No apologies necessary. But the murky look of all the podcasting-studio scenes demonstrated why b&w video needs to be lit completely differently from color video. Watching a couple of episodes of the old "Perry Mason" TV series should be all the clinic needed. (But Jordan already knows all this...)
More like they forgot about themselves. They clearly showed interest in mirrorless in 2013 with the K-01. They should have continued the mirrorless idea instead of abandoning it.
@@fotografalexandernikolisThey're a niche brand. Would be expensive for them to move to mirrorless. Sure they've made a couple, but it'd still be cheaper for them to make DSLR's like they do. And honestly the only real downside to it is size.
This is why Pana's Real-time LUT is such a powerful feature. Can load any look into the camera and use it as a native colour profile (while still getting the untouched RAW).
Absolutely agree .. I think this opens up an entire new space for Panasonic users to create and exchange Luts. Also worth noting the Leica Monochrome profile on the G9II also has a great deal of built-in flexibility right on the screen.. I think that would have been worth a mention on their part.
how is that different from any other custom picture style, whether there's a convenient software imp/exp feature or not? are those LUTs much more detailed than the standard contrast, sharpness, etc. parameters?
I can personalize my Panasonic G9 II’s monochromatic styles, utilize a LUT, or tweak in post-all for a lot less money than some of the other camera brands you profiled. You always bring balance to the table along with a fun and informed narrative. Thank you for including Panasonic in your videos.
Agreed - The Nikon Monochrome profile is a winner right out of the box - creating images akin to what we were aiming for in the dark room with our TMAX film. It is a really great B&W. I never saw it up against all the others in such a direct comparison - and of course this is just a matter of preference, but for us old school dark room guys - Nikon hit it out of the park. -PD
Same. Nikon stood out in the high contrast group and Fuji stood above Canon in the mid contrast group. And I didn't like either Pentax or OM in the first group
It was great to see a comparison of jpegs, letting the camera hardware and software do their thing, leaving Lightroom, Capture One, etc, out of the loop.
same, and some sharpness roll off, I set this up on the monochrome style and use art bracketing to get a copy of the totally erratic Grainy Film (II) style as well the LCD on the old E-M10 so far seems good enough to assess curve adjustments on the fly the pana L Mono D is really pulling me towards GX9 or G90, or even the G100 when they get real cheap if I keep shooting mostly jpg as SOOC as possible it'll be a great option
Personally I really like how I can adjust the Nikon B/W profiles in Picture Control and tune it with curves, colour filters and other parameters. Makes creating an individual “film simulation” super easy.
I rarely shoot JPG, and even more rarely B&W, so I am pretty clueless here, but I'd think that all of these cameras would allow for tuning the image processing, no? I mean, can't you go into menus and increase/decrease contrast? Maybe more? Guess I should dig into my a7riv to see. :-)
@@MadChalet Not sure how much the others let you adjust the profile or if they have curves and color filter options. But being able to save copies with different settings on Nikon is very nice. I even made a negative setting so I can see the final result in camera when "scanning" film. I'm pretty sure that wasn't possible on two Sonys I've used
@@TheDeltaMoo To fill the gaps in the conversation, every Fujifilm digital camera of the current era back to 2012 has had the functionality of adjusting film simulation and then shadows, dynamic range (aka mid-range push), highlights, push/pull exposure, color saturation, white balance/shift, sharpness and noise reduction as a profile in camera and the ability to save another copy with different settings from raw. More recent models added additional effects like grain, color chrome, smooth skin, tone curve, clarity.
@@TheDeltaMoo For Canon, I'm only aware of their picture profiles, which are curves that can be created in a graphical editor on a computer and then uploaded to the camera, so less of an exact science (not quantifiable other than by eyeballing on your screen) and more dependent on preparing before going out on a shoot. Not sure what additional features their most recent models made available, hopefully someone else can chime in with details.
Exploring something you were curious about with a structured test to get better photos. I like this kind of video, not a new product release, not a podcast. More please 😊
You can set the settings in my OM5 Mark111 to match the Pen. You can do the same for all the OM series too. Rob Trek has the settings on his You Tube channel. Sooner have my mark111 with weatherproof and other features over the outdated Pen F
Personal favorite was the Leica, because I find the brightness in the midtones on it quite pleasing with the rest being so stark and contrasty. I love my G9II (and even have the Leica monochrome profile on one of my custom buttons) but they don't quite get it right in the midtones.
Yep. I'm a Fuji Fanboy, but I'd have to give this one to Nikon. A nice balance between punch, midtone separation and contrast in all the examples here.
Sad you didn’t try the old PEN-F because it was designed to take nice B&W pictures. It has filters and you can easily manage highlights, shadows AND midtones.
@@mariusm2402 Yes it has. 1. You have the Art Filters: Dramatic Tone II, Grainy Film I and II. 2. You have 3 Mono Profiles. a. Mono Profile 1: Flat: Highlight 0, Midtone 0, Shadow 0, Grain Off. b. Mono Profile 2: Kind of Tri-X: Highlight +6, Midtone 0, Shadow -6, Grain High. c. Mono Profile 3: "Infrared effect" with red filter +3. You can modify each Mono Profile Highlight, Midtone (I do not think the other cameras have a Midtone adjustment), Shadow, Grain and 8 color filters (yellow, orange, red, magenta, blue, cyan, green, yellow-green and set your settings.
@@Penjerrix thanks for detailing the available filters. No I have an idea why photographers asking for a Pen-F mark 2. The filters listed under 1 are available as well in the om-1. But the om-1 has only 1 B&W preset which can be configured with sharpness, contrast, color filter (neutral, yellow, orange, red and green), monochrome color and gradation. I change the color filter regularly, depending on the subject.
@@Penjerrix yes other Olympus cameras have mid tone curve, when adjusted the highs and lows, just press the Info button to access the Mid curve 😊 I like to shoot my E-M5 II with -2 shadows, +6 mids, +2 highlights and Low Key Gradation (remember to lift the Exp Comp) which seems to closely mimic the gorgeous L Monochrome D profile of my little used GX9 but without the option to add grain of course.
Sony and Nikon for me. Probably would like Leica more if the portrait was in focus. Fujifilm second place. What about a Ricoh GR and Fujifilm X100 B&W comparison?
Yeah the "must stick to defaults" approach and then making a judgement based on taste isn't super meaningful IMHO. Better to try to recreate the same look (or one crushed, one natural, one bright) by shifting exposure, shadows and highlights on each and then actually discussing tonality from there.
