By definition, each pixel is measuring only red, green or blue-and there are twice as many green-sensing pixels as any other color. While the Bayer filter makes it easy and affordable to capture color images, this technique has its drawbacks. With a Bayer filter, 50 percent of the pixels have a filter that’s sensitive only to green pixels, 25 percent sensitive to blue and 25 percent that are sensitive to red-which roughly matches the way the human eye sees colors.
The most common type of digital sensor uses what’s called a Bayer filter to record color values. While we think of digital cameras as being capable of capturing colors, they’re all really monochrome at heart. The key difference between the color and monochrome versions of this (or any traditional) camera lies in the way that the sensor records light. Like its siblings, the Monochrom (Typ 246) is housed in a magnesium-and-brass body and the rear 912k-dot, 3-inch LCD screen has a sapphire coating for prevention of scratches.
#LEICA MONOCHROME ISO#
This new Monochrom has a 24MP sensor with an ISO range up to 12,500 and a 2GB buffer that Leica says allows the M Monochrom to capture images up to three times faster than the 2012 model.
#LEICA MONOCHROME UPDATE#
The Leica M Monochrom (Type 246) is an update to the last Leica Monochrom body, released in 2012, and looking at the new M Monochrom, it’s virtually indistinguishable from the Leica M (Typ 240) on which it’s based.
Not only that, but when I would shoot side-by-side with other systems, I was often more satisfied with the results from the Leica Monochrom than I was with images I converted from color images shot at the same time with different cameras. It might not be a lesson that’s important enough to spend $7,500 to learn, but it’s a valuable one nonetheless.Īfter a few weeks with the Leica M, I began to reach for the camera instead of others in my test arsenal. “Wait,” the Internet forums argue, “why don’t you just take a color image and desaturate it, creating a monochrome image from a color file-the best of both worlds?” You can, and certainly most photographers will, but it turns out that there’s an important creative lesson to be learned by shooting with a monochrome-only system. But landscape photographers, raised on classic images from Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, have an especially visceral connection to both the history of black-and-white imagery and the powerful emotions the technique conveys. In these heady days of digital photography, black-and-white images are an anachronism, not the norm. Why, I wondered aloud to an empty room, would someone spend around $7,500 for a camera that’s incapable of capturing color images? A quick scan of forums will reveal that this is a common theme in the discussion of the camera, which of course begs the question, “Well, why would someone want to shoot with a monochrome-only camera?” I immediately set out to find the answer. Photo by Drew Doggett.Īdmittedly, when the press release for the Leica M Monochrom (Type 246) crossed my desk, I chuckled. Leica M Monocrom, Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH.