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Author Topic: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?  (Read 54455 times)

Telecaster

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #160 on: January 06, 2018, 03:36:46 pm »

In my recent experience resolution gains with the Monochrom (CCD sensor version) are minor compared to its Bayer'd counterpart. But my interest in the camera had nothing to do with that. I was looking at tonal differences. Even there I found I can get close enough with my M9 that I no longer have much interest in the mono version. The Monochrom does deliver a look, though, in the way different films do. If you like that look it's one less thing to fuss over. And you can do things like use a deep red filter to clarify a hazy sky without effectively blacking out a chunk of your photosites.

-Dave-
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GrahamBy

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #161 on: January 06, 2018, 04:39:28 pm »

"100% better"

Any comments from experts on that one? Sounds like an exaggeration to me.

Reminds me of a seminar on some bioinformatic method where at the end the speaker put up a two-column bar-chart. The columns were "my method" and "your method" and the vertical scale was "goodness"....

He at least knew he was taking the piss.
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patjoja

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #162 on: January 06, 2018, 05:57:58 pm »

In my recent experience resolution gains with the Monochrom (CCD sensor version) are minor compared to its Bayer'd counterpart. But my interest in the camera had nothing to do with that. I was looking at tonal differences. Even there I found I can get close enough with my M9 that I no longer have much interest in the mono version. The Monochrom does deliver a look, though, in the way different films do. If you like that look it's one less thing to fuss over. And you can do things like use a deep red filter to clarify a hazy sky without effectively blacking out a chunk of your photosites.

-Dave-

Regarding the tonality issue, in Gregory Simpson's article about the Monochrom ("Fetishes" part 2), he shows that he was able to get nearly equivalent tonality between a Lightroom adjusted M9 and the Monochrom.  So, it sounds like you've had a similar experience.

Personally, I enjoy the post processing part of photography, so shooting in color and converting makes sense for me, and I think I'm fairly convinced at present there is not much reason to invest in shooting in monochrome...other than perhaps for the fun of it.  Nothing wrong with that.

Patrick

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xpatUSA

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #163 on: January 12, 2018, 05:47:55 pm »

Some here might be able to have it all ways for under a grand (USD), if they are up to the challenge.

Buy a Sigma SD1 Merrill DSLR and, say, a Sigma 17-50mm constant f/2.8 zoom.

Point here being that the camera comes with an easily removable/replaceable (with a thumbnail) UV/IR blocking filter.

In place: you get color with no color-aliasing.

Removed: you ger full spectrum (panchromatic?) sensitivity on each layer of the Foveon sensor. Usually the top layer is best but the Sigma proprietary converter has a 3-channel raw data mixer to let you play with that. And the world becomes your oyster as to lens-mounted optical filters. The Hoya 720nm, for example, is popular for shooting NIR. Or I can plunk a Schott BG38 on the lens and capture a wider range of wavelengths than possible with the removable sharp-cutoff dichroic filter.

No need for anyone to tell me how bad or slow Sigma cameras are; I've been shooting them in good light for 10+ years.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2019, 02:53:19 pm by xpatUSA »
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Ted

DavidPalermo

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #164 on: November 10, 2018, 06:40:20 pm »

In case anyone is interested I did a test with a Leica Monochrom and my Nikon D610 awhile back. I really thought I'd be blow away by the Leica but I wasn't at all. You can see the results of my test here along with the RAW files from both cameras if you want to play with them.

http://www.davidpalermophotography.com/MonoTest4
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #165 on: November 11, 2018, 06:48:48 am »

In my recent experience resolution gains with the Monochrom (CCD sensor version) are minor compared to its Bayer'd counterpart. But my interest in the camera had nothing to do with that. I was looking at tonal differences. Even there I found I can get close enough with my M9 that I no longer have much interest in the mono version. The Monochrom does deliver a look, though, in the way different films do. If you like that look it's one less thing to fuss over. And you can do things like use a deep red filter to clarify a hazy sky without effectively blacking out a chunk of your photosites.

The benefits of shooting without a Bayer CFA are in most cases significantly outweighed by the benefits of tonal control that a trichromatic image offers. Having the color channels, in addition, allows addressing residual lens aberrations like CA (which also affects resolution).

Independent tests, like David's, show that only in very specific situations, a Non-Bayer CFA sensor can provide visibly improved micro-detail. Subjects that are sensitive to aliasing can benefit most, but a good Raw converter algorithm goes a long way in reducing the differences.

Cheers,
Bart
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== If you do what you did, you'll get what you got. ==

BrianVS

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Re: Monochrome camera vs converting from color?
« Reply #166 on: December 27, 2018, 04:22:58 pm »

I've had my M Monochrom for over 6 years now, and the M9 for almost 8 years. If you enjoy shooting with a camera, and want to keep post-processing to a minimum- the M Monochrom is much more fun to shoot with than post-processing a photo from the M9. Use the M Monochrom with a color contrast filters means evaluating the scene and making a decision before taking the photo rather than putting it up on a screen.

As far as technical quality: monochrome conversions done to emulate the use of a Yellow Filter will keep most of the sensor resolution. Once you emulate Orange and Red filters- you are losing most of the recorded image.  I did some comparisons years ago between the M9 and M Monochrom with deeper filters, artifacts were present in the converted image. I also did some tests using a Yellow filter with the M9 and writing a custom raw processor to produce a Monochrome DNG file from the M9 DNG file for some interesting results. I also wrote a custom raw processor for the M Monochrom to apply a Gamma curve and convert to 16-bits per sample, rather than 14-bits.

https://cameraderie.org/threads/adding-a-gamma-curve-to-a-digital-image-thinking-out-loud-and-experiments.38778/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/90768661@N02/albums/72157653270743238

The amount of shadow detail that can be pulled out of the M Monochrom DNG file is amazing. I ended up resetting the DNG value for Black-Level in the created file. It's a batch program, reads in the original DNG file and creates new ones- "lossless". I've done my share of writing image processing code, starting in 1979.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2018, 04:28:01 pm by BrianVS »
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