After reading more about the marvelous psychological benefits of using a "real" dedicated monochrome camera instead of trying to fool myself by just setting any old camera into a monochrome mode (profile) I finally saw the light and decided I had to take action if I was to truly understand the complex and nearly overwhelming process of seeing in authentic black and white. And oh did I take action!!!
I got out an Exacto knife, pliers, a few different-sized screw drivers and my handbook on coding custom firmware and went to work modifying a Panasonic S5 I had laying around. I haven't tried this yet with one of my Leicas but if it works out I'm right on that edge...
I tried to tidy up my workspace to keep dust in the throat of the camera to a minimum. I took the lens off the front of the camera and got to work. Getting the tip of the Exacto knife just under the leading edge of the filter stack on top of the sensor was tricky work. It took hours to pull everything up, and lots of trial and error. Getting a grip on the edge of the (hated) Beyer Pattern filter was the hardest part. It's a very thin bit of filter -- but tenacious. That's where the pliers came in quite handy. There were a few rough spots where I unintentionally nicked the actual sensor but those wounds were mostly on the edges so I taped them off with thin pieces of duct tape and eventually, after much trial and error, programmed the camera processor to ignore the last 10% of the edges when making files for final output.
Reprogramming the camera was more effective after I realized that I needed to start from scratch and totally re-write the operating system, tweak the controllers and then come up with an authentic and aesthetically pleasing mathematic set of formulae for rendering true black and white. Complete with an automatic lifting of shadows and an increase in dynamic range to nearly 16 stops (required to get more wiggle room for highlight recovery). While I was working on the interface between the mechanical systems and the electronics I decided to go a step further and disable any video functions and any software controls for video. Now it appears nowhere on my menus. I also re-wrote the menus so they would display a Comic Sans typeface as I find that more readable and to interfere less with my very precise monochrome thought process/workflow.
I have to confess that I made a number of unsuccessful attempts on the project over the course of the last several weeks and in the process I had to "sacrifice" a few camera bodies. Well, at last count, five S5 bodies. But they are pretty inexpensive now that they've been replaced by the S5ii. I have succeeded in electrocuting myself several times with lithium camera batteries but the only damage was some burns to my skin, the only damage was some burns to my skin, the only damage was some burns to my skin...
The camera is now semi-functional and I'm in the middle of my beta testing. I have yet to zero in on the milky, soft, super low contrast look that other photographers who are driven to work in monochrome seem to find pleasing. I'm used to seeing a wide range of contrasts in prints from classic photographers so seeing 95% of each frame rendered as a "contrast free" middle gray is.... a bit disturbing. But I'm sure I'll get used to it....over time.....
When I look at modern practitioners who profess to "love" monochrome I am confused that they seem to conflate "monochrome" with only landscapes and indeed, only landscapes bereft of any deep blacks, pure whites or any sort of mid-range contrast. I'll chalk this up to me being a pure tyro in the world of black and white. In the past I have only printed B&W for a very few years and only with a very few formats or film types. I guess I spent from 1978 till about 1996 in my own black and white darkroom and have only printed maybe 10,000+ black and white prints from hand processed black and white negatives over that course of time. I'll admit I have not printed from all negative film formats, just half frame, 35mm, 6x6, 645, 6x9cm, and 4x5. Oh....and some contact prints from 8x10 inch negatives ---- but that sure doesn't make me an expert. Nope.
I guess when I look back at the several thousand large, double-weight black and white prints lying in cases in my office what I really miss most with digital B&W now is being unable to print the resulting files directly on to silver paper. Stuff like the luscious Ilford Gallerie, Seagull Portrait, and Agfa Portriga. But now that I have more or less finished with the complete make over of an S5 it's only a matter of time until I figure out how to replicate all those meager, past, film experiences onto a modern ink jet printer. Is it really true that all of them distill down the big, juicy files from 12, 14, or 16 bits down to 8 bit files as they write out the results? That's the next thing I need to look at. Building my own 128 bit monochrome printer. Can't go halfsies.
The image above is of one of my most prized possessions, the heart of my coffee making experiences.
The image below is what confronts me right now. Tree trimmers for the next door neighbors who have succeeded in parking their truck and a pile of fallen branches right across my driveway. Just when I started having a hankering for BBQ somewhere else....
A warning. Cameras are easy to break and I don't recommend doing any
repairs or modifications yourself. It's likely that you'll have the same
problems I did on this project: cut up fingers, ruined cameras that at
one time had such promise. And the scorn of your photographer friends
who can't seem to understand your insistence on customizing your
cameras.
Satire.
Might be cheaper for me just to see a therapist and learn to love my cameras as they are...
22 comments:
But you appear to just a novice learner, clearly not an expert, after reading your B&W curriculum vitae.
The firmware for your S5 needs more tweaking and I strongly suggest using Chat GPT to write it, as from experience it produces, (or rather steals), great code very quickly. That you would give your more time getting to grips with, (assuming you still have any fingers left to grip with), your growing collection of sensor array cutting tools....
