Pentax K3 Mark III Monochrome: First Impressions
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2023
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I just wanted to echo your comments about the monochrome sensor. I certainly can see a difference between that and a bayer sensor, and even though the average viewer likely could not, the results are more satisfying to me. I picked up a Leica 246 Monochrom used for slightly more than what you paid for the Pentax, and I'm still consistently blown away each time I look at my files. It's really something special for us black and white enthusiasts.
I rented one for two weeks before I bought one two months later. I absolutely love it. I was a custom black and white printer for 20 some years. I did the whole bit, kept a range of papers in stock for various tonal outputs, cold tone, warm tone papers etc. I mixed custom paper developers depending on the image and paper used ( Amidol based my own formula, Ansco 130, Ilford ID 62 with benzotriazole restrainer, etc), toned with gold chloride or selenium or polysulfide toners, archival processing, the entire bit. I can say that working with K3 III Monochrome files feels like being back in the darkroom with my beloved long gone Forte Polygrade FB (the most flexible paper ever made, had chromium salts in it, the environmental meanies made them scrap it.
It feels like I am making subtle manipulations to my print in the darkroom, color conversions NEVER felt like this, EVER. They suck A$$ big time. Now I am back in my skill and home turf.
I use mainly the wonderful 20-40 DA Limited lens. I have B&W and Heliopan Yellow and Orange filters for it. I have not bought a red filter as of yet, because I feel red filters were WAY too overused, and the constant black skies and soot and white wash highlights become tedious and overused and tiresome after awhile, A # 15 Orange filter strikes a nice balance for 90% of the subjects I shoot. Curious how strong the IR filter is on the K3 III monochrome, I am thinking of getting a # 89 Opaque filter, and seeing if a long exposure on a tripod can yield useful results-again IR look can be WAY overused, just a thought though to see how capable the sensor is if you want to do IR photography on occasion..
I think I offered to send you links to files I have uploaded to my dropbox to see what you thought of them, the communication must have been lost somewhere. Hit me up if you want to see some finished jpegs I get from this wonderful beast.
As to the "pain in the ass" screen that doesn't tilt, that is because Pentax prioritized extreme weather sealing on this, and the K3 III color camera. I have shot with the K3 III color camera in driving thunderstorms shooting macros of flowers with a weather sealed Pentax GAF 360 flash-no problem whatsoever. I am confident the K3 III monochrome can handle shooting like that with no problem as well. anscochrome at gmail dot communist is my email (written in code so it is not censored). email me and I'll give you my phone number if you want to have a long chat session. That is all. Thank you for giving this underrated camera a fair shot.
p.s. today I did a long drive and shoot in rural Iowa with the K3 III monochrome, and a GRIII to make matching color shots of the same or similar scene. I set the DA limited to 20mm so it better matched the 18mm lens on the GRIII from a perspective, um perspective :-) I did this to not have to lug around two K3 III bodies at the same time in my Domkie bag . I am editing the shots right now as I type this. Time to get back into finishing my edits.
Great comments. Leave it to Pentax to do something only Leica does. Pentax made the K1 screen bullet (and weather) proof, but what a monster that is. It is true though, compared to the Pentax DSLR's, the mirrorless cameras all seem pretty second rate in terms of build quality.
As always, it's a pleasure to watch a Pentax video of yours over breakfast. I'm really considering buying the Monochrome. Greetings from cold Norway.
It's worth giving it a shot. The results (so far) are really interesting!
Ed your videos is such joy to watch. Keep going buddy
Thanks!
Best video on your channel so far. Congrats!
Got to love Pentax, they just keep in there with unique and interesting cameras. Thanks for the review and insight. It will be interesting to see what they do with film on the horizon to. Sounds like you will find a way to incorporate it into your setup.
I think this tipped the balance back to Pentax for me. I've always enjoyed their cameras, and in a way, the K1 Mark II and K3 Mark III are kind of obsolescence proof. If you know what you're doing they are great tools for creative photography. The bleeding edge of tech is really more a crutch than a boon to creativity. Just as the Leica M6 still has relevance, Pentax may have harnessed a bit of that digitally with their DSLR's.
Not the typical GAS discussion. This is why I love your channel, Edward.
