Black and white jpeg or raw or both? (Page 2): rwilson 1942 Yes, it's true the settings you make on your camera generally only affect the JPEG version of the image. When shooting only...

Clapperboard

rwilson 1942 Yes, it's true the settings you make on your camera generally only affect the JPEG version of the image. When shooting only RAW the image that appears on the camera screen is a little jpeg that is embedded into the RAW file. Hence what is shown on the camera screen is affected by the camera settings but the RAW file is not. Note there are settings in some cameras that will affect the RAW file. Such as sharpening and noise reduction adjustments that can be applied to the RAW file immediately after capture. I am not suggesting these should be applied.
To use your suggestion I would recommend checking beforehand that the black & white setting on the camera does not override other settings. It may not and your suggestion is a very good idea. The reason I am suggesting checking beforehand is akin to shooting sunsets. Capturing a RAW file tells the camera to record the data unmodified. If the white balance has the wrong setting when capturing sunsets you have told the camera to 'correct' the exposure taking out the red tones that are just what you want in the sunset shots. I would want to be very sure the black & white setting does not also have a similar 'I should have realised' affect.
Credit where it's due, I am taking your suggestion on board. You have certainly given me something more to consider. Thank you sir.

Clapperboard

JohnSwanda You're so right about the possibilities further down the road. A few years ago one of my nieces got married. The wedding was arranged to be in Thailand. She paid a college friend who was studying photography to take the wedding photos. Apparently the 'photographer' friend was invited as one of the party already. This uncle was ignored, both as a relative and a possible photographer/adviser. The Bride wanted black and white photos. The photographer shot (digital) black and white. A pity really as one of the great things about an event in Thailand is the fabulous light and colours. A few months after the wedding the ignored uncle (ME) was asked to 'colourise' the images!!! An object lesson to shoot in colour and also not to ignore any of your uncles perhaps?

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

dfharper1961 wrote:

Planning a shoot. Available light only, band performance. I want the final prints in b/w. Should I shoot b/w jpegs or raw+jpegs? If I shoot jpegs (w A7r2) I can see the image thru the view finder, on the flip if I shoot raw I’ve got a Little more range to work with in post. Is it worth the extra work to wait until post to convert the image?

RAW, RAW, RAW! For B&W I always manually convert for B&W in PP and play with the Color Channels and individual setting per color, Contrast, etc., never merely just desaturate. As a old B&W film photographer, I am super picky about my B&W converted images. I'd really like to find a way to print the form Digital B&W to Silver Paper.

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

IMHO, shoot Raw +Jpeg Fine. You'll be able to cull through the jpeg files more quickly for the ones you'll want to work on. Avoid shooting in B&W in the camera, once the data is gone it's gone. It's super easy to convert to B&W in post and should you ever have the need to go back to color on any particular image, just as easy to go back in post as it was to make it B&W.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

dfharper1961 wrote:

Planning a shoot. Available light only, band performance. I want the final prints in b/w. Should I shoot b/w jpegs or raw+jpegs? If I shoot jpegs (w A7r2) I can see the image thru the view finder, on the flip if I shoot raw I’ve got a Little more range to work with in post. Is it worth the extra work to wait until post to convert the image?

Never let the camera engineers make decisions for you. Shoot raw and convert to B&W in the computer, after your done most of the work. Never leave a pixel behind. You can always drop quality, but if you don't bring it home, you can't make it up.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

dfharper1961 wrote:

Planning a shoot. Available light only, band performance. I want the final prints in b/w. Should I shoot b/w jpegs or raw+jpegs? If I shoot jpegs (w A7r2) I can see the image thru the view finder, on the flip if I shoot raw I’ve got a Little more range to work with in post. Is it worth the extra work to wait until post to convert the image?

Raw. If nothing else with band shows, you will have a hell of time with white balance and to make that correction you will need a raw file. Shoot raw then flip to B&W. If nothing else you will have both flavors and who knows, the color may just be better. Raw 14 bits and maximize you possibilities. I don't see what the jpgs will provide unless you are not comfortable with editing and it makes you feel safer and you have a large card.

leftj Loc: Texas

rwilson1942 wrote:

There is a trick I read about when planning to convert to B&W in post.
Shoot RAW as recommended by most of us here but set the camera to B&W.
This will display the image on the LCD(or EVF) in B&W but will have no effect on the RAW file.
This will give you a better idea of what the final image will look like than if you view it in color.

Is this correct? I don't think so.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

leftj wrote:

Is this correct? I don't think so.

It certainly works with Nikon cameras. The JPEG produced is BW, but the RAW data is not affected. The JPEG embedded in the RAW file will be BW too, so a simple preview rather than an actual conversion of the raw data will still be BW.

leftj Loc: Texas

Apaflo wrote:

It certainly works with Nikon cameras. The JPEG produced is BW, but the RAW data is not affected. The JPEG embedded in the RAW file will be BW too, so a simple preview rather than an actual conversion of the raw data will still be BW.

So when you download the photo is the Color data included?

hankswan

Always shoot raw as this will have all of the metadata that the camera can provide. This way you can make whatever changes you desire in PP. Makes life a little simpler.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

leftj wrote:

So when you download the photo is the Color data included?

In the RAW image? Yep

You understand, right, the display on the camera is the processed jpeg? It's not the RAW ...

leftj Loc: Texas

CHG_CANON wrote:

In the RAW image? Yep

You understand, right, the display on the camera is the processed jpeg? It's not the RAW ...

Right. I do understand that. I shoot in RAW but had never thought about setting the camera to monochrome. I'll experiment with it on my 80D.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

leftj wrote:

So when you download the photo is the Color data included?

Only in the RAW file. The JPEG will be BW.

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

rwilson1942 wrote:

There is a trick I read about when planning to convert to B&W in post.
Shoot RAW as recommended by most of us here but set the camera to B&W.
This will display the image on the LCD(or EVF) in B&W but will have no effect on the RAW file.
This will give you a better idea of what the final image will look like than if you view it in color.

I would have posted this recommendation but you beat me to it. Probably stated better anyway. Camera settings other than ISO and ISO related noise settings have no effect on the RAW image. But the camera does all the selected settings to produce the a jpg to show you on your screen, create the histogram, and embed thumbnails etc in RAW file.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I'm also for shooting in RAW (and RAW only). When I learned how to process my photos, I started shooting RAW and have never regretted the decision. It's worth the extra time.