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Photography Question 

Sam R. Jampetro
 

Purchasing a Digital Camera


Hi. I use a Canon Rebel SLR and in the past, when I travel I have taken two camera bodies so that I can shoot both color and BW. I'm considering buying a 10D so that I can keep using my lenses but be able to carry only one body and not need to carry (and worry about!) 12-15 roles of film. (I assume I would need to add a 1Gig flash card.) But my main reason is that I'm thinking that I can shoot the photo and then decide later in "post-production" whether I want to print it as color or BW. But is that an accurate assumption? I'd hate to spend the money for a 10D and find out later that the BW isn't true, or there is some other problem with BW. Can anyone offer any insight? Thanks much! Sam


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May 08, 2003

 

doug Nelson
  Converting color to B&W in Photoshop is possible, and MAY be the equivalent of a good BW print. (We're gonna hear from the purists on this one). The trick is NOT to go from RGB color straight to Grayscale. Break the RGB image into channels and choose the channel that shows the best grayscale. It's always red or green, never blue. Change that channel to grayscale. Alternatively,
change the image (Image/Image Mode) to Lab Color, break up the channels, and click on the Lightness channel. Throw out the other two channels and convert that Lightness to Grayscale. There's a third way, using the Channel Mixer.
Look, if you're that interested in black and white, and can afford a Canon 10D, buy a Cosina-Voigtlander Bessa R2 and put a new or used 35-mm Leitz Summicron on it. You'll never get better black-and-white.


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May 08, 2003

 
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