B&W Lovers, what do you do for shots when the Monochrom is not an option?

[R3D-D0T]

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Do you use black and white film on an older camera? A particular photoshop grayscale with a DSLR?

[colint544]

Exactly that - black and white film in either my M2, M5, or Rolleiflex TLR. Even when the M Monochrom is available, and especially in good light. The M Monochrom is wonderful in poor light though.

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[Soden]

It's always an option for me, as it's the camera in my hand. But for fun and a bit of nostalgia, there's always Tri-X. In my M7, M5, CL, IIIb, Rollei 35, Rolleiflex, Hasselblad, Graflex...

[woody]

M3/M7 + Tri-X. I never was good at converting color shots to B&W.

[250swb]

A film camera, 35mm, medium format, or large format, is ideal, but I also use a digital camera. If you use digital forget the idea of 'greyscale' or setting the camera to do B&W (unless you also save a RAW file from which to work later), you want to keep the underlying image RGB, so use Silver Efex to convert to monochrome and in Silver Efex you can use the images colour channels to adjust the tonality as you would with colour filters on a film camera.

[Musotographer]

I'd love a Monochrom but can't justify one as well as my M9P - so my X Vario is my Monochrom. Superb B&W jpegs straight out of the camera - usually better than I can manage with RAW conversions in Silver Efex.

[djmay]

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Until one year ago I used a 4x5 view camera for my BW work. I also did occasional BW work with the M9, which I have since upgraded to M-P 240. One year ago I acquired a Leica S 006 and since then, that has been my main BW camera. It is not the same as 4x5 film, especially considering swing and tilt, however the tonality and image quality are excellent. I should also add that the M-P 240 is good for BW, but not as good as the S.

 

Consequently, it looks like I will not go for the Monochrom.

Jesse

Edited January 9, 2017 by djmay

[jaapv]

I am always in a dilemma: Do I grab mt MM1 or do I take one of my film cameras? As my mood takes me...

[Herr Barnack]

M4-P and Tri-X for me for serious work, M-P 240 and B&W conversion in Lightroom for play.

[johnwolf]

That's easy. MM1 is my only Leica and it's in NJ at the moment. So it's GR or X-Pro and convert. Either gets me closer to MM quality than my lame film processing and scanning skills will. 

 

John 

[honcho]

Trying to replicate one process by the other is rather pointless.  Experience will tell you which films and developers and which post processing methods will produce the results you want or prefer.

 

It's only a dilemma when you don't know what you want to achieve or how to achieve it.

[Genn]

Iphone 7+, then Snapseed to monochrome.  From time to time I specially make images with iPhone  to convert and develop in Snapseed - to see them in mono. 

[arno_nyhm]

my M2 and some TX400 or HP5 will do that for me. in fact it does so good, that i did not yet have to buy an MM.

[erl]

I'm lusting after an MM but I have too many really good film cameras that can do much of what an MM can, but not everything.

[JochenSch]

I don't have a set up darkroom, so I'll most likely shoot one of the other digitals and convert. InPixio's "Capa" preset is sometimes nice.