively. I like TTL optics, and miss having a DSLR in this age of mirrorlessness. So why not? I'll use it and I'll enjoy it. Maybe I'll even do something interesting—to me, at least—with it.

"This K-3 III Mono isn't some new chapter in an epic historical struggle between colour versus black and white. It's just a camera, and while cameras do matter, they aren't what's important. What's actually important are the results that the camera makes possible, and the way it engages with the photographer's creativity. Different cameras will do different things for and with different people. I rejoice in that. And now I also finally have a chance to buy the DA 35mm ƒ/2.8 Macro Limited, which might be reason enough—for me—all on its own."

Mike replies: That's a beautiful lens. My full review of it (with Carl Weese) is no longer online, or, at least, I can't find it. However my "first impressions" post is still available. If this were 2014 I would buy the camera and that lens! Alas, they moved my cheese. Enjoy it for both of us, please.

Comments

[PaulW]

I'm a bit confused. Wouldn't the OVF view still be in color? How would this help you ignore color? I too find shooting in monochrome with a color viewfinder to be really distracting, which is why I have one mirrorless camera permanently set to monochrome. It's a whole different shooting experience.

[I can only answer for myself, not for others...as I shoot I visualize the final result. It doesn't matter what the viewfinder shows. In fact I dislike seeing B&W in the viewfinder because it will usually be quite far off from what my own final result would look like. --Mike]

[glenn brown]

the photo is not the monochrome it has a grey logo

[The source is the Ricoh Imaging home page:

https://us.ricoh-imaging.com/

Where it is labeled as the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. --Mike]

[glenn]

or is that grey?

[T. Edwards]

Can anyone point me towards a review that does a careful comparison of images taken with one of these versus images taken with a "color" sensor and then photoshopped to B&W?

I am curious about these cameras but I confess to having the feeling that such cameras are the photographic equivalent of $2,000 stereo cables.

[Hank]

I find this release to be wonderful, as it only expands the realm of possibilities (aka "options").

I applaud Ricoh/Pentax for making this deep leap into niche cameras (well, DSLRs are kinds of "niche" now, too, aren't they?). I hope other manufacturers follow suit, at hopefully reasonable price points.

I won't be buying one. It is not something I need. But I am happy it exists.

[Dogman]

I just shoot in B&W JPEG and never see the image in color. That is other than through the OVF. With no alternative to B&W it's just like the film days shooting Tri-X. YMMV.

[John]

I applaud Pentax too, but for me personally $2200 plus a lens is a bit steep for the experience. Esp. considering I have a few film cameras and I could put a roll of B&W film in one if I wanted the monochrome only mindset.

[Ken Tanaka]

I am happy for b&w enthusiasts. Quite an early-season bonanza for such a niche. It should also help swell the 2nd hand mono market.

Mon appetit!

[darlene]

I am happy to see Pentax do this. If Fuji ever released a B&W-only body (or an X100 camera), I'd rent one since I've got some lovely lenses to try with it. But truth be told, I continue to enjoy B&W film with my 4x5 and 120 cameras and have no plans to change unless film becomes unavailable. I sometimes shoot an IR 590nm X-E2 because I enjoy what I can do with it in B&W. I try not to emphasize the IR as much as the B&W tonalities, and so far, it has worked for what I like.

[Jeff]

Leica now has 4 M Monochrom iterations (and the Q2 Monochrom). Three of them were derived by removing the Bayer array from an existing color-based M sensor: the MM (from the M9); the M246 (from the M240); and, the M11-based Monochrom. The M10 Monochrom, however, was not derived from M10 sensor technology. Instead, the M10 Monochrom and M10-R were based on entirely new sensor design, and initiated at the same time. The M10M was supposedly designed specifically with black and white in mind, whatever that might mean from a technical perspective, which is above my pay grade. I do know that tonal responses differ between the various M Monochroms. The M10-R was released a bit later due to the time it took to refine the color technology and output.

[Ivan]

I disagree about starting with a cheap model so everyone can try it, because almost nobody wants to give up color. Ricoh was right to offer a premium model to test the waters with the pocketbooks of the well-heeled, then go downmarket if it turns out to be a hit. This is what the electric car market did. It's what Apple did with the iPhone. Risk reduction.

