Shooting B&W - Digital

[Beth]

Something I've always wondered...

Is there any reason to shoot with your camera set to B&W, if you have software that can take the color picture and convert it to B&W?

Does it suffer any loss in image quality by changing it to b&w via the software, or would it look the same?

...It just seems to me that if it doesn't impact the quality of the picture - it would be better to always shoot in color, so that you would have the option of changing it to b&w later.

 

[Geoff_M]

Keep in mind that either way, in-camera or on your computer, you're using software to make the image B&W. The camera's sensor stays the same. The only difference is who's software you're using, the camera maker's or the author of the photo editor. The best option would be if your camera allows you to save images in a RAW format. Essentially this format is a "digital negative", meaning all of the sensor data is preserved with no interpretation from the camera. The downside is that RAW images take more space on the card and you'll need to make sure that your photo editor can either read the format or you have access to a converter.

 

[HarambeGuy]

[Disclaimer: Weekend warrior with point & shoot camera]

I have dabbled in this recently with decent results.

I took some pictures of a local school (that I attended) scheduled for replacement in the near future. I used my Canon A75 and used the normal settings.

I modified the pictures using Picasa from Google. All I did was go into the effects and apply the B&W effect and then give it one dose of sharpening.

Got the pics printed and they look really good!

 

[WebmasterAlex]

[Disclaimer: Weekend warrior with point & shoot camera]


I have dabbled in this recently with decent results.

I took some pictures of a local school (that I attended) scheduled for replacement in the near future. I used my Canon A75 and used the normal settings.

I modified the pictures using Picasa from Google. All I did was go into the effects and apply the B&W effect and then give it one dose of sharpening.

Got the pics printed and they look really good!

That really is all you need to do to get a pretty decent BW image. By using RAW as Geoff suggested you will have a lot more options for fine tuning things and getting that last little bit out of the image.

 

[Beth]

Thanks very much for your replies. They make total sense...

I've never shot any RAW images, though my camera and software can both support them.

I'll give it a try some time.

Thanks again.