alligator Posted July 19, 2009 Share #1 Posted July 19, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) This is my first Leica camera (a D-Lux 4). I'm getting to know all of the features, but there is one that I can't seem to figure out. Is it possible to take pictures in black and white with a setting in the camera, or is this only done in post processing (using Photoshop or an equivalent)? Here's a link to a sample of what I want to do: Leica D-Lux 4 Photography by Jim Radcliffe If I need to do this in software, what software do you recommend for a Mac user? I already have iLife '09 but I can learn anything necessary. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 19, 2009 Posted July 19, 2009 Hi alligator, Take a look here New D-Lux 4: Can you help me with black & white?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
cayoux Posted July 19, 2009 Share #2 Posted July 19, 2009 Sometime reading the user manual helps... Best regards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted July 19, 2009 Share #3 Posted July 19, 2009 Welcome to the forum, Alli'! The DL4 offers a number styles of in-camera black and white conversions: Standard, Dynamic, Smooth and a number of user-generated ones. They can be found in Film Mode by either pressing the Menu button and choosing the top menu entry in the Rec menu or, as I find more convenient, pressing and holding the joystick until the quick menu appears and scrolling through the left-hand menu item. Pete. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Thompson Posted July 19, 2009 Share #4 Posted July 19, 2009 Set the camera to RAW mode and buy a copy of Aperture for the Mac. Then spend a bit of time with Apple's excellent on-line tutorials which show you how to use the program. I find it close to perfect and it's not got that 'art program' feeling that you get with Photoshop, nor is the learning curve so vertical. Using your camera and software in this way will allow you to get the best from it. There can be many times when black and white is not the best option, and if you've got your camera set to it you've not got the option of 'going back' - ultimately once you've shot RAW and experienced what you can do with the files very, very quickly (like seconds) you'll never shoot jpeg again.... Best of luck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceflynn Posted July 19, 2009 Share #5 Posted July 19, 2009 Unfortunately, Aperture does not support the RAW files (rwl files) of the Leica D-Lux 4: Apple - Support - Discussions - RAW extension for Leica D-Lux4 ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted July 19, 2009 Share #6 Posted July 19, 2009 This is my first Leica camera (a D-Lux 4). I'm getting to know all of the features, but there is one that I can't seem to figure out. Is it possible to take pictures in black and white with a setting in the camera, or is this only done in post processing (using Photoshop or an equivalent)? Here's a link to a sample of what I want to do: Leica D-Lux 4 Photography by Jim Radcliffe If I need to do this in software, what software do you recommend for a Mac user? I already have iLife '09 but I can learn anything necessary. Locate the little thumb joystick on the back of the camera and press it. That'll give you access to select the dynamic black and white mode. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted July 19, 2009 Share #7 Posted July 19, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Alligator, If you have the DL4 set to RAW + Jpeg and use one of the excellent black and white film modes then you will shoot black and white but will always also have access to the colour image through the RAW file for those rare times when an image would have been better in colour than black and white. Simple. Pete. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share #8 Posted July 20, 2009 To the person who suggested I read the manual - I did. And I didn't find it or I wouldn't be asking here. I like the RAW+JPEG option so I always have color as a backup. I'll have to try that. Thanks guys! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted July 20, 2009 I also found out the Black & White option is not available on some of the automatic settings. I have to select one of the manual settings to get it. I haven't found a way yet to save it to one of my custom settings, but I'll read about that tonight. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
myoung4828 Posted July 20, 2009 Share #10 Posted July 20, 2009 if you shoot only jpegs, try the smooth BW option, then you can take the contrast in either direction. If you shoot the dynamic mode, you won't be able to retrieve shadow detail if you should so choose. Otherwise, use dynamic (very artsy) with a raw and you can produce anything from a color image to a BW image with a plethora of BW output options. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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