Using this camera would greatly reduce my decision paralysis and probably result in better photos, but I'd likely find myself taking duplicate pics with my phone just to have a record of the moment in color, undermining the experience. Still, I have the urge to try it. The convenience of highlight-weighted metering and IBIS, plus the reasonable price of the DA Limiteds, is making this tough to resist.

[Ivan]

Addendum: Can we blame Leica for making "monochrom" a premium concept? Can we blame Ricoh for wanting to capitalize on that?

[Dennis Mook]

Like many of you, I ‘cut my photographic teeth’ using black and white film, developing and then printing enlargements. I always thought black and white photography was a ‘thinking’ photographer’s game, so to speak. I put countless rolls of Kodak Tri-X through a number of Pentax 6X7 bodies over the decades. They are excellent cameras and lenses. I still have two of them.

I remember standing before my composition, camera on a tripod, and trying to learn how not to see color. First, I would attempt to visually assess overall tonal range to understand if I needed to overexpose and underdevelop the film to reduce contrast, expose normally or underexpose and later add development time to increase contrast. I would measure the brightest highlights to darkest shadows, both with the objective of retaining detail. Usually, I needed to use a spot meter but as I gained experience, I could figure it out on my own. Then, the hard part. Looking at the scene and trying only to see tonal brightness and not color. That took a lot of effort. Did the greens of foliage or grass adjacent to reds, blues, oranges or even other greens have the same brightness values? With color removed would the various color objects stand out or merge into an indistinguishable blob in a print? Then the decision had to be made whether or not a filter was necessary and what color filter was needed to create tonal separation? After studying the scene and making those decisions, finally, lock up the mirror and actuate the shutter. I loved every second of the process. I liked it because it made me thoroughly think things through unlike now with the conveniences and technical superiority of digital photography.

Using the Leica M11 Monochrome and the Pentax K3 Mark III remind me of how one would have to shift their photographic thinking to achieve the desired results. I don’t think it would be as easy as one would think if one has only photographed digitally and in color.

All said and done, however, I wouldn’t go back to those days. Digital photography is so much more versatile, easier, straightforward and, in many ways, more satisfying.

[jim r]

"Exterior design reflecting the monochrome photography concept"

Does this mean the infamous Pentax 'green button' is a mid-tone grey as well? :^p

[John Krumm]

I find that having a monochrome Z6 and a color Z7 is quite nice. Every so often I feel a need to try color photography, so I pick up the "color camera" and only shoot color. Sometimes the switch is jarring, and the colors can seem off-putting after a long time in black and white, but overall the experience is good. Then when I return to black and white, I appreciate it even more.

I like the idea of a sensor designed for black and white. Maybe the never to arrive "organic sensor" from Panasonic and Fuji will have a black and white version.

[louis mccullagh]

A monochrome camera selects and converts the colour tones for you.
If you do the conversion from colour you surely have a much greater control over that process. NIK Silver Efex has presets which will mimic a wide range of vintage B/W films.
Can a monochrome do that?

[Peter Cameron]

I suspect the Fuji SuperCCD SR II was the sensor you were trying to remember. It worked very nicely in the S5 Pro.

[Eric Brody]

I am reminded of a visit to Canyon de Chelly with a John Sexton workshop. We all drove to a viewpoint and had been admonished not to leave anything of value in our vehicles. I was shooting with an ARCA 4x5 and Fuji Acros at the time. I left my Nikon D200 in my motel room.

Upon arrival we saw one of the most beautiful double rainbows I'd ever seen over the canyon. Where was my color camera? It was in my room at the motel. Needless to say I was not pleased.

This is not one of the greatest tragedies in the world but, at the time, it was frustrating.

For this and many other reasons, (I produce a fair number of monochrome images), I'll never give up my color sensor.

[Benjamin Marks]

Hear! Hear! As I have indicated, this offering isn't quite for me, but I am glad Pentax is taking some chances, mixing it up, testing the waters etc. etc.

I loved the tonality of silver gelatin prints, and I loved what I could produce with silver halide materials back in the day.

But maybe there were lots of folks who were "doin' it" with B&W back in the day _because_ they could have some control over the process and the final output. And when the digital revolution came along, it put those do-it-yourselfers in the driver's seat, albeit with a much more complicated and variable process.

And, let's face it: for me (and most of us) this is play. Not a calorie of food on my table nor scrape of leather on my children's feet depends on my making an image. So all I ask myself is: "does it look like fun?" The answer to that is, "yes" -- Photo World looks more fun with a dedicated B&W camera in it.

