robyn_geering1 Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 I am currently a photography student looking to change from film to digital. At the moment, I am comparing the D10 with D20, and tossing up whether to scrape together the cash to purchase the D20. One feature that interests me with the D20, is the B&W mode. Can anybody tell me what the differences are with using the B&W mode on the D20 versus converting photos to B&W in photoshop. What are the advantages of this mode? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl smith Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 I'm not really sure what it is but my friend was toying with it recently and it's just got some nice "filtering" controls if I remember correctly, much like what you could do in photoshop. The disadvantage again is that you can't change it after you've shot the picture, so shooting in color in the first place is a better idea because you can mix channels however you like as many times as you want later on in photoshop. I could be wrong though, i've not had a chance to play with that "feature" or whatever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanealexander Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 one advantage is being able to shoot with yellow, orange and red filters; even green and blue for specific tone control with B&W images. This is something that can't be added later. shane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godfrey Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 <center> <img src="http://homepage.mac.com/ramarren/photo/PAW3/large/53a.jpg"><br> <i>Calla Lily - Canon 10D + 50mm f/1.4</i><br> </center><br> Shane, <br><br> Using the channel mixer, you can simulate use of any color filters commonly used with B&W film. What you can't do is simulate a polarizer or ND filter, those are the only two filters I use anymore. <br><br> The 20D's B&W mode and filter settings are definitely a convenience, but by no means essential to producing excellent B&W photographs. <br><br> Godfrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_foiles2 Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 "one advantage is being able to shoot with yellow, orange and red filters; even green and blue for specific tone control with B&W images. This is something that can't be added later." Shane, you are just flat dead wrong with that answer. All adding a color filter does with a digital camera is rob of the sensor of data and lower image quality. All of the color filter effects are easily emulated when doing the color to b&w conversion after the fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Peter is right, I would add that there is far more flexibility with doing the filtering in PS than there is doing it on camera. It really makes no sense at all to use a colored filter on a digital camera, except for IR effects. Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_burke3 Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Last week's issue of Amateur Photographer contained a review of the 20D. Among the thingds they looked was the B&W system, including the filter settings. They came to the conclusion that the B&W system was OK, but not great, and that the filter settings needed really strong colour before differences were apparent. It seemed to have much wealer effects than the equivalent real-world filters would have on a film camera. Their conclusion was that better B&W effects could be achieved by shooting normal colour images and then post-processing in Photoshop or another software package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phule Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 The cameras are the 10D and the 20D. When Google indexes a page, useful information is lost if the name of cameras are not written correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanealexander Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Yes, color filters rob the sensor of data; that's what a color filter is supposed to do. Within that data could be channel noise that may be unwanted. You can remove noise in the blue channel by simply using a UV filter before the sensor even records it. Have you shot B&W both ways with digital and compared them side by side ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean_g Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 It's nice to have a color version as well as black and white, so converting in PS makes the most sense. You can never be sure what futures uses an image might offer, so it's good to have options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew robertson Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 As far as the flexibility of filtering color shots in Photoshop goes, the channel mixer is fantastic. With it you basically have an infinitely variable set of color filters that can be applied long after the exposure. The 20D seems like a pretty nice camera. I'm tempted myself (I have a 10D) but the black and white modes on digital cameras are dubious at best compared to post-exposure manipulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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