The idea of a Black and White digital camera is probably strange to most people, but I’ve been waiting for someone to come out with one for years. Leave it to Leica to finally make the leap.
Why, might you ask, would anyone release a camera that can ONLY shoot black and white? And why, have you been expecting this for years?
Let me give you three reasons:
1. Specialization – Now that the initial rush for resolution and features is over, camera manufacturers have been going after smaller niche markets. You see it in bright colors, rangefinder-style digicams, and even in the film world in Holga’s.
People are actually looking for cameras that DON’T do everything, but just do one thing really well.
2. Improved Pixel Resolution – Your digital camera has some special layers on the sensor that divide the light up into its three colors, Red, Green, and Blue. This means that each tiny little sensor in your camera actually only sees one color. The process of splitting the light out actually blurs the image slightly and reduces the overall brightness of the light striking the sensor. By removing the color splitting layers, the sensor receives the full brightness and sharpness of the light coming through the lens.
3. Improved Image Resolution – Even though each little pixel on your sensor only sees Red, Green, or Blue, we still want to see a photo in normal color, where every pixel is full RGB. This means that the computer brain inside your camera has to rebuild all the missing color information. However, if you present your image in Black and White, you don’t have to rebuild the color information, guessing at what the values should be.
All this brings us back to Leica, who saw an excellent opportunity to present their photographers, many of whom love black and white anyway, with a camera that specializes in black and white, uses a modified sensor that already exists, and increases the available resolution and quality of the image. Good work Leica! Now… if I only had $8000…
Dpreveiw of the Leica.
Buy it here!