I know what I want -- I just can't afford it and no one makes it, at least not for the consumer market: an 8x10 inch b&w sensor to slip in the ol' Zone IV. Why? To count the pores and the mustache hairs, obviously. To have that Irving Penn/Richard Avedon textural quality. To go 'em one betta!

But for now, you have to admit that it's cool that Pentax is imagining what's just beyond the horizon.

[Daniele]

I was looking forward to this day to read all your joyful and extatic comments, in awe of the luck to finally have such camera in the market.
Only to find:
- That it should be even less expensive, to be worthwile.
- Still the world at large does not get (and mostly lacks the experience to) why it's such a big deal.
Ok, whatever.
In any event, i myself shot and developed quite a bit of B&W with film (and printed some too), just because it was way easier, faster and cheaper than slides (KC, please). Never liked it, never got it...
Of course i'm also color insensitive and tone blind, besides mediocre photographer; but i still enjoy it :-)

[Maybe I'm a bit traumatized by all the B&W hate there's been over the years. Not so much here. I'll review the Pentax when availability permits it. --Mike]

[Ed Kreminski]

Howdy Mike,

You're not a fan of color photography. Perhaps you need a banner on your website stating that ideology clearly as the "teacher" gets grumpier?

I'll close by quoting Ernst Haas:
"I still do not understand all these problematic discussions about color versus black and white. I love both, but they do speak a different language within the same frame. Both are fascinating."

Good light to you,
Ed

[Peter Komar]

Well for me the price is just too high, especially if you’re new to Pentax and now another trio of lenses to acquire, no thanks based on dollars only. Mike and others have noted why not a cheaper monochrome camera vs the flagship camera, a fixed lens Monochrome camera I would be happy with, price, price, price.

[Robbie Corrigan]

I suspect the proof will be in the print with this one.You can see some of the increased tonality / resolution in the YouTube videos but where this camera will really shine is in B&W output.
Ricoh-Imaging also had a limited edition of the K-3iii Monochrome, a 'Matte Black' version with a different finish but they had to suspend sales as demand outstripped planned supply. Japanese Photography Twitter seemed to pretty excited and enthusiastic about this release.

[James]

I applaud Pentax for making this camera. The more choices there are the better for all photographers. Apparently Pentax is also planning on making a film camera in the near future:

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/pentax/filmproject/

I'm sure that will get plenty of people's underwear in a bunch also.......

[Moose]

". . . unless they shot a lot of B&W film in pre-digital days, most photographers have actually not experienced what it's like to shoot with a dedicated monochrome camera."

Been there, developed the film, printed it, didn't like it; longed for equal control over color. Scanned color film and PS arrived. Happy!

Then, I could skip the film/scan stage! Happy, often ecstatic, ever since.

Our kitchen table for dinner yesterday:

[John Camp]

So I'm stuck in an odd position in all of this. Sometime back, I purchased a Pentax camera and a bag of Pentax lenses which never got used. The camera is now basically obsolete but the lenses are all completely compatible with the K3. The odd thing is, I don't really much believe in the whole monochrome business -- that is, that a monochrome camera is discernibly better than B&W conversions from color. But I have all these lenses...which (unreasonably) tempts me to buy the Pentax monochrome, thereby throwing good money after bad. In researching the whole "monochrome has more resolution" business, I found a site that looks pretty good. The researcher agrees that monochrome gives you better resolution, but his proofs suggest to me that the improvement is so small that's it's virtually (but not quite) imaginary. The site is here:

https://jmcscientificconsulting.com/monochrome-camera-conversions-the-quest-for-improved-resolution/

So what to do? I could, more cheaply, buy the color K3 and convert, but I already have two cameras as good or better than the K3, so that's not a solution. A conundrum.

[Steve Rosenblum]

An easy, affordable thing for Ricoh/Pentax to do would be to put together a monochrome version of the Ricoh GR3x camera by dropping this sensor into that camera. 40mm FOV, pocketable BW camera. Many in the GR community are hoping for this. I would be the first to pre-order one.

[James]

The real way to make a cheap, dedicated b&w camera is with software. You say, one can change the settings, so it's too easy to switch back.

Fine, do it as firmware. You want black and white? Change your camera firmware so that it only provides black and white images. You can select the color filter in a menu and "film type" in a menu. If you want to switch back, you have to update the firmware back to color. Firmware, of course, is just software that is harder to swap out.