I don’t mind the bright OM look. But I have been enjoying the two grainy film profiles recently. I think they’re really fun. They make everything look extremely interesting and dramatic.
I really like the Grainy Film II setting. If you apply it in one of the PASM modes rather than using the dial Art Filter you can adjust the tone curve to make it more or less dramatic. I like to dial it down a touch. Also the Dramatic Tone filter is fun, move the camera around and use AEL to lock in a particular effect. Good fun and unless you point the camera to the sun you won’t overexpose an image.
I miss the Ricoh GR, esp. the high contrast setting. And I know that Sony isn’t exactly admired for their jpgs, but I love the b&w mode on my Sony A6400. It’s a sleeper.
I went back through and processed a RAW file in camera on my Lumix GX9 using L Monochrome D. Really happy with the quick edit I made. Thanks for the reminder of the filter options.
The one thing missing on this tests is the different “color” filters available within the profiles. They will change the rendition on skin tones, the sky, foliage.. also, contrast curves are available and other minor tweaks. Of course it would be a hour long video and ebpven longer to shoot but hey.. why not?
I think it's good to talk about picture profiles, I used to never think about them. After talking to some of the Fuji shooters and kids who want a retro 'camera', it hit me how much people care about in camera profiles & dont want to do any post work.
Yep- that was one of my primary reasons for going Fuji, second only to compactness. Of course I do shoot +RAW, but I don’t end up needing them 99.9% of the time, and when I do I’ll use the camera itself to reprocess those images instead of going to Lightroom. Of those, nine times out of ten it can be saved that way.
Yay black and white! I just watched ripley on Netflix and it is the standard for black and white in my eyes now. Absolutely gorgeous, let’s see how this video stacks up!
Those camera sensors are capturing a huge range of stops. It's post that produces the look. If you only shoot jpeg sims you can't recover info lost in high contrast settings.
Glad you made this. I used a Leica Monochrom for a little while, and I couldn’t ever justify the cost of the camera and lens when I could get very similar results from my Fuji and Panasonic. This video solidifies what I was seeing.
I usually shoot raw+ with a tweaked monochrome jpeg on older 16MP Olympus cameras. I seldom have to go to the raw (unless I decide colour works better) and usually have enough leeway to get what I want with minor adjustments in post. I tried this with a Sony a6000 but found the contrast was too high and I had to resort to the raw files. Great video, lots of “drawma!”
please share your mono settings, thanks, my default is: contrast +2 sharpness -2 yellow or red filter and I'm pushing the high/shadow curve to taste, the E-M10 II LCD seems good enough to assess the levels
Not surprising really. Think of every little setting you can tinker with in a RAW file. Each camera is assuming a value for all of these settings in an instant and that will vary a lot camera to camera as per each standard profile like in the video.
I love the monochrome setting on my EM1 Mkii. At first I wasn't that crazy about it but I found some help on a forum by someone who shoots mono and I loved his shots that he posted. I set my Olympus EM1 Mkii to The following: Sharpness: Default setting Contrast: +1 Gradation: Low Color Filter: None Monochrome color: normal Highlight & Shadow Control: Shadow: -3, Highlight +3 Often times I will set the ISO to 1600 or higher to introduce noise which looks awesome on the Mkii. Not a huge difference than default, but it made a big improvement in the image. Also try this with Hi Res mode.
You’re very close to my B/W settings. Low Key Gradation. +2 high, -2 shadows but +6 midtones. No extra contrast. I like to use the Red filter. In my opinion it gets me close to the L Monochrome D look of the GX9. Low Key Gradation is the key here. Those settings don’t quite retain the shadow details of the L Mono D but it’s close enough for a camera that is much easier to hold.
@@ValiRossi hold that, I think I've given you the wrong settings to replicate L Monochrome D, the midtones above are too high! Try Auto Gradation which lifts shadows and lower highlights creating a flatter profile. L Monochrome D has good shadow detail, so Auto Gradation is the way to go. Then in the Tone Curve be careful not to lose that detail. I set it to +3 Highlights, -3 Shadows, 0 Midtones. No Contrast. That seems to create a really nice Mono JPG with good contrast without losing too much shadow info. It's all subjective of course. You might just like Low Key Gradation on it's own, with zero tone curve or contrast, it's really very nice. Panasonic really have worked some magic with L Monochrome D, I think I'm now in the ball park with my Olympus.
@@KelvinSchwartzGrunlicht that said, I’ve changed my Mono settings/recipe again to more resemble ValRossi’s settings. Now very happy with Normal Gradation, Contrast 0, Sharpness 0, Tone Curve -3 on the Shadows and +3 on the Highlights, Midtones at 0. Red filter on. The Gradation settings play a massive part, so if you want to retain more highlight and shadow detail then use Auto Gradation. You can then tweak the Tone Curve to adjust contrast to taste. For Colour, it’s just a slight tweak to the Natural picture mode, Gradation stays at Normal, Tone Curve +3 Hi, 0 Mids, -3 Shadows. White Balance on Auto but change Alpha +1, Green +2, everything else on 0. Dive into the Menu to Turn Warm Color off and the JPGs are 😍🤌🏻
The Nikon monochrome is the tonality I wanted to get in the darkroom out of my TMAX. The Pentax monochrome is the tonality I actually got. I really like the black and white images I get from my Nikon Z5 and 50mm /1.8 S. Standard colour profile, full spectrum conversion, 850nm IR filter, custom white balance.
To me the real USP to the Fuji B+W profiles is the color filters. I use these with analog cameras as well and the convenience of virtually putting on a filter, even in different intensity is unreal 😅
I like this comparison. A fun side video that isn't a review. I'm happy Nikon has a good B&W engine. I really want to get a Zf and be able to switch it into BW mode and emulate going out and going some street photography with an old film camera. I think it's also worth mentioning that Lightroom can be setup to match it's RAW color profile with the one it has emulating the camera settings, so you can shoot a RAW while having the color set to Monochrome, and in Lightroom you have a monochrome image by default but still all the controls of editing a RAW. Might be good for something like the Sony where you can import the B&W, then recover the shadows a bit in post instead of them being discarded.
I love love love high contrast BW photography. Even those shots of Chris at his computer with the deep shadows on one side of his face are a delight. I like cinematography that isn't afraid of darkness. Interesting on how well Sony, Nikon, and Leica capture exactly the kind of rich detail I love in BW. Excellent work.
Hey I really enjoyed this style of video, and learned some stuff about some camera systems I will never ever shoot. Acros plus red forever, until I can afford a Leica.
