Nikon D700 - CAPTURE THE IMAGE in black and white?

<p>Hi everyone,<br>

Basic D700 question. I want to shoot some scenes ONLY in black and white and I am prepared to throw out the colour information.<br>

But I do NOT see how to do this in a direct way.... I DO SEE that i can use the retouch menu to turn any colour shot into b/w..but that is not what i want...too many steps.<br>

<strong>I want to click the shutter and have the shot appear in B/W immediately.</strong><br>

Can I do this? If so how?<br>

Thanks in advance :)</p>

<p>I am sorry....I am missing something here. Why would you want to do this? As a convenience? to be able to see B&W immediately on preview? or is there something else you might be trying to achieve?</p>

<p>Thanks Arun - YES, purely out of convenience. To see the B/w immediately on preview.<br>

Can it be done? Thanks.</p>

<p>Set Picture control to monochrome. You cannot later convert it to color and you are stuck with sRGB, if that matters.</p>

<p>You do know that you have lots of control in PS with the color mixer and such when you make an RGB image into grayscale and it will look a ton better, right?</p>

<p>Go into your camera menu and look for PICTURE CONTROL. there is where you set the picture control mode to monochrome. Cheers!</p>

<p>If you record raw, then setting Picture Control to monochrome will make a black & white preview JPG, so you'll see B&W immediately on the screen, but you'll still be able to get color when you process the raw image file. Maybe more importantly, you'll be able to change the color filtering and exposure in your B&W conversion when you do post processing, if that's useful for some of the pictures.</p>

<p>Menu -> Shooting Menu -> Set Picture Control -> Monochrome<br>

:-)</p>

<p>PERFECT! Thanks so much Douglas and Rene - great info John. Yup I know that peter.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. Now that i see the answer.....I actually knew how to do this 3 weeks ago, lol. But there's SO many choices I got confused and forgot even though i have been actively searching the menu....anyway. solved.</p>

<p>Thanks again!!!!!</p>

<p>John has the best idea here. You are just not going to get the best black and white out of the camera. Photoshop has some great presets now so you don't have to hunt the internet for good black and white conversion recipes anymore. Honestly you will be happier with your black and whites done this way.</p>

<p>Thanks again everyone. I agree Phil.<br>

I really just wanted to see the b/w immediately to evaluate where the tones are falling and if the scene is 'working' in b/w. Thx!</p>

Why anyone wants to throw out so much information in camera and accept the cameras idea of the b&w conversion I'll never know.

<p>It takes so little time to do this in the computer, it's not even funny. ANY freebie software has a monochrome option. Even Photoshop has Mode-> Greyscale, Desaturate, Black&White, and Gradient Map that I know of. There are probably even more ways to do it that I've never explored.</p>

<p>The problem with letting your camera shoot in monochrome is that it only performs the conversion once, and only at default settings. In reality, there are hundreds of ways to convert to black and white, all with varying effects. The artistic creative freedom enjoyed by black and white photographers is only available to a digital shooter if you shoot first in color, then convert later to black and white using appropriate digital darkroom methods.</p>

<p>And I wouldn't be so concerned with a scene "working" in black and white, because if it ain't working for you in B&W, you'll want to revert back to color anyway.</p>

<p>Hal and others - you missed the KEY piece of info to this answer from John.<br>

"If you record raw, then setting Picture Control to monochrome will <strong>make a black & white preview JPG, so you'll see B&W immediately on the screen, but you'll still be able to get color when you process the raw image file.</strong> Maybe more importantly, you'll be able to change the color filtering and exposure in your B&W conversion when you do post processing, if that's useful for some of the pictures."<br>

Not 1 bit of info is lost. All the colour IS THERE in the RAW file...just the in camera preview is b/w.<br>

It IS the best of all worlds.<br>

Thanks again.</p>

<p>I shoot RAW and when I want to have some shots in B&W i set it to monochrome coz looking at the B&W shots on the preview window it gets me into a B&W mood......<br>

So yeah! There are reasons to do this!</p>

<p>Capture NX will preserve B+W camera control settings. You can then save the B+W image in various formats (e.g., Tiff). Capture NX will allow you to adjust the camera control, too.</p>

<p>Once and awhile, I shoot black an white TIFF's, because I don't want the option of color to even enter my mind and I want to just send the damn things out. If I think it looks great, then I don't worry about sitting in front of a computer to get even better. The last time I did that it resulted in a great magazine cover. <br>

Sometimes you just need to get the shot without the distraction of options, one of the main reasons I am going back to film for most stuff. </p>

<p>Be prepared to get a color image on your computer when you work in NEF and not with NX(2).</p>

<p>The part that really gets me is that you bought a professional camera, and yet this is such a basic function.. some people really have far more money than sense</p>

<p>Since the OP's question has been answered leaving this thread open would appear to serve no purpose other than an invitation for useless sarcasm and irrelevant comments about what others choose to do with their own equipment and preferences for photography.</p>