Kirk, what you need is a heat gun. Just blast it on the sensor for 10 minutes or so while you hold your camera in the air with the mount facing down. Don't let any plastic drip in your eyes. If you burn your sensor that just looks cool, like old Platinum Paladium prints. Clean what you can, but don't be fussy. The sensor will be a sticky dust magnet, but that gives it a film vibe.
Please quote your lowest price for converting my Sony A7 Rx, including return postage to Europe and also, please state delivery time. Do you offer a collection service? Thank you. Chris.
John, You had me at "heat gun".
Christer3805, hardware only = $3500. With new, ChatGBT firmware = $4500 With custom, Kirk firmware and leather grips = $ call for market pricing... That's fast approaching Leica territory.
Kirk, wouldn't it be more practical just to buy the Leica Q2 Monochrom? You already like that camera and Leica seem to have more experience making B&W only cameras than anyone else.
R.A.
The top shot is gorgeous.
Hi Kirk. I must say I am impressed at the lengths you have gone to get the perfect monochrome camera. Unlike what you and others here believe, I think you do have the necessary experience. However, I am wondering if you may have made a rookie mistake. Did you remember to add a film scanning routine to the code?
You and Pentax.
Obviously the gas leaking from your new GE fridge is causing hallucinations.
Looking forward to your HDR mono shots! :^p
As my Navy friends would phrase it, this is a “No S**t” story.
I got the best possible BW digital print from a monochrome-converted camera, a print made by one of the better known master printers on the East Coast. But, that the digital BW print still didn’t quite come up to the standard of a traditional silver gelatin fine print as I’ve seen exhibited when living in major metro areas.
My solution was to order a new custom 11x14 field camera and make silver gelatins contact prints, as I’ve always felt that 8x10 prints were a bit small for modern exhibits. As I already had the Dagor and Convertible Protar VIIa lenses from an 1898 11x14 kit that was a bit fiddly, heavier, and awkward to use, it was actually cheaper for me to buy a new custom 11x14 and 3 new film holders compared to buying a suitable full-frame camera, getting a monochrome conversion of uncertain quality, and buying a bunch of decent lenses for the new mount.
Seriously. This is not a satire drill. Repeat. This is not a satire drill.
That said, the new Pentax Monochrome K-3 III is really interesting as I have a fair number of really nice Pentax Limited Series lenses around from a dalliance with Pentax a while back. As we are now in the boonies, there’s no place to do a trade-in of old gear for new.
And the cost of the new custom 11x14 field kit was about half the price of a Leica Monochrome with that tiny full-frame sensor. The 11x14 has an effective resolution of at least several hundred MP, most of which is of course wasted on a contact print.
Maybe a bit of satire in this post, but verifiably factual.
If one's ability to creatively express oneself in B&W is blocked by just the knowledge that you could have taken the image in color I suggest that 2195$ is better spent on a shrink..Having said that..I am seldom satisfied with my work because I know that it could be better..if I would have come a bit earlier/later, got a bit closer, waited a bit longer ..(you get the picture.)
I can’t understand why some are so upset if a few photographers want a monochrome only camera. If it’s not for you just carry on doing what you do.
On a different tack, I feel Joe’s return to field camera and contact prints points to a likely way forward in the face of ‘AI photography’. Maybe also there will.be a resurgence of antique photographic methods that produce one-off prints.
An AI ‘photograph’ has just won a first prize in a Sony competition.
On AI photography, I’m not particularly concerned from a fine art standpoint because large language AI models are largely trained on the overall Internet content. Hence, they will converge upon current and recent trends and tend to look derivative, rather than distinctive.
The impact may be substantively more severe for product and other flavors of commercial photography, where the goal is usually to depict something or someone in the currently trendy manner. Something not all that divergent is already occurring when, for example, a new background is dropped into a portrait.
I've noticed some photogravure printing processes lately which seem very nice, it looks like the plates are etched, so there's scope to introduce a bit of texture as well, if some areas are etched for longer (you paint extra stuff on the plate to block other areas)
I think Kirk is voicing his opinion not about "monochrome versus not monochrome" but over the differences between realistic control over the images and imagined benefits that are mostly ephemeral. I, for one, like to see push back on some things being posited as "the way to go". A bit of rational thought goes a long way. If he only wrote in agreement and lockstep with everyone else on the web then why would we read his writings? And we obviously do like to read stuff here. Afraid he might step on some toes? That's the nature of photographic disagreements historically.
R.A.
Civil comments based upon factual/experiential premises are appreciated.
Joe, You are so right. Wouldn't that be lovely?
Aw man, good luck getting any warranty done on that camera now!
Yes, it would be lovely if everything was consistently rational and reasonable, even though that would put out me out of business as a trial lawyer. Unfortunately, it’s human nature and culture that keeps me in business.
As you my have guessed, my undergraduate and graduate training was STEM-oriented.
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