I think something missed in this video was that the raw files can be brought into lightroom with the b&w profile applied then further tweaked if needed. Doesnt have to be jpeg only. If you import with camera settings, the raws apply whatever peofile is used in camera. Raw B&Ws can still be changed to color if needed.
Fuji Acros is my personal favorite. It’s not meant to be shot plain it’s a blank template imo to be tinkered with using Fujis extensive jpeg settings. Also, yes my Panasonic LX3 from 2008 has a dynamic B&W profile that takes stunning JPEGs 😉
From just the images; Nikon and then Leica... Everything is tweakable nowadays; but SOOTC NIkon looked better... but it will depend on the micro contrast of the lenses as well.
I love my Fuji XT-4 for B&W because you get so many options in the simulations for them, there's always a look I can work with. Like being able to change the tones based on color is super useful if I'm moving between architecture and portrait.
I found it hilarious that you chose the RX-100 for the test shiots because I use that camera in monochrome mode for my everyday carry. It gives me really punchy monochrome images that I rarely have to edit, and it would stack up really well here.
Great video! Of course many cameras have the ability to tweak their profiles, Panasonic with overall contrast and dynamic range, as well as highlight and shadow adjustments. This makes it easy to, say mimick the Nikon I believe. And I'm sure the other makers also allow for tweaks. And going to the Panny G9M2 and S5M2 you just make a cool look in Photoshop or Affinity, and export it as a LUT and it can bake that look into your jpegs in camera. That ability really make those two cameras into camelions - as every aspect of a look can be adjusted. But great video! Hope you follow up on the theme - there's so much more to B&W shooting! Like colour filtering, etc.
Glad to see the differences between all the major brands. I didn’t expect to see how much change is seen. Thank you for continuing to be curious in the B&W side of digital photography!
This was surprisingly interesting. Like others have said, I didn't expect so much variation in the default B&W JPG presets. I've sometimes wondered if camera JPG presets are the camera manufacturers feel for what best represents a particular sensor as JPG, or if it's just a, "Meh, these are for the people who don't want to bother editing," sort of attitude. To me, your test indicates it's actually more about a company's culture than about either of the previous thoughts. (Including when a "Meh" attitude comes out in some ways.) And because I was curious, I read a bunch of the comments. My favourites have been those dismissing 8 bit as pedestrian and obviously not real photography. LOL
Ooh a subject I've been experimenting with lately. I like a good in-camera colour/monochrome profile, if only for a good idea of what the final image could look like (and a better embedded JPEG preview in the RAW). I find the L.Monochrome profile on the Panasonic S5IIX sorta lines up to my experience of Ilford HP5+, which is nice; though I would like them to port the new Leica profile from the G9II. The default monochrome profile on the Nikon Z9 is a bit more situation-specific in my experience due to the contrast, but it's great in certain shots - hoping they bring the new profiles from the Zf over to it in a future firmware update 🤔
Well i personally still like shooting black and white analog. It is really interesting to shoot b&w. But my favourite profiles, from this video, are the leica and fujifilm ones. Fujifilm is obvious because they actually made B&W film that is gorgeous. Leica wins because of the leitz lenses. Edit: I hate smartphone keyboards
M11 wins hands down for me. Like the richer low mids and softer highlights. All the Leica M cameras all have really nice b&w jpegs. The files from my old M9 look a lot like Kodak Tri-X straight out of camera, and I love it!
Thanks, excellent jpeg monochrome profile comparison. My images are all black & white, initially converting in photoshop, now only shooting black & white thru viewfinder for 3 years. Nikon 12 years, Sony 6 years, couple of weeks ago Fuji X100vi, I did take a Leica M11Monochrom to Egypt last fall. Alway Raw. Leica was defiantly the best, but looking thru natural color optical viewfinder was odd, best SOTC images, but $9K camera, $4k lens, ouch. The new Fujifilm x100vi is fun, but small for me. The Sony A1 produces incredible images, I defiantly agree, very edgy. I followed your previous videos at other company, now with PetaPixel. You all do great work supporting the industry. Thank You - Terry Toole
I enjoyed this one! I have a Q3 I'm taking on a bucket list trip soon and plan on setting it to BW just for the challenge of it. I truly enjoy your videos that get into the nuts and bolts, but doing an experiment just to see what happens brings back the fun of photography, right? So, thanks for this little experiment of yours. I'm really hoping my Q3 shots come out nicely contrasted like your shots with the M11. I will be very happy if they do!
Fun video! As default profiles are often easily adjusted in camera, I would find it more useful to compare how well the default profiles can be adjusted to achieve one, or several reference image looks. To me the whole purpose of using a relatively expensive ILC is the ability to achieve the desired results through the provided adjustments. This was helpful to identify the starting points of one profile for each camera. How about a Part Two on in-camera profile adjustments?
I agree that out of the box the Olympus/OM monochrome profile is a little meh, but seeing as you can adjust overall contrast, gradation, highlights, shadows and midtones all separately, the possibilities are fantastic! I've used most brands (not Leica unfortunately) and my favourite black and white jpegs have come from Olympus (after tweaking the profile) and Nikon. L.Mono from Panasonic is also pretty nice too if you like a super moody look. For whatever reason I never fell in love with Fuji's monochrome looks but perhaps that's because I'm a sucker for Classic Chrome (sorry Chris), which gives you monochrome vibes just with colour added.
Fantastic video! I started shooting again 1.5 years ago but decided to shoot b n w for 6 months. I never stopped! Once I found Acros Film Simulation that's all I shoot now with RAW backup. This video explains the b n w nuances very well.
Great comparisons. As a b&w shooter since the 70s I can appreciate this. I shot Nikon, Fuji and Canon and I agree with the Nikon monochrome profile's richness which I love. It reminds me of my Kodak Tri-X days in the darkroom. Being that I have too many cameras now I am actually ready to trade a bunch in that I don't use anymore and get the dedicated K-3 III Monochrome so I can actually edit Raw monochrome files to my heart's content just like in the film days.... Oh and I'm with Jordan on this, Who in the world says Drama like Chris does?! :P
I’m with you in everything except pronouncing Drama. I was an old school Tri-X shooter myself as well as Neopan 400 which is very similar so I gravitate towards the deeper darker tones and high contrast.
@@niccollsvideo Haha, I'm sure you got enough rib-ing from Jordan on that... ah yes, Neopan, Excellent film stock which I only used a few times. It's good to see digital b&w conversions catching up to those looks. Nikon and Fuji has served me well on that but I am itching to try out the monochrome sensors now.
Very interesting comparison. As a Panasonic and OM owner and before Sony, my favorite would be the Nikon Z8 portrait. But then again I don't shoot JPG.