If anything, this is better than the film days. Swapping firmware is more friction than choosing to load a roll of color film.

Better yet, it should be possible to make a b&w SD card. It's just software. What the card does is, it sees a jpeg, and it desaturates it. RAW is left alone. The manufacturer makes a selection of cards, each having its own curve for desaturation. This can't possibly be harder than what Eye-fi was doing, which was putting wifi on SD cards.

Fully loaded cost of this? I dunno, more than $100k, less than a $million. Does it amortize out into units sold? Probably not.

But all of this is easier and cheaper than doing all of that and shipping it as a camera!

[Arg]

How many people considering buying a monochrome camera will, in practice, after a first brief flurry, find themselves carrying in their bag a colour camera as well, and 'second-guessing colour' anyway?

I mean, you would have to NOT HAVE A PHONE IN YOUR POCKET to truly eliminate one's tendency to second-guess the image in colour if one has a colour option near to hand.

mmm, maybe it's just an excuse, this idea that switching one's camera to mono mode will pollute one's mind with colour-option thoughts. One or two people might genuinely have this incapacity (incapable of ignoring a colour option that is near to hand), but most are probably kidding themselves in order to justify a purchase of something relatively exotic. Myself, I am not by any means famed for my discipline (putting it mildly), yet I have had no issues whatsoever putting my mirrorless camera to monochrome mode for entire outings or multiple consecutive outings, or even for a period of over a month, with no limits to creativity or slipping into colour thinking.

cheers

PS I wonder if people who race cars can only get the best out of themselves if they don't drive a street car day-to-day? I hope nobody thinks the answer is yes. The human mind is perfectly capable of switching modes and delivering 100% in each.

[Try it for a while before you judge. --Mike]

[Robert Stahl]

" Color is everything, black and white is more."
- Dominic Rouse

" Black and white erases time from the equation."
- Jason Peterson

" Color is descriptive. Black and white interpretive."
- Elliott Erwit

[Neil Partridge]

I set my fuji x100t to B&W in the viewfinder/screen .... but I'm too scared to set it to jpeg only (I may need the raw data one day!!!), so when I upload the pictures to my PC they revert to colour because the B&W isn't baked in. I wonder if I could set capture one to convert them to B&W import so I never see the hidden colour info?

[HVJ]

Go Pentax! I know what it's like to shoot with genetically dedicated monochrome eyes. 8^)

[Jozef]

So, Mike, have you ever tried to print b&w at home, on your home printer???
Good b&w photos on PAPER are nearly impossible to print at home, you need a dedicated b&w printer.
Mike, you never speak of this! ...

[Dave Millier]

I believe IR conversion of cameras is popular. At least there are a lot of boutique suppliers offering the service and they appear to be plenty busy. I had my X-T1 converted for a couple of hundred pounds. IR cameras with the 720nm or higher filters are B&W cameras only because in colour mode the output is horrible. The output is not always freaky IR effects. Depending on subject and lighting conditions, the results can be sometimes be similar to traditional visible light B&W, or at least an unusual variant.

It's a cheap way of experiencing a b&W only camera if you've never shot B&W film.

Here's a link to my online IR gallery where you can see plenty of examples of how IR conversions veer between the IR look and a more sedate B&W look.

https://whisperingcat.co.uk/piwigo/index.php?/category/17&display=2small#&gid=1&pid=50

An EVF is an advantage over an OVF because you can see the look you're going to get in the viewfinder. I'd not bother with an OVF myself because of this.

[Luke]

Is it time for more discussion of B&W printers, or print services?

[Jeff]

@PDLanum… even using a color-based digital camera, one doesn’t need saturation (or hue) sliders in PP with B&W conversions. Color hue and saturation have no effect on black and white tonalities, regardless the camera. “Seeing” in black and white is about luminance/brightness. HSL sliders? Ignore the first two.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Hh8S-Z68s

For me, the main benefit of a monochrome-based camera is that it allows me to shoot without looking for, or being distracted by, potential color pics. It becomes a mindset.

[David Lee]

X-PRO-4 Monochrome. Sounds good, uh?

[That would be the obvious candidate. Good for people who like either kind of viewfinder. --Mike]

[JoeB]

DSLR and not mirrorless. Still have a color finder and have to do the B&W mind conversion. A step in the right direction. When a mirrorless mono camera arrives (not Leica) I'll take a closer look.

