Black and White in raw (DNG) mode

[palmerfralick]

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I'm a little behind on the uptake of the capabilities of the various M digital cameras. But am I correct that only the M Monochrom versions are capable of straight out of camera raw - DNG black and white images and all the rest have to be software converted out of camera or acquired as a jpeg?

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[a.noctilux]

Yes,

b&w DNG possible only on Monochroms

[adan]

Correct.

Technically one can view (with certain software) a .DNG or other raw file from a color sensor as just gray brightness values, without really converting it.

But, except maybe for Foveon sensor images, it will be a checkerboard of different grays, rather than smooth tones. Because every color-sensor pixel has its own little red, green, or blue Bayer color filter. It is how they can detect color at all.

So a red dress, for example, will come out as light grays in the red-filtered pixels, and dark grays (or even blacks) in the green and blue-filtered pixels next door. And look like it has a nasty disease.

A simulation of how that works (click for a sharper view)

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Only way to get rid of the checkerboard pattern from a color sensor is to de-Bayerize or de-mosaic the image to a full-color image first. More or less, sharing or averaging brightness values across neighboring pixels to get continuous tone full colors (purples, yellows, etc.)

And then desaturate that by additional processing.

The Monochrom cameras do not have the array of color filters, so they do not need intermediate de-mosaicing to get rid of the "plaid" pattern. Every neighboring pixel will see "red" as the same gray (except for shadows and highlights). Thus the Monochroms are a bit sharper, as well as more sensitive to light (see: "filter factor").

The downside, of course, is that without the Bayer color filter array, the Monochroms are "color-blind."

"You pays you money and takes your choice."

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by adan

[Jon Warwick]

7 hours ago, adan said:

 

"You pays you money and takes your choice."

 

The added sharpness and light sensitivity aside, what my own eyes see is a less digital “aesthetic” (for want of better wording) in large prints from my M10 Monochrom when I compare it to my GFX100S. I’m assuming it’s a benefit of the Monochrom’s lack of demosaicing and not needing to get rid of the RGB checkerboard that you discuss above ….to my eyes it makes the output of the Monochroms more natural and less digitally processed looking. I can easily tell which prints are which when comparing my GFX100S with my drum-scanned 5x4 …..whereas I find that much less easy to do when comparing prints from the M10 Monochrom with my 5x4 (Acros / Delta 100).

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Jon Warwick

[ramarren]

On 4/4/2022 at 3:39 PM, palmerfralick said:

I'm a little behind on the uptake of the capabilities of the various M digital cameras. But am I correct that only the M Monochrom versions are capable of straight out of camera raw - DNG black and white images and all the rest have to be software converted out of camera or acquired as a jpeg?

The Pixii (see http://www.pixii.fr) includes monochrome DNG raw file capability as well, and in the latest generation of the Pixii camera this is a 26 Mpixel image file that can be 12 or 16 bit depth depending on your configuration settings. It's quite a good performer in this configuration, I posted a set of photos I made testing the monochrome mode elsewhere on this forum. 

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