Great video and comparison. Interesting. I shoot Olympus and have tweeked the Mono profile to add more punch. I also shoot Nikon FM2 with Ilford HP5 and hat works very well!! 😀
Last year I purchased a used Nikon Z6 and then a new Zf specifically for use with adapted vintage lenses. I was pleasantly surprised by the monochrome JPEG output. I go deep with the Graphite setting. It's perfect with the '50s LTM and M39 lenses that I prefer for daily use. I still have my Fujifilm bodies for use with native and adapted C-Mount and PEN-F lenses. I like the X-H1 monochrome choices, but still prefer the Nikon look.
Really enjoyed the head to head comparison. It is something I have always been curious about it is only something that only Chris and Jordan can do. Cheers and thank you for this! 🍁
Great topic and I really enjoyed seeing these different interpretations of monochrome compared. It does seem to me that several cameras went too far in essentially reducing dynamic range for my tastes (i.e. "crushing" the blacks and brining down the highlights). That kind of look may be preferred for some subjects, but these are JPGs and - like any image - I would like to start with the most natural image possible to run though post. Thanks!
Before watching I gotta say that I'm really digging the Nikon monochrome but also the carbon profiles. And on a second note: HASSELBLAD! WHY? Why don't you have a black & white mode? AT ALL! Why?
One point: Many of your videos with m4/3 cameras have a flattish middle tones, even grey in color quite often. This looks to be in part with that. M4/3 can look somewhat flat with skintones. I use m4/3 aswell.
This is a video of firsts for me. The first video where I want to know more about the sponsor, and although I have never shot in monochrome, the Nikon Z8 looked so great that I will be trying it on my Nikons tomorrow!
Looks like you just used the default settings but you can get a lot more detail in the shadows with Sony if you use their dynamic range settings and you can tweak contrast sharpness highlight and shadow settings and more. I also sometimes shoot in HEIF which actually gives you a file with more latitude than jpeg
Fujifilm Monochrome, Leica Monochrome and Nikon profiles worked for me, mostly because of the richer mid tones. I don't like the brighter mid tones of some of the others, especially in the portrait, nor do I like the loss of detail in the shadows by the Sony. Bottom line: money no object it would be the Leica, otherwise it's the Fujifilm.
I think this was pretty even-handed across the board as far as an evaluation. I was a little disappointed in what the OM turned in.. especially because I think my older EM1 mkII has a better out of the box look. Also I think it would have been worth noting that the Leica Monochrome profile on the G9 Mark II has really flexible controls right in the app to make adjustments.. it adds a lot of quick flexibility in the field.
I like g9ii, even if you dont like one of their monochrome profile there are still 4 other to choose from, of course the leica monochrome is a killer profile and my go to option.
I yesterday asked peoples on Threads about that, i really like Acros but its too cliche now. While more punchier Monochrome is way more powerfull. I actually made custom film simulation in Fuji based on Across that should mimic Ilford HP5 film stock, and it works so well that i almost didnt need to adjust anything in post. As well Panasonic offers custom LUT's for its JPG's when that basic Flat profile could be advantage!
For me I think Fuji has a slight advantage with the film recipe to tweak and emulate different BW film looks like Ilford pan or tri-x and many others. I know Sunny can be tweaked to a certain degree using picture profile but it is not as convenient and I don't find it intuitive since it's really meant for video
Apologies for the dark frame at 16:25. I screwed up!
- Jordan
No apologies necessary. But the murky look of all the podcasting-studio scenes demonstrated why b&w video needs to be lit completely differently from color video. Watching a couple of episodes of the old "Perry Mason" TV series should be all the clinic needed. (But Jordan already knows all this...)
Believe it or not, jail.
No worries
1 out of 28,500 ain’t bad.
I mean, it ain’t bad but we’d still fire you. ;)
I thought for a moment you were going Sopranos-ending...
I like that you still put Pentax in your tests, sadly many people forgot about Pentax...
More like they forgot about themselves. They clearly showed interest in mirrorless in 2013 with the K-01. They should have continued the mirrorless idea instead of abandoning it.
pentax? What are they?
@@jungleboy1 Google it
@@fotografalexandernikolisThey're a niche brand. Would be expensive for them to move to mirrorless. Sure they've made a couple, but it'd still be cheaper for them to make DSLR's like they do. And honestly the only real downside to it is size.
@@fotografalexandernikolisthe K-01 was forgotten because Jourdan took so long to his video review
For those who are wondering, just tested my Zf and Z9 with the latest firmwares, the monochrome profiles are very very close if not identical.
I think that monochrome from Z8 is the same as the Zf and z9 with the latest firmware
Nikon has some of the best monochrome images imo
@@ryantang8146 There are more black and white profiles on the zf!
But they still didn’t test either of the 2 new B&W profiles that they premiered on the ZF
Uga buga uga buga 🦍🦍
I have no idea why i made this comment. It has no meaning
This is why Pana's Real-time LUT is such a powerful feature. Can load any look into the camera and use it as a native colour profile (while still getting the untouched RAW).
Absolutely agree .. I think this opens up an entire new space for Panasonic users to create and exchange Luts. Also worth noting the Leica Monochrome profile on the G9II also has a great deal of built-in flexibility right on the screen.. I think that would have been worth a mention on their part.
how is that different from any other custom picture style, whether there's a convenient software imp/exp feature or not?
are those LUTs much more detailed than the standard contrast, sharpness, etc. parameters?
I can personalize my Panasonic G9 II’s monochromatic styles, utilize a LUT, or tweak in post-all for a lot less money than some of the other camera brands you profiled. You always bring balance to the table along with a fun and informed narrative. Thank you for including Panasonic in your videos.
The monochrome look in the Panasonic lumix G9 ii used to film this episode outdoor is really amazing
A someone who shoots B&W 99.5% of the time, I loved this episode. Thanks for all the hard work!
Agreed - The Nikon Monochrome profile is a winner right out of the box - creating images akin to what we were aiming for in the dark room with our TMAX film. It is a really great B&W. I never saw it up against all the others in such a direct comparison - and of course this is just a matter of preference, but for us old school dark room guys - Nikon hit it out of the park.
-PD
Oh man I used to love TMAX 400 so much…those were the days.
Great to see that you included a Pentax here, respect 🙌
BTW for my taste Nikon nailed it.
so true, wasn't expecting it at all!
Chris at the end should have been like "Oh buy my B&W presets" 🤣
🤣🤣
😂
I love the lecia look. I didn't believe I would say that
Nikon and Fuji Acros for me.