[Anton Wilhelm Stolzing]

Only available in Japan? Let me guess: You can make a trip to Japan, buy it there, take some nice photos in the process, pay whatever import customs and taxes you have to pay, and still save money as compared to when you buy the Leica.

BTW: I would not want either of the two.

Colour is too beautiful to renounce on it at least as option. And what is good enough for Sebastião Salgado is good enough for me. He nowadays photographs with a digital camera (RGB, of course) and then runs the photos through DxO Film Pack, one of the Black and White Presets. Yes, the software is so good it works for Salgado!

[Jeff1000]

I certainly don’t “begrudge” anyone using a mono only camera, it’s just that, to me, it seems frivolous. A solution in search of a problem.

[xf mj]

I really enjoyed Samuel’s review that you posted. Thoughtful and balanced. He had a few really great images! Love when reviewers have a real eye for photos.

[Ned Bunnell]

“Last point: the Pentax is for the Japanese homeland market, full stop.”

Mike, just to clarify, the camera will be available in all markets. Here in the U.S. shipments start on April 28th. I already received mine last Thursday. My understanding is availability will be limited, but it’s not like the GR special edition kits where they specifically only made “x”number of units for example.

Cheers, Ned

[Sal Santamaura]

If it were full frame and 60 megapixels, I might be tempted to augment my D810 + Sigma Art lenses. With an APS-C sensor and only 25 megapixels, no cigar. I'm a tripod-using landscape photographer who still occasionally shoots 8x10 black and white film. With the digital camera, everything except family shapshots ends up a monochrome print. So I should be the target customer. Closer, Pentax, but still so far.

[Bryan Hansel]

Ricoh, please, please, please, put this into a Ricoh GRIII!

[George Davis]

I'm a little disappointed that the PEN-F hasn't been mentioned. I know it's just just a lowly micro four-thirds camera, and maybe "pretending" to be a rangefinder (?), and people only bought it because it might be collectible someday or it looks cute... But...

I've had mine for almost 7-years, and for more than a year, my only camera. My favorite color prints were made with it, not with either my FF or APS-C Nikons.

Several months ago I decided to start seriously playing with the monochrome modes -- you know, the ones you access on that ugly, obtrusive and mostly useless front dial? But I keep playing with the tone curve settings and B&W filter selections trying to find an acceptable SOOC B&W jpeg.

When in the the Mono mode, you see the B&W image in the viewfinder. As I adjust any of the various settings, they are seen in either the VF or rear LCD, in real-time. And the jpeg is already B&W. The raw has to be processed anyway, so converting and tweaking/playing in OM Workspace is no big deal.

I've only shot B&W off-and-on occasionally over the past almost 60 years, including both 35mm and 120 roll film. But what I saw in my viewfinder was in color not in B&W, and I never learned to "translate" in my mind's eye.

Anyway, with the PEN-F, I don't have to.

(I do have a couple of more-than acceptable Pentax K-mount lenses if anyone should want to give me a K3-3 ;) )

[Andy F]

Well it could be a while before my GAS is fulfilled :(

https://pentaxrumors.com/2023/04/16/pentax-k-3-mark-iii-monochrome-camera-orders-suspended-because-of-high-demand/

[Robin Parmar]

Is this the right place to highlight how curious our nomenclature (in English) is for this subject? We talk about "black and white" photography yet obviously we desire more than those two extremes. It's as if we called colour photography "red and green".

Yet monochrome is also not the correct term, since this includes any set of gradations based on a hue. For example, a design that uses only cyan ink is monochromatic.

It's only if we remove the chroma component of colour entirely that we are left with what is correctly termed an achromatic image. But to confuse matters further, in photography we refer to a lens designed to minimise chromatic aberrations as achromatic... even though it passes hues just fine.

All this to say: Congratulations Ricoh on the Pentax K3 III Achromatic!

[Andrew L]

There's a lot of confusion over why anyone would get a monochrome only camera. But the real reason isn't the slight added detail. It's the same reason as when you shoot with mono film in 2023 even though you can shoot and scan C41 film and edit that scan just like a digital file, including convert it to mono...

The reason is that it removes choice, simplifies the myriad of conflicting options, gives you marching orders. Allows you to refine within the restriction of monochrome without the second thoughts associated with capturing scenes with a Bayered camera and taking the color out later.

We've been so programmed to want cameras that do more, more, more that we can't admit we want simplicity.