Leica Monochrom B&W only camera
Discussion
The Leica Q3 Monochrom Digital Camera.
A black and white only camera. Price: £5,800
https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-q3-monochrom-l...
Begs the question as to why?
Half that price gets you a top end camera. Many with in-built B&W settings and if not Lightroom, Affinity, etc more than capable of creating a decent monochrome image.
Had a look at some of the sample shots and can't say that any of them warrant such a bit of kit and/or price tag.
A black and white only camera. Price: £5,800
https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-q3-monochrom-l...
Begs the question as to why?
Half that price gets you a top end camera. Many with in-built B&W settings and if not Lightroom, Affinity, etc more than capable of creating a decent monochrome image.
Had a look at some of the sample shots and can't say that any of them warrant such a bit of kit and/or price tag.
It's great. You can have endless conversations as to why a B&W camera is so much better than one that also takes images in colour, and as you have all that money to waste, your opinion trumps all others. My father used to drive Rolls Royces and reckoned they were best at showing money was no object, but little else. Ford Granadas were more pleasant to drive, and more comfortable to ride in, and without the fear of a broken wing mirror costing a fortune.
100mp is hardly setting the benchmark into the stratosphere.
With the build quality of modern cameras improving all the time, it's difficult to see a point for the Hasselblad, even if it was lighter and its autofocus was class of the field.
100mp is hardly setting the benchmark into the stratosphere.
With the build quality of modern cameras improving all the time, it's difficult to see a point for the Hasselblad, even if it was lighter and its autofocus was class of the field.
StevieBee said:
The Leica Q3 Monochrom Digital Camera.
A black and white only camera. Price: £5,800
https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-q3-monochrom-l...
Begs the question as to why?
Half that price gets you a top end camera. Many with in-built B&W settings and if not Lightroom, Affinity, etc more than capable of creating a decent monochrome image.
Had a look at some of the sample shots and can't say that any of them warrant such a bit of kit and/or price tag.
There is an argument that not having so many filters on the sensor means better quality images especially in low light. So for someone who isn't interested in colour pictures and is thinking of spending Leica Q money anyway I can sort of see the appeal. Though the advantages are going to be very subtle if visible at all.A black and white only camera. Price: £5,800
https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-q3-monochrom-l...
Begs the question as to why?
Half that price gets you a top end camera. Many with in-built B&W settings and if not Lightroom, Affinity, etc more than capable of creating a decent monochrome image.
Had a look at some of the sample shots and can't say that any of them warrant such a bit of kit and/or price tag.
As for spending Leica Q money at all. They are very good image wise, though objectively no better than other cameras 1/3rd of the price. Leica fans insist there is something special about a 'Leica look', and I can almost convince myself there is something in it. There is also the fact that Leicas feel great to use. The controls feel good and they feel solid in the hands if a little heavy. So if you take a lot of pictures and keep it for years you can man math the cost per shot as worth it.
Not so much Rolls Royce instead of Granada, more Porsche Boxster instead of Peugeot convertible.
Edited to add: Some of these shots seem quite impressive for ISO of 50,000 or 100,000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUXF9DvQDPk
Knock a nought off the price and even I'd be tempted.
Edited by Austin Prefect on Monday 24th November 19:40
I have used a M11 Monochrome in the summer, it was experience and I got some really good images.
I like to shoot black and white in both analog film and digital, converted from a colour senser.
The monochrome senser is amazing in low light and the IQ amazing in my opinion.
I would have a Q2M or a Q3M, but I like colour too. So not having limitless funds, I do not currently own a Monochrome. .
I shoot a few different brands, but I do like the red dot, but I tape over it, so it is rare people know what I am shooting with, I am into taking pictures not cameras.
I like to shoot black and white in both analog film and digital, converted from a colour senser.
The monochrome senser is amazing in low light and the IQ amazing in my opinion.
I would have a Q2M or a Q3M, but I like colour too. So not having limitless funds, I do not currently own a Monochrome. .
I shoot a few different brands, but I do like the red dot, but I tape over it, so it is rare people know what I am shooting with, I am into taking pictures not cameras.
As a black-and-white only camera, it dispenses with a bayer colour filter array in front of the sensor, and that gives it up to three times the pure resolving power of another camera with the same lens and sensor. That's a huge benefit for fine art photography, where there is still no digital equivalent to the really large format monorail cameras that would have had an equivalent resolution of 500 megapixels and up. I used to use some of these at university in the early 90s and I still remember how incredible I found the frankly huge negatives. I was only working with 4x5" sheet film which is small in the world of large format photography, but it still has an area 15x larger than a single 35mm frame.
So even with 3x the resolving power, a mono 61MP sensor is still not going to trouble large format for this kind of usage, but it's at least getting closer to medium format.
Even if you forget all about resolving power of the sensor itself, you can also use different lens designs. Most modern lenses are insanely complicated in order to keep chromatic aberation and purple fringing under control. You still want to keep those under control with a mono sensor, but you can get away with using less complicated optics which tend to render out-of-focus areas of the image more smoothly
Many of these Leicas tend to be used for street photography, which is a genre I really enjoy. It's probably my favourite, judging by the photobooks I buy. That's one genre in which many of the most accomplished photographers tend to restrict themselves to black and white. It's also well known that putting constraints on yourself by working only in black and white, or with a fixed focal length, leads the photographer to focus on other elements to produce compelling results. I can really see the appeal, although if I were to dream of any specialty digital camera, it would be a modern version of the Hasselblad Xpan.
So even with 3x the resolving power, a mono 61MP sensor is still not going to trouble large format for this kind of usage, but it's at least getting closer to medium format.
Even if you forget all about resolving power of the sensor itself, you can also use different lens designs. Most modern lenses are insanely complicated in order to keep chromatic aberation and purple fringing under control. You still want to keep those under control with a mono sensor, but you can get away with using less complicated optics which tend to render out-of-focus areas of the image more smoothly
Many of these Leicas tend to be used for street photography, which is a genre I really enjoy. It's probably my favourite, judging by the photobooks I buy. That's one genre in which many of the most accomplished photographers tend to restrict themselves to black and white. It's also well known that putting constraints on yourself by working only in black and white, or with a fixed focal length, leads the photographer to focus on other elements to produce compelling results. I can really see the appeal, although if I were to dream of any specialty digital camera, it would be a modern version of the Hasselblad Xpan.
I have a Fuji x100 for a pocket camera which has various B&W modes. I normally use a Canon R3 + big white lens for motorsport, so I enjoy the change of pace and challenge of composing a B&W image that 'pops'. I've actually considered getting one of these monochrome Leicas, but will likely just upgrade my Fuji when the time comes.
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