Same. Nikon stood out in the high contrast group and Fuji stood above Canon in the mid contrast group. And I didn't like either Pentax or OM in the first group
Agree! I hate Nikon colors, but black and white is always a win
@@DiegoJoseSJaime nikon color is better nowaday but B&W are wonderful
It was great to see a comparison of jpegs, letting the camera hardware and software do their thing, leaving Lightroom, Capture One, etc, out of the loop.
Panasonic S5II with LUT. It fills my heart with color 🎉
Which LUT do you use, or is it a custom one?
P Diddy fills it too
Yeah, I modify B&W on my Olympus. -0.7 or -1 EV, -3 shadow and +3 highlights, +1 contrast. I also like shooting Dynamic Tone B&W art filter.
same, and some sharpness roll off, I set this up on the monochrome style and use art bracketing to get a copy of the totally erratic Grainy Film (II) style as well
the LCD on the old E-M10 so far seems good enough to assess curve adjustments on the fly
the pana L Mono D is really pulling me towards GX9 or G90, or even the G100 when they get real cheap
if I keep shooting mostly jpg as SOOC as possible it'll be a great option
Personally I really like how I can adjust the Nikon B/W profiles in Picture Control and tune it with curves, colour filters and other parameters. Makes creating an individual “film simulation” super easy.
Nikon should communicate more about that. It's a great feature to do this in camera. My d780 has it too and I like it
I rarely shoot JPG, and even more rarely B&W, so I am pretty clueless here, but I'd think that all of these cameras would allow for tuning the image processing, no? I mean, can't you go into menus and increase/decrease contrast? Maybe more? Guess I should dig into my a7riv to see. :-)
@@MadChalet Not sure how much the others let you adjust the profile or if they have curves and color filter options. But being able to save copies with different settings on Nikon is very nice. I even made a negative setting so I can see the final result in camera when "scanning" film. I'm pretty sure that wasn't possible on two Sonys I've used
@@TheDeltaMoo To fill the gaps in the conversation, every Fujifilm digital camera of the current era back to 2012 has had the functionality of adjusting film simulation and then shadows, dynamic range (aka mid-range push), highlights, push/pull exposure, color saturation, white balance/shift, sharpness and noise reduction as a profile in camera and the ability to save another copy with different settings from raw. More recent models added additional effects like grain, color chrome, smooth skin, tone curve, clarity.
@@TheDeltaMoo For Canon, I'm only aware of their picture profiles, which are curves that can be created in a graphical editor on a computer and then uploaded to the camera, so less of an exact science (not quantifiable other than by eyeballing on your screen) and more dependent on preparing before going out on a shoot. Not sure what additional features their most recent models made available, hopefully someone else can chime in with details.
Exploring something you were curious about with a structured test to get better photos. I like this kind of video, not a new product release, not a podcast. More please 😊
You folks need to look at the Olympus PenF for B&W done right.
yes, profile 3 is the best
You can set the settings in my OM5 Mark111 to match the Pen. You can do the same for all the OM series too. Rob Trek has the settings on his You Tube channel. Sooner have my mark111 with weatherproof and other features over the outdated Pen F
Personal favorite was the Leica, because I find the brightness in the midtones on it quite pleasing with the rest being so stark and contrasty. I love my G9II (and even have the Leica monochrome profile on one of my custom buttons) but they don't quite get it right in the midtones.
Yep. I'm a Fuji Fanboy, but I'd have to give this one to Nikon. A nice balance between punch, midtone separation and contrast in all the examples here.
Sad you didn’t try the old PEN-F because it was designed to take nice B&W pictures. It has filters and you can easily manage highlights, shadows AND midtones.
You are right, no camera takes better B&Ws than a Pen F
Does the Pen-F have any other profiles than the other Olympus cameras? Thought all of them have the same profiles.
@@mariusm2402 Yes it has.
1. You have the Art Filters: Dramatic Tone II, Grainy Film I and II.
2. You have 3 Mono Profiles.
a. Mono Profile 1: Flat: Highlight 0, Midtone 0, Shadow 0, Grain Off.
b. Mono Profile 2: Kind of Tri-X: Highlight +6, Midtone 0, Shadow -6, Grain High.
c. Mono Profile 3: "Infrared effect" with red filter +3.
You can modify each Mono Profile Highlight, Midtone (I do not think the other cameras have a Midtone adjustment), Shadow, Grain and 8 color filters (yellow, orange, red, magenta, blue, cyan, green, yellow-green and set your settings.
@@Penjerrix thanks for detailing the available filters. No I have an idea why photographers asking for a Pen-F mark 2.
The filters listed under 1 are available as well in the om-1. But the om-1 has only 1 B&W preset which can be configured with sharpness, contrast, color filter (neutral, yellow, orange, red and green), monochrome color and gradation.
I change the color filter regularly, depending on the subject.
@@Penjerrix yes other Olympus cameras have mid tone curve, when adjusted the highs and lows, just press the Info button to access the Mid curve 😊 I like to shoot my E-M5 II with -2 shadows, +6 mids, +2 highlights and Low Key Gradation (remember to lift the Exp Comp) which seems to closely mimic the gorgeous L Monochrome D profile of my little used GX9 but without the option to add grain of course.
Sony and Nikon for me. Probably would like Leica more if the portrait was in focus. Fujifilm second place. What about a Ricoh GR and Fujifilm X100 B&W comparison?
Nikon’s brightness setting in the picture profile lets you control the midtones.
Yeah the "must stick to defaults" approach and then making a judgement based on taste isn't super meaningful IMHO.
Better to try to recreate the same look (or one crushed, one natural, one bright) by shifting exposure, shadows and highlights on each and then actually discussing tonality from there.
You cant test individual settings over n cameras
I don’t mind the bright OM look. But I have been enjoying the two grainy film profiles recently. I think they’re really fun. They make everything look extremely interesting and dramatic.
I really like the Grainy Film II setting. If you apply it in one of the PASM modes rather than using the dial Art Filter you can adjust the tone curve to make it more or less dramatic. I like to dial it down a touch. Also the Dramatic Tone filter is fun, move the camera around and use AEL to lock in a particular effect. Good fun and unless you point the camera to the sun you won’t overexpose an image.
Grainy film looks GREAT! I was definitely hoping they would show it on the OM-1.
I am surprised you didn't feature the Ricoh GRIII(X) as in my experience it approaches Leica monochrome
Gxr was better
I miss the Ricoh GR, esp. the high contrast setting. And I know that Sony isn’t exactly admired for their jpgs, but I love the b&w mode on my Sony A6400. It’s a sleeper.
