Black and White

[Palmtree]

Hi,

I am going to take my telescope on the boat the weekend and I might have a go at fitting a Canon 400d to it. I hoped to photograph the moon but the phase at the weekend is wrong!

Anyhow, what I would like to know is when it is possible, if I set the camera to black and white will the image be better than shooting in colour?

Ian

[Guest]

I stand to be corrected by someone better informed but I would have thought not. After all, if you are shooting JPEG's then all the B&W version does is take the JPEG and desaturate it to get the B&W version. You could quite easily do the same yourself on a computer and at least that way you would have the choice between the two. If you set it to B&W on the camera then no colour version will ever be created.

[mbird]

Hi Ian

I agree with Simon. When I did an evening course on digital photography a few years back, the lecturer said it was a cardinal sin to shoot B&W in the camera for exactly the reason Simon has mentioned.

In the days of B&W film (though I assume there are still a people around who use it still) the photographer would often use coloured filters, even though shooting B&W, for example a green filter when shooting trees etc, to alter the contrast. If you shoot in RAW that when back on the computer you can add various coulour tints or change the white balance after you have desaturated the image which can have a simlar effect by changing the contrast between the various shades of grey dramatically and can make massive improvements to pictures.

Make sure you post the shots, as I'd love to see them

[Palmtree]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback I will stick to colour. If I do manage to get any pictures I will post them.

Ian