Pentax Monochrome ?

[Golem]

User feedback sought ... any users here ?

I could afford one, altho Im long ago very much done with SLRs I certainly could tolerate that aspect if the results are extremely worth the trouble.

BTW, is this the best section for posting this ? If not, what section is more recommended ?

 

[smoke665]

I've been a Pentax user since the late 60's, so I'm assuming that the build/functionality/results will be comparable to previous Pentax models. Despite my long history with the brand, I frankly don't see an upside to a monochrome version over what I already have. I occasionally convert to B&W, but it isn't a preferred format for me. The new model's supposedly better low light performance, greater detail, and dynamic range are offset by the inability to play with the color values afterward in post, as in olden days, you need to use filters on camera.

Throughout my history with Pentax, there's been the occasional muddled move by them, that's left many of us scratching their head, to me this is another one of those times.

 

[cgw]

Disqualified by ZERO Pentax experience. BUT, I have played with a friend's almost 9 grand Canadian Leica Q2. Once my hands stopped shaking, I shot for an afternoon last fall with it. Gorgeous luxe industrial design. Images? Guess I handed it back thinking it was a helluva of a pony that did a wonderful trick. Have spent some time playing with plug-ins(some homebrewed) designed for b&w conversion. They work for me. I'm shooting good but trailing edge gear that does require some allowances. Just not sure a dedicated monochrome camera delivers THAT much more.
Agree with smoke665 that Pentax does crank out some head-scratching products. Their professed aim to revive film cameras seems pure bluesky. But then the weird Pentax 17 half-frame camera landed that puzzled my Holga/pinhole/low-fi crew.
If there's a chance to shoot/rent one, I'd do it if only to avoid sleepless nights spent wondering "what if..."

 

[Ysarex]

User feedback sought ... any users here ?

I could afford one, altho Im long ago very much done with SLRs I certainly could tolerate that aspect if this results are extrememy worth the trouble.

BTW, is this the best section for posting this ? If not, what section is more recommended ?

You have to put what you gain from a monochrome camera on a scale with what you lose and see how the scale tips. The gain from the monochrome camera is removal of the CFA over the sensor. That's going to give you some resolution and ISO advantage. The thing about the resolution advantage is it's overkill. Our digital cameras in full color already have resolution overkill. So what's it's getting us to overkill existing overkill? The ISO advantage -- I can see that; I'd like to be able to get the same noise result with less exposure. It would give me a little more room for hand holding a camera.

What do we lose? The ability in post processing to control the conversion of color to shades of grey. That's huge. B&W took a giant leap forward with digital post processing. Back in the film era we could use filters to control the color to grey conversion. There's the classic example of all those Yosemite photos Adams took when he got that red filter stuck on his lens. A red filter makes the blue sky turn black. An orange filter darkens the blue sky and makes clouds stand out dramatically. A green filter will darken skin tones (often used in portraits of men). But we could only use one filter of any one color. Now in digital post you can filter part of the image with a green filter another part with an orange filter etc. to your heart's content.

I would never give up digital post conversion of color images to B&W in exchange for a useless boost in resolution that I don't need and about a stop ISO advantage.

Here's an example: I live in a strongly ethnic neighborhood in St. Louis (Italian). You can't stand anywhere in my neighborhood, turn 180 degrees and not see a depiction of the Italian flag (red, white, and green). Here's a snapshot of Vitale's bakery. The awning is green and the stripe is red. The rectangles below the windows are painted red, white, and green. B&W film without a filter or a monochrome camera would give you the photo on the left where the red and green convert to the same shade of grey. The stripe on the awning all but disappears. In the photo on the right I adjusted the green in post to be lighter and the red darker. That's the keeper capability that will allow you to make better B&W images. The key is to start with a color raw file.