I went back through and processed a RAW file in camera on my Lumix GX9 using L Monochrome D. Really happy with the quick edit I made. Thanks for the reminder of the filter options.
Also, like the B&W switch on the Nikon Zf that has Z8 processor, and those great BW images.
The one thing missing on this tests is the different “color” filters available within the profiles. They will change the rendition on skin tones, the sky, foliage.. also, contrast curves are available and other minor tweaks. Of course it would be a hour long video and ebpven longer to shoot but hey.. why not?
Ha Ha! Thank you for appreciating the gravity of the situation!
I think it's good to talk about picture profiles, I used to never think about them. After talking to some of the Fuji shooters and kids who want a retro 'camera', it hit me how much people care about in camera profiles & dont want to do any post work.
Yep- that was one of my primary reasons for going Fuji, second only to compactness.
Of course I do shoot +RAW, but I don’t end up needing them 99.9% of the time, and when I do I’ll use the camera itself to reprocess those images instead of going to Lightroom. Of those, nine times out of ten it can be saved that way.
I really like the Pen-F for customized color and monochrome JPGs... easy to use graphical interface of color wheels and saturation curves.
Yay black and white!
I just watched ripley on Netflix and it is the standard for black and white in my eyes now. Absolutely gorgeous, let’s see how this video stacks up!
If you have not already so, should check out the Mad Max Fury Road Black and Chrome (B&W version). I really enjoyed it!
Those camera sensors are capturing a huge range of stops. It's post that produces the look. If you only shoot jpeg sims you can't recover info lost in high contrast settings.
Glad you made this. I used a Leica Monochrom for a little while, and I couldn’t ever justify the cost of the camera and lens when I could get very similar results from my Fuji and Panasonic. This video solidifies what I was seeing.
I usually shoot raw+ with a tweaked monochrome jpeg on older 16MP Olympus cameras. I seldom have to go to the raw (unless I decide colour works better) and usually have enough leeway to get what I want with minor adjustments in post. I tried this with a Sony a6000 but found the contrast was too high and I had to resort to the raw files. Great video, lots of “drawma!”
please share your mono settings, thanks, my default is:
contrast +2
sharpness -2
yellow or red filter
and I'm pushing the high/shadow curve to taste, the E-M10 II LCD seems good enough to assess the levels
A lot more variance than I expected.
Not surprising really. Think of every little setting you can tinker with in a RAW file. Each camera is assuming a value for all of these settings in an instant and that will vary a lot camera to camera as per each standard profile like in the video.
Thumbs up for Nikon and Leica in this comparison. Great vid / thanks!
I love the monochrome setting on my EM1 Mkii. At first I wasn't that crazy about it but I found some help on a forum by someone who shoots mono and I loved his shots that he posted. I set my Olympus EM1 Mkii to The following:
Sharpness: Default setting
Contrast: +1
Gradation: Low
Color Filter: None
Monochrome color: normal
Highlight & Shadow Control: Shadow: -3, Highlight +3
Often times I will set the ISO to 1600 or higher to introduce noise which looks awesome on the Mkii. Not a huge difference than default, but it made a big improvement in the image.
Also try this with Hi Res mode.
You’re very close to my B/W settings. Low Key Gradation. +2 high, -2 shadows but +6 midtones. No extra contrast. I like to use the Red filter. In my opinion it gets me close to the L Monochrome D look of the GX9. Low Key Gradation is the key here. Those settings don’t quite retain the shadow details of the L Mono D but it’s close enough for a camera that is much easier to hold.
@@alex-reay Wow! Thanks for the feedback. I can't wait to try your settings.
@@ValiRossi hold that, I think I've given you the wrong settings to replicate L Monochrome D, the midtones above are too high! Try Auto Gradation which lifts shadows and lower highlights creating a flatter profile. L Monochrome D has good shadow detail, so Auto Gradation is the way to go. Then in the Tone Curve be careful not to lose that detail. I set it to +3 Highlights, -3 Shadows, 0 Midtones. No Contrast. That seems to create a really nice Mono JPG with good contrast without losing too much shadow info. It's all subjective of course. You might just like Low Key Gradation on it's own, with zero tone curve or contrast, it's really very nice. Panasonic really have worked some magic with L Monochrome D, I think I'm now in the ball park with my Olympus.
@@alex-reay @ValRossi - great stuff, noted, thanks
@@KelvinSchwartzGrunlicht that said, I’ve changed my Mono settings/recipe again to more resemble ValRossi’s settings. Now very happy with Normal Gradation, Contrast 0, Sharpness 0, Tone Curve -3 on the Shadows and +3 on the Highlights, Midtones at 0. Red filter on. The Gradation settings play a massive part, so if you want to retain more highlight and shadow detail then use Auto Gradation. You can then tweak the Tone Curve to adjust contrast to taste. For Colour, it’s just a slight tweak to the Natural picture mode, Gradation stays at Normal, Tone Curve +3 Hi, 0 Mids, -3 Shadows. White Balance on Auto but change Alpha +1, Green +2, everything else on 0. Dive into the Menu to Turn Warm Color off and the JPGs are 😍🤌🏻
The Nikon monochrome is the tonality I wanted to get in the darkroom out of my TMAX.
The Pentax monochrome is the tonality I actually got.
I really like the black and white images I get from my Nikon Z5 and 50mm /1.8 S. Standard colour profile, full spectrum conversion, 850nm IR filter, custom white balance.
Full spectrum?
I shoot all of my street photography on the X-T5/56 1.2 R WR/90 F2/33 1.4 in the Acros + Green and it just feels right. YMMV.
For me, the winner is Leica closely followed by Nikon. It was a very interesting comparison indeed.
To me the real USP to the Fuji B+W profiles is the color filters. I use these with analog cameras as well and the convenience of virtually putting on a filter, even in different intensity is unreal 😅
This is the type of video we didn't know that we needed. Nice comparison!
I like this comparison. A fun side video that isn't a review. I'm happy Nikon has a good B&W engine. I really want to get a Zf and be able to switch it into BW mode and emulate going out and going some street photography with an old film camera. I think it's also worth mentioning that Lightroom can be setup to match it's RAW color profile with the one it has emulating the camera settings, so you can shoot a RAW while having the color set to Monochrome, and in Lightroom you have a monochrome image by default but still all the controls of editing a RAW. Might be good for something like the Sony where you can import the B&W, then recover the shadows a bit in post instead of them being discarded.
Thanks for giving some attention to black and white.