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on this. Very unique offering especially for Pentax.
Part of the perks of not being mainstream. Canon, Nikon and Sony are making various versions of the same thing by committee and fighting over the same pie. The 4 guys at Pentax are photographers and making what they want to see made with the limited resources they have.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography very well stated.
Great vid. What is the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for." Glad to hear your results with the Pentax.
Interestingly a mono sensor camera was never something I even considered. I had heard about Pentax making the K3 III Mono, but I thought it was just a limited edition thing. When I saw them last week in stock at B&H I started thinking about it and investigating it and the more I learned the more I got curious about it, and here I am.
Ed!...I've been watching your videos in the last few days. You know, I've been commenting on them...man...I've just ordered this Pentax K3 Mark III Monochrome with the 16-50mm F2.8 as a 'kit'. I also got the vertical grip with an extra battery(I really like the vertical grip).
Mamma mia Ed!! I DID NOT NEED another camera system! Damn you mate!! LOL.
LOL! If I were not also shooting a K1 mark II I'd have bought the 16-50 PLM. It's a cracker of a lens. Don't overlook the 70-210 F4, it's a nice lens as well, and 100-300 on the Monochrome. One other thing, if this is your first Pentax, it will ruin you for all other cameras in terms of function, customization and button layout, i.e. UI. All there cameras you really need the "Q" menu or "info" menu. the Pentax's are so well laid out and the UI is so good, you rarely have to go into the Info menu. As a matter of fact I try to customize the buttons on other brands of cameras like the Pentax UI, it really is that good. (The Pentax will make your Nikon's seem 20 years behind the times for UI.) 🙂🙂
@EdwardMartinsPhotography Thanks for the suggestion for lenses. I've got my eye on that 70-210 F4. I'll let you know how I get on mate. It is my first Pentax. The only other Pentax I knew about were the 67 and the K1000. Had no idea they were still in business, let alone that they had such a terrific Monochrome camera! Cheers mate, Ray.
@@RayLombardi You are in for a treat! It's complex at first but the more you use it, the less you will like everyone else's cameras... 🙂
Might be interesting to try out a full spectrum camera for UV and IR photography :)
Great insight Edward, thanks. On the search for the Graal in B&W, I have been following some Italian insights where they've talked marvels about the old Sigma SD Quattro H or normal, with the Faveon sensor... which gives "astonishing" results in B&W... I'm keeping en eye on what, wishfully, Sigma may produce in the future on that not finished adventure with the Faveon sensor...
I love it when you get something pentax out of the blue 😂😂😂. This was an interesting release on their part. Didn't get me excited at first, but it seems to have some traction.
It's all about what it can do that nothing under $9,000 can. It's a one trick pony, but what trick. Pentax is such a weird company. I really expect them to go away any moment, but while they're making stuff that's useful and unique, what the hell.
I picked up the 21mm limited not too long ago. It's a pretty excellent lens in my opinion. Great rendering, handles well, looks great on the camera. I wish they had a few more new limited lenses ready to come out. It's a shame they can't seem to afford the release schedule that other companies seem to pull off.
The 21mm is a really beautiful lens. The slow release of products is a blessing and a curse. The blessing part is that they don't spend a lot of money on r&d, the curse is that there are very few new products released. I'm thinking of picking up a K1 II for color work and use my XT5 for video. Maybe with a K to XF adapter. 1 set of lenses.
@EdwardMartinsPhotography oof, I don't know man 😂. There was a point where I would have said "yes!". I don't know if I can be that enthusiastic anymore though lol.
I will say that having the 21mm and 28-105 makes for a really light hiking setup.
21mm, 28-105 and old F 70-210 f4. Great 3 lens kit for sure.
Ed you won't realize how good a K3III is until you owned it for at least a year. Buy a pair of progressive lens glasses and use your phone as a monitor attached to your hot shoe mount.
BTW the difference is obvious even on UT.
Not sure it really makes much of a difference either way. Digital cameras really are not improving and have not for the past 5-10 years. I still prefer film. The monochrome sensor is something different though and does require more testing.
Great video. While I could see the difference in the photos on RUclips, what tells me the difference is real is the change in your countenance talking about Pentax. It’s like you’ve rediscovered a long lost friend. Ironically, I am currently renting the K3iii color version. I wear bifocal contacts, so OVFs aren’t a problem for me. MUCH prefer them to mirrorless. I’m looking for a camera with an OVF and a stabilized sensor in a package that isn’t huge in size. I rented the XH2 a couple of weeks ago and it’s not for me.
I really enjoyed using the K3 III color version. I guess that's why I'm liking the Mono version right off the bat so much. The thing that's always been bittersweet about Pentax for me is what might have been. I bet they would have made an awesome mirrorless if they had tried to. I have always enjoyed what they did make though. I guess I'm getting to an age where I just don't care about all the new stuff that really doesn't deliver on the promises. So much progress with so little, if any, real improvement. The K3 III monochrome definitely is a big leap in digital b&w photography. That I can get excited about, for sure!
I love the fact you've tried this, but feel it's too bad that you used the Tamron lens. It would have been better with a low element count prime IMO. I don't think resolution is the issue. I've seen images from yesteryear and the output from those cameras blow away (at low resolution mind you) most of the new stuff. You're right in that this is definitely a one trick pony. There's another question I have about the video: is moiré an issue?
I understand what your saying, but if this is what a 10 year old Tamron can do then it's only up from there. As for moire, off the top of my head that is a false color phenomenon caused by the rhythmic pattern of the bayer filter array, and as there is no color filter, I don't think it's even possible.
Just like enlarged Huawei P9 which I may consider that one when in need. I am looking if sigmaphoto solves some major problem around their color cmos.
Hi thanks for doing this comparison. I’m curious on the Raw file . I hear consistently that the Leica monochrome are very flat and grey in Raw but have huge capacity for push pull of the greys to give that broad tonality . How is the. pentax raw initially out of camera, has it been tweaked in any way or is it flat and grey like the Leica monochrome.
I have not worked too much with the raws yet. They don't seem flat. I know the shadows have a ton more detail than a bayer sensor raw has that can be retrieved. There is virtually no noise. Iso 6400 images look like iso 100 images on a bayer or xtrans camera. (Better actually.)
Hi Edward,
I like to see you with a Pentax again. I hope you like the camera and keep it!
I love the K3 iii and especially the OVF. Like you I wear glasses. I told you before that I have multi-focal lenses in my glasses. With this I have sharp view from about 30 cm to infinity. And the OVF of the K3iii can be used wit glasses. So I can look through the OVF an use live view borh with glasses! Important: you need good lenses and they must be put in the glasses especially for you. So it must be done by a good opticien. Not cheap, but it helps so much!
I am very interested to hear what your experiences with the monochrome K3iii will be.
The Monochrome forces me to figure out how to make using the OVF and LCD more efficiently. I'll figure it out. On the other hand, one thing I'm noticing straight away is that mirrorless makes you kind of lazy. There really is (or should be) no reason to have to see anything on the back LCD. All the info you need is in the OVF, I just need to make my brain think. And that is of course always painful... :)
I wonder if the lack of color channels aren't an issue in the post processing? For example if you use color sensor its easy to make darker sky with adjusting the blue channel.
It may be easy to make the sky darker, but it's a lot harder to get all the tones where they "should" be. With a monochrome sensor you can can darken the sky easily with a red filter when you take the image, and all the other tones will render with the typical film luminosity we are used too and is aesthetically pleasing. Something which is not easily achieved with a color filter sensor camera and a conversion to b&w.
A camera I just want for no real reason.
That is totally legitimate!! If I had the spare coins I'd have it in my collection...
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography I will say your review is probably the best I've heard because more people it to play with it whereas you're a b&w photographer looking for an actual solution. As a past film shooter/developer myself, I have a connection with that analog experience and that's what is making me get a hard on for this thing.
Hi Ed nice video really love it. But the final output of the two pictures seems from Fuji a little sepia, or is just the video? Anyway I never considered Pentax coz, it seems a company that will disappear “tomorrow “. I don’t want to buy a camera and than not having support. But for BW output better without any Bayer filter.
Not sure where the Fuji looking sepia is coming from. I don't see it in the prints or on my screen. Interestingly, I've been expecting Pentax to disappear for the last 15 years. I guess if it hasn't happened yet, it's probably OK. I actually think Pentax is safe. They may not be making a lot of money, but they're not spending a lot of money either. The company I think is most likely to go under in the next 5 years is Nikon...
