The camera film industry may be struggling, but there are certain segments that are still profitable. One such niche is the one-time-use disposable film camera market, and Ilford Photo wants a piece of the pie. The company, which makes widely used films, papers, and chemicals, announced two new black & white disposable cameras today.
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Leica’s new black & white rangefinder, the M Monochrom, eschews the standard color filter found in ordinary camera sensors in order to capture higher quality monochrome photographs. How much of a difference does this make compared to the standard practice of converting color images to B&W? David Farkas over at Red Dot Forum decided to find out by doing a head-to-head comparison of the camera with a Leica M9. He photographed the same scene at different ISOs, and then published the photos with a nifty slider that lets you easily compare the resulting images. Here’s a spoiler: the difference is quite noticeable.
ISO Test: Leica M Monochrom vs. Leica M9 [Red Dot Forum]
DPReview has published a gallery filled with sample photographs shot using the new Leica M Monochrom. The photographs are tack sharp and have a beautiful “film look” to them that is difficult to achieve by doing a conversion from color digital images. Watch out: looking at the gallery may be bad for your wallet.
Leica M Monochrom Preview Samples [DPReview]
Remember that monochrome Leica M camera rumor that we reported on last month? The latest rumor pegs May 10th as the announcement date. The new camera won’t be a successor to the M9 — the M10 will likely be announced in September at Photokina — but will instead be a M9-styled rangefinder with a sensor that can only capture black and white. It is also said to have fantastic high-ISO quality and may ditch the LCD screen entirely.
(via Leica Rumors via Mirrorless Rumors)
Here’s a crazy rumor floating around: an upcoming M-series camera by Leica may feature a sensor that can only capture black and white photographs. According to a tip received by Leica Rumors, the camera will offer B&W digital photography with no LCD display on the back — a unique toy for nostalgic film photographers who have deep pockets. Phase One offers a similar B&W medium format back that captures monochrome images by eschewing the traditional color filters found on cameras.
(via Leica Rumors)
Image credit: M8 by Mattebox in B&W, January 28, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg
Here’s another helpful step-by-step guide teaching how to develop B&W film (in this case it’s Agfa APX 100) using powered coffee and vitamin C (AKA “caffenol“). You can also download a text version of the process here.
(via Hack a Day)
Andrew Rees shot this beautiful black and white time lapse in Cardiff, Wales using a Sony A700 DSLR. He shot 700 pairs of photos (a total of 1400 shots) with 2.5 seconds in between pairs, and combined the resulting HDR photographs into a 12fps time lapse video.
We love how the HDR makes the scene look like a moving painting.
(via Photography Bay)