I love love love high contrast BW photography. Even those shots of Chris at his computer with the deep shadows on one side of his face are a delight. I like cinematography that isn't afraid of darkness. Interesting on how well Sony, Nikon, and Leica capture exactly the kind of rich detail I love in BW. Excellent work.
I think Chris should do a video on trying to come up with his own Fujifilm recipes. Lead by B&W
Hey I really enjoyed this style of video, and learned some stuff about some camera systems I will never ever shoot. Acros plus red forever, until I can afford a Leica.
I think something missed in this video was that the raw files can be brought into lightroom with the b&w profile applied then further tweaked if needed. Doesnt have to be jpeg only. If you import with camera settings, the raws apply whatever peofile is used in camera. Raw B&Ws can still be changed to color if needed.
Nikon Z8/Z9 and the Leica are tops. Great looking. Thanks for the comparisons.
for me, Nikon, Fujifilm and Leica have the best B&W JPEGs!
Ricoh GRIII has the best black and white jpegs I've ever used, and I guess we have Daido Moriyama to thank. 👑
The ones from the Ricoh GX200 are amazing too!
@@drs-Rigo-Reuswow another GX200 user! Yes when I bought mine a few years ago, the Mono JPGs floored me
Camera breaks too easy
Yes proper B&W like PROVOKE, the video above has green in it!
@@_H_2023 quality control is terrible get a Coolpix
Fuji Acros is my personal favorite. It’s not meant to be shot plain it’s a blank template imo to be tinkered with using Fujis extensive jpeg settings. Also, yes my Panasonic LX3 from 2008 has a dynamic B&W profile that takes stunning JPEGs 😉
It’s a Shame they didn’t include the Panasonic Dynamic Monochrome preset as it’s one of the best!
Really nice comparison. And a shout out to Leica’s lens. The detail on the hands in the portrait are eye catching.
From just the images; Nikon and then Leica... Everything is tweakable nowadays; but SOOTC NIkon looked better... but it will depend on the micro contrast of the lenses as well.
Sony B&W is underrated. B&W images from my A7Cii are often excellent SOOC.
iirc Fuji's Monochrome is just the Provia profile but monochrome, whereas Acros has its own voodoo magic with how certain colors are rendered
It works especially great with the "filters"
thanks, do recommend a reasonable body if you will, outside the X-T, X-n, X-H line please
Missing the Olympus PEN-F (ok, discontinued, maybe the EP-7). I liked X-T5, Pentax and very positively surprised by Nikon's result
Haven't read each of the 300 + comments, but would back the superb mono jpgs from my x 2 OMD any day.
These cameras are true classics.
Agree on Nikon, although Leica has a tonal separation that is unique. But my favourite B&N rendering is from the Foveon sensor!
I love my Fuji XT-4 for B&W because you get so many options in the simulations for them, there's always a look I can work with. Like being able to change the tones based on color is super useful if I'm moving between architecture and portrait.
This video was so interesting I watched it three times over. I would love to see a part two featuring cameras grouped by sensor size. Keep it coming .
I found it hilarious that you chose the RX-100 for the test shiots because I use that camera in monochrome mode for my everyday carry. It gives me really punchy monochrome images that I rarely have to edit, and it would stack up really well here.
Great video! Of course many cameras have the ability to tweak their profiles, Panasonic with overall contrast and dynamic range, as well as highlight and shadow adjustments. This makes it easy to, say mimick the Nikon I believe. And I'm sure the other makers also allow for tweaks. And going to the Panny G9M2 and S5M2 you just make a cool look in Photoshop or Affinity, and export it as a LUT and it can bake that look into your jpegs in camera. That ability really make those two cameras into camelions - as every aspect of a look can be adjusted. But great video! Hope you follow up on the theme - there's so much more to B&W shooting! Like colour filtering, etc.
Glad to see the differences between all the major brands. I didn’t expect to see how much change is seen.
Thank you for continuing to be curious in the B&W side of digital photography!
This was surprisingly interesting. Like others have said, I didn't expect so much variation in the default B&W JPG presets. I've sometimes wondered if camera JPG presets are the camera manufacturers feel for what best represents a particular sensor as JPG, or if it's just a, "Meh, these are for the people who don't want to bother editing," sort of attitude. To me, your test indicates it's actually more about a company's culture than about either of the previous thoughts. (Including when a "Meh" attitude comes out in some ways.) And because I was curious, I read a bunch of the comments. My favourites have been those dismissing 8 bit as pedestrian and obviously not real photography. LOL
Ooh a subject I've been experimenting with lately. I like a good in-camera colour/monochrome profile, if only for a good idea of what the final image could look like (and a better embedded JPEG preview in the RAW). I find the L.Monochrome profile on the Panasonic S5IIX sorta lines up to my experience of Ilford HP5+, which is nice; though I would like them to port the new Leica profile from the G9II. The default monochrome profile on the Nikon Z9 is a bit more situation-specific in my experience due to the contrast, but it's great in certain shots - hoping they bring the new profiles from the Zf over to it in a future firmware update 🤔
I'm with you Chris, the Nikon looks beautiful!
Ricoh GRIII Hi Contrast BnW is missing 😢
Yeah….. those piccies don’t hold a candle to Ricoh.
maybe the b&w algorithm is the same as pentax in Ricohs
Very interesting review and comparison. A nice change from gear oriented reviews. Thanks for doing this.
Spot-on, no notes. -Nikon Zf shooter 😁
For portraits on Fuji try Acros + Green and over expose 2/3 of a stop.
Well i personally still like shooting black and white analog. It is really interesting to shoot b&w. But my favourite profiles, from this video, are the leica and fujifilm ones. Fujifilm is obvious because they actually made B&W film that is gorgeous. Leica wins because of the leitz lenses.
Edit: I hate smartphone keyboards
M11 wins hands down for me. Like the richer low mids and softer highlights. All the Leica M cameras all have really nice b&w jpegs. The files from my old M9 look a lot like Kodak Tri-X straight out of camera, and I love it!
Thanks, excellent jpeg monochrome profile comparison. My images are all black & white, initially converting in photoshop, now only shooting black & white thru viewfinder for 3 years. Nikon 12 years, Sony 6 years, couple of weeks ago Fuji X100vi, I did take a Leica M11Monochrom to Egypt last fall. Alway Raw. Leica was defiantly the best, but looking thru natural color optical viewfinder was odd, best SOTC images, but $9K camera, $4k lens, ouch. The new Fujifilm x100vi is fun, but small for me. The Sony A1 produces incredible images, I defiantly agree, very edgy. I followed your previous videos at other company, now with PetaPixel. You all do great work supporting the industry. Thank You - Terry Toole
I enjoyed this one! I have a Q3 I'm taking on a bucket list trip soon and plan on setting it to BW just for the challenge of it. I truly enjoy your videos that get into the nuts and bolts, but doing an experiment just to see what happens brings back the fun of photography, right? So, thanks for this little experiment of yours. I'm really hoping my Q3 shots come out nicely contrasted like your shots with the M11. I will be very happy if they do!