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography
Sorry Ed I wasn’t judging your pic about the Fuji one probably I’m starting to have colors problems. Maybe the video or my phone. Anyway I was interested me too in the monochrome, in Europe is still not out, so I guess I have to wait to test it. Thanks for the video, have a nice weekend
No worries. Cheers!
Hi Edward, great video as always. Would LOVE to hear you talk about the PIXII camera with its monochrome RAW output. It’s a bit niche too, but an interesting concept. The internals are modular so they can be updated, rather than buying new hardware. Processors and sensors can be factory swapped. Also one of the few, true, rangefinders left on the market. At first blush it doesn’t seem like your kind of thing, but yet you’re experienced enough to “get it”.
I saw it mentioned but really know nothing about it. I will look into it. Thanks!
That's not real monochrome, you cant get real monochrome from a Bayer sensor.
The benefit of monochrome sensor is in the resolution, and the lack of Bayer interpolation. So the microcontrast is much higher. It lacks the Bayer mush that is the result of interpolation. Also much better low light performance.
A 30MP Bayer sensor does 1x30MP, it interpolates 60MP worth of data as i needs to output 3x30MP. But for monochrome, you only need 1x30MP. There is no interpolation, so the output quality is much higher.
I'm getting lost in the marketing terms then, because this is what they say "The result is a true monochrome image with a single plane of raw values and up to 16 bits of resolution." Thankfully I don't shoot in B&W, I just want Edward to do more videos.
@@Nobody-Nowhere
I just placed an order for the PIXII. They have a way to cheat software wise on the bayer sensor for monochrome. I’ve wanted a pixii for years and finally ordered. Buying for its size for EDC and street
I've wanted one from afar for a long time. If I didn't already have an APS-C sensor Fuji X-H2 I probably would have purchased one. Hard to justify the overlap at this point. Hope it turns out great for you. @@sdhute
Good to see more monochrome bodies, its weird that there aren't more. Bayer kind of sucks, but a monochrome sensor is actually really good.
The major players are after big slices of pie, not making small moves. But the market is saturated with the same mediocre bodies, and the interesting stuff is getting traction. So who knows what will happen in the future. I think the success of the Pentax monochrome surprised Pentax.
Have you ever considered the gh4 or gh5 for video.i have been using the gh4 for years and love it.
I did try a G9 a few years back and liked it a lot, but the contrast detection AF seemed somewhat jerky for video and the higher iso's got noisy around 3200. I'm sure if I knew what I was doing I could overcome both issues, but as far as video is concerned I really don't want to work that hard for it. I'm a point and shoot video guy... :)
Edward - I really enjoyed your review of the Pentax Monochrome. As you were talking, I kept thinking -- this is all going to come down to the paper and ink eventually, isnt't it? I feel like I have a worthy printer - a Canon ImageProGraf 1000 (who comes up with these names?). But even with a singular sensor and a great printer, if you have crummy paper -- or even imperfect paper -- you're throwing all that quality away. This is a long way of asking - what are your paper thoughts? If you had to pick one, or maybe five, papers that you would always use, what would they be?
Great question. For final prints I use exclusively either Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta for a semi gloss surface or Hahnemuhle Photo Rag for a mat surface. I have not found any higher quality papers. The Moab Juniper and Entrada are good but suffer from some quality control issues.
Is 'increased tonality' not just shorthand for fewer stops of dynamic range?
Not at all. But to be more precise, it's actually about more accurate tonality, vs the computer guessing what color should be what tone for b&w.
Fantastic, ultimately, it's about the print quality! Who cares about video, when it's all about the photo. Let's get some Limited lenses on that bad boy!! Let's see more photos!
Kinda hard to make content for a RUclips channel without some kind of a video camera.... :)
Hey Ed, I just ordered a #89 Infrared Pass opaque filter from Adorama to try with the K3 III monochrome to see if it will work with long exposure on a tripod. If it is a total failure, back it goes for a refund. I had 50 dollars with of VIP points to burn to get cost down to 100 bucks. Nothing ventured nothing