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Having recently aquired the D200 and used this function (merely to see how they turned out) I was wondering what scenario any photographer may use it for? I realise that in film day it was restrictive and it was going to be one OR the other. I wonder now, in this day of photo imaging and apps such as photoshop for B&W conversion why Nikon may have incorporated this into their new camera.

D2X ppl - does the D2X have this function? Do you use it?

I'm not complaining just wondering how they came to the conclusion of adding it as an option??

Geoff, I haven't used the B&W mode built in to the D200 yet, seems pointless when you have so many good B&W conversion options in Photoshop and others.

The D2X does not have this as a built in option (not that I have ever found anyway).

Stuart

I noticed this too Geoff, in my pre-reading of the manual pending the happy arrival. Seemed like a slightly strange option to me, very P&S style of things. Looking forward to responses.

I've played around with it a bit.

The B&W mode seems a bit pointless, you can't alter contrast/sharpness in camera in this mode, so the resulting files are very flat and soft looking and require PP

So if you wanted it as a fast B&W JPG machine (with no extra PP) its useless

I would like to see yellow, red, green B&W filters available in camera as well as contrast settings

As it stands, it seems a gimicky afterthought. We can only hope that firmware can change this

Only guessing, but maybe the fact that you can review the image in B&W immediately after, can give you a better Idea what the photo will look like.

Interesting - you're all thinking along the same lines as I was. Cheers.

phillipb wrote:Only guessing, but maybe the fact that you can review the image in B&W immediately after, can give you a better Idea what the photo will look like.

You could just think about the shot in black & white as you're taking it...

It's a gimmick, same as on the Canon bodies.

It's a bait to lure people with their B&W into the game. and none of us will achieve anything farther than doing, working in PS.

Buy a new B&W "digital film" and forget the rest

I've never held D200 in my hands, so, I'm just guessing ....

If this function just desaturates image, it's pointless then. But if there is more complicated algorithm emulating (or trying to emulate) B&W film behavior (i.e tones, contrast, grain etc.) it could be an interesting option

The only use I could see is if the file size is dramatically smaller (is it? when you shoot B&W over colour?) Other then that, I agree it's a gimmick.

It is a gimmick, but the firmware upgrade will introduce this feature to the D2x.

Nnnnsic wrote:
You could just think about the shot in black & white as you're taking it...

What, just like people have been doing since the invention of cameras?

Surely not. Don't let's be silly

I was shooting a wedding for friends last month and in the evening I decided, rather than worry about mixed lighting I would shoot the rest of the event in black and white mode (Large Normal JPEGS with RAW). When I got back to our guest house I downloaded the images, made a quick edit, ran the images through a batch process to add a warm tone and reduce the size of the image to screen res and I was able to present the images to the couple the next morning at breakfast. Client was wrapped and I don't have the stress about colour correcting a small pile of images.

As I see it, this function is very useful in the right situation!

What? there is a B&W mode in my D200?

I don't think there is much of a point is there, I agree a B&W preview would be handy, but I'd still prefer to filter in PS afterwards.

Will have a crack at it tonight but doubt it's a significant function I'd use, I would have preferred a Group C setting for the CLS.

Antsl wrote: Client was wrapped

In what?

It would be good if it was a TRUE black and white mode, allowing higher resolution or higher sensitivities (you know, instead of RGB, GGG - G meaning greyscale.)

Antsl wrote:I was shooting a wedding for friends last month and in the evening I decided, rather than worry about mixed lighting I would shoot the rest of the event in black and white mode (Large Normal JPEGS with RAW). When I got back to our guest house I downloaded the images, made a quick edit, ran the images through a batch process to add a warm tone and reduce the size of the image to screen res and I was able to present the images to the couple the next morning at breakfast. Client was wrapped and I don't have the stress about colour correcting a small pile of images.

As I see it, this function is very useful in the right situation!

Too bad if they wanted to see one in colour

petal666 wrote:Too bad if they wanted to see one in colour

If you will note on my first post you will notice that I shot JPEGS (in black and white mode) along with RAW files. If the couple come back to me and say "love those photos but can we have a few in colour" it will not be a problem. On the night, prior to changing the camera into black and white mode I asked both the bride and the groom if they liked black and white and both agreed they did and the black and whites were just the icing on the cake to a great day, a great evening and a good set of photos.

Black and white has the advantage of distilling a photograph to its key elements... namely good design, good lighting and good emotion. As I see it colour can be a bullshit element and it is the reason why many of the worlds great photojournalists and portrait photographers still enjoy working in colour.

Aside from my editorial work I occcasional string for a couple of Melbourne's better wedding photographers. One shoots exclusively in digital and regularly converts the work to black and white in the computer while the other shoots black and white film exclusively using three Leica M cameras and a Hasselblad XPan. For one guy I shoot digital and the other I get to pull out my F100s and load them with T-Max.

The black and white mode on the Nikon D200 may not give you as many options as converting the image in the computer however it is still good enough for me when I am not shooting the real stuff.

Antsl wrote:

petal666 wrote:Too bad if they wanted to see one in colour

If you will note on my first post you will notice that I shot JPEGS (in black and white mode) along with RAW files.

Sorry, didn't realise it was still an option to shoot in RAW as well.

The black and white function was included by NIKON engineers for the sole purpose of making the camera functional for those unfortunate enough to be colour blind. When colour blind people look at a colour image they can't see anything at all....so this function is a boon to them and allows them to enjoy the pleasure of photography as the rest of us do. It has nothing to do with art.

Matt. K wrote:The black and white function was included by NIKON engineers for the sole purpose of making the camera functional for those unfortunate enough to be colour blind. When colour blind people look at a colour image they can't see anything at all....so this function is a boon to them and allows them to enjoy the pleasure of photography as the rest of us do. It has nothing to do with art.

Damn... thanks for the heads up.... will stop using it immediately!

Antsl
God, I hope no one thinks I was serious?

Matt. K wrote:Antsl
God, I hope no one thinks I was serious?

Matt,

Be very careful about what you're saying When people with certain reputation proclaim something, they could be taken very seriously