Nikon D60 - B&W shots

<p>Hi,<br>

Is it poosible to take B&W shots directly without coverting from color?<br>

Thanks and regards,<br>

Rizwan</p>

 

<p>Yes, you can set the D60 to black and white. When you do, you accept the camera's algorithm for black and white conversion. Personally, I prefer to convert the image to black and white in post processing. You have much more control over your results.</p>

<p>You actually shoot three B&W shots every time you shoot. RGB. In photoshop or other programs you can control each. </p>

<p>yes, but I cannot recommend it. You can tweak some settings in the menus (at least on the D300), but even if you would set up a "one size fits all" algorithm on the computer to batch process them, you will likely get more pleasing results (and you have a color image as a backup if you need it!)</p>

<p>Hi Rizwan<br /> <br /> As I understand it the d60 or any other nikon dslr simply desaturates photos to make b&w images whereas photoshop takes a much more sophisticated approach. And Photoshop has got better at b&w also, the latest cs4 has several presets which help get you in the right direction. Take a color photo and try out all the PS presets, you will see just how much control you can have over a b&w shot rather than just desaturating a color photo.<br>

Image>>Adjustments>>Black & White</p>

<p>Errol, I am from TO, ON, CA too. Lots of snow today, ah.</p>

<p>Phil</p>

<p>You can post-adjust for B&W images on the D60, but I can't imagine why you'd want to do that in-camera. It makes far more sense to shoot in colour and convert to B&W in post than it does to do it in camera and throw away all of the colour information.</p>

<p>Different colours and levels of saturation create different tonalities in a B&W image. With a colour image as the original, you can play with the curves in post before converting to B&W.</p>

<p>Thanks all, yes, I read somewhere also that for B&W it's best way to shoot in color and then do post-processing through software, ideally Photoshop CS4.</p>

<p>You can shoot RAW + jpeg with the jpeg set to B&W. That way you have the RAW file for conversion later as others suggest but also get immediate feedback on how the image looks in B&W.</p>

<p>Thanks Kent, can you please let me know how to set JPEG to B&W in D60.</p>

<p>Hmm. You may have me there. You can do it with a D300, and I jumped to the conclusion that you could do the same thing with a D60. It appears from D60 User's Manual (p.50) that you can set Image Quality to RAW+B (RAW plus basic quality jpeg), but I don't offhand see a way to directly make that jpeg B&W. There is the Retouch Menu, with various monochrome settings. Maybe it has to be a two-step process. And maybe I should leave D60 advice to people who actually have one.</p>

<p>This should work:</p>

<p>Set RAW+B and in Shooting menu use Optimize Image to set B&W. This doesn't work for me in Aperture - it only imports the NEF and it comes in in color as expected (because Aperture throws out that flag), but if you use Capture NX you should get both and the NEF should be flagged as B&W which it should allow you to unset if you want color. The Optimize modes don't change the raw sensor data, they just add flags to the NEF file that are only recommendations for your software .</p>

<p>That's a lot of "should"s - maybe somebody who has Capture NX can try it?</p>

<p>With my Aperture setup I do get to see the B&W on the camera screen and later I can use Aperture to make a B&W with custom settings that's more like film than what the camera does, but in either of these scenarios using the JPG was completely pointless, since the raw file is raw and it can always be read as color, and Aperture ignored the JPG file and went straight to the NEF. The real answer would appear to be, set B&W mode and shoot raw, and make some standardized settings in your software that will automate you.</p>