Digital BW, The Print

I thought a generalized topic like this might be of interest here.

One of the news stories that has been a major topic of discussion in the Leica groups is the soon to be released dedicated B&W Leica -- the Leica "Monochrom" or "Leica MM."  See http://us.leica-camera.com/photography/m_system/m_monochrom/ for the usual Leica information and hype.  It's basically an M9 with the Bayer (and all?) color filters removed from the M9's 18 MP CCD sensor.  (Note there was never an AA or diffusion filter over the sensor on the Leica.)

Putting aside the the usual questions of whether Leicas, in general, are worth the money, whether a grayscale digital camera is an improvement for those of us who do mostly B&W seems like an interesting question.

There is certainly going to be some increase in sharpness, but I, personally, don't think I'd give up the advantages of variable color filtration and superior selection by color range that an RGB original image offers.

In addition to the sharpness increase, there would also be a reduction in shadow or low light noise, at least in many circumstances.  However, in working up my latest B&W landscapes, I found that the green channel, with contrast enhanced, could be used to achieve a lower noise sky than the red filtered channel by itself.  So, would a single red filter over the B&W camera really provide a lower noise sky?  Leica, you can send a test camera to me if you'd like!  ;-)

For those who are predominantly B&W shooters (aside from occasional color snapshots), which would you take if someone offered you a same-make, etc. B&W or color version of your favorite digital camera?

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com