Fun video! As default profiles are often easily adjusted in camera, I would find it more useful to compare how well the default profiles can be adjusted to achieve one, or several reference image looks. To me the whole purpose of using a relatively expensive ILC is the ability to achieve the desired results through the provided adjustments. This was helpful to identify the starting points of one profile for each camera. How about a Part Two on in-camera profile adjustments?
I agree that out of the box the Olympus/OM monochrome profile is a little meh, but seeing as you can adjust overall contrast, gradation, highlights, shadows and midtones all separately, the possibilities are fantastic! I've used most brands (not Leica unfortunately) and my favourite black and white jpegs have come from Olympus (after tweaking the profile) and Nikon. L.Mono from Panasonic is also pretty nice too if you like a super moody look.
For whatever reason I never fell in love with Fuji's monochrome looks but perhaps that's because I'm a sucker for Classic Chrome (sorry Chris), which gives you monochrome vibes just with colour added.
Fantastic video! I started shooting again 1.5 years ago but decided to shoot b n w for 6 months. I never stopped! Once I found Acros Film Simulation that's all I shoot now with RAW backup. This video explains the b n w nuances very well.
Great comparisons. As a b&w shooter since the 70s I can appreciate this. I shot Nikon, Fuji and Canon and I agree with the Nikon monochrome profile's richness which I love. It reminds me of my Kodak Tri-X days in the darkroom. Being that I have too many cameras now I am actually ready to trade a bunch in that I don't use anymore and get the dedicated K-3 III Monochrome so I can actually edit Raw monochrome files to my heart's content just like in the film days.... Oh and I'm with Jordan on this, Who in the world says Drama like Chris does?! :P
I’m with you in everything except pronouncing Drama. I was an old school Tri-X shooter myself as well as Neopan 400 which is very similar so I gravitate towards the deeper darker tones and high contrast.
@@niccollsvideo Haha, I'm sure you got enough rib-ing from Jordan on that... ah yes, Neopan, Excellent film stock which I only used a few times. It's good to see digital b&w conversions catching up to those looks. Nikon and Fuji has served me well on that but I am itching to try out the monochrome sensors now.
Very interesting comparison. As a Panasonic and OM owner and before Sony, my favorite would be the Nikon Z8 portrait. But then again I don't shoot JPG.
Great video and comparison. Interesting. I shoot Olympus and have tweeked the Mono profile to add more punch. I also shoot Nikon FM2 with Ilford HP5 and hat works very well!! 😀
Although it's an old-fashioned camera that people don't use these days, Fujifilm s3pro's monochrome mode remains a very good memory
Last year I purchased a used Nikon Z6 and then a new Zf specifically for use with adapted vintage lenses. I was pleasantly surprised by the monochrome JPEG output. I go deep with the Graphite setting. It's perfect with the '50s LTM and M39 lenses that I prefer for daily use. I still have my Fujifilm bodies for use with native and adapted C-Mount and PEN-F lenses. I like the X-H1 monochrome choices, but still prefer the Nikon look.
Really enjoyed the head to head comparison. It is something I have always been curious about it is only something that only Chris and Jordan can do. Cheers and thank you for this! 🍁
Nikon and fuji look great🔥
Great topic and I really enjoyed seeing these different interpretations of monochrome compared. It does seem to me that several cameras went too far in essentially reducing dynamic range for my tastes (i.e. "crushing" the blacks and brining down the highlights). That kind of look may be preferred for some subjects, but these are JPGs and - like any image - I would like to start with the most natural image possible to run though post. Thanks!
Before watching I gotta say that I'm really digging the Nikon monochrome but also the carbon profiles.
And on a second note: HASSELBLAD! WHY? Why don't you have a black & white mode? AT ALL! Why?
One point: Many of your videos with m4/3 cameras have a flattish middle tones, even grey in color quite often. This looks to be in part with that. M4/3 can look somewhat flat with skintones. I use m4/3 aswell.
Olympus Pen F Monochrome Profile 2. just turn the creative color mode dial, it's addictive.
This is a video of firsts for me. The first video where I want to know more about the sponsor, and although I have never shot in monochrome, the Nikon Z8 looked so great that I will be trying it on my Nikons tomorrow!
Really great video, first time I see such a comparison. Please more videos like this
Looks like you just used the default settings but you can get a lot more detail in the shadows with Sony if you use their dynamic range settings and you can tweak contrast sharpness highlight and shadow settings and more. I also sometimes shoot in HEIF which actually gives you a file with more latitude than jpeg
Fujifilm Monochrome, Leica Monochrome and Nikon profiles worked for me, mostly because of the richer mid tones. I don't like the brighter mid tones of some of the others, especially in the portrait, nor do I like the loss of detail in the shadows by the Sony. Bottom line: money no object it would be the Leica, otherwise it's the Fujifilm.
I think this was pretty even-handed across the board as far as an evaluation. I was a little disappointed in what the OM turned in.. especially because I think my older EM1 mkII has a better out of the box look. Also I think it would have been worth noting that the Leica Monochrome profile on the G9 Mark II has really flexible controls right in the app to make adjustments.. it adds a lot of quick flexibility in the field.
I like g9ii, even if you dont like one of their monochrome profile there are still 4 other to choose from, of course the leica monochrome is a killer profile and my go to option.
Chris, you prove that what seems to be Black and White is not Absolutely Back and White.
Great episode.
I yesterday asked peoples on Threads about that, i really like Acros but its too cliche now. While more punchier Monochrome is way more powerfull. I actually made custom film simulation in Fuji based on Across that should mimic Ilford HP5 film stock, and it works so well that i almost didnt need to adjust anything in post. As well Panasonic offers custom LUT's for its JPG's when that basic Flat profile could be advantage!
My favourite is the K-3 III, the Pentax colours are something I miss since switching to Sony.
For me I think Fuji has a slight advantage with the film recipe to tweak and emulate different BW film looks like Ilford pan or tri-x and many others. I know Sunny can be tweaked to a certain degree using picture profile but it is not as convenient and I don't find it intuitive since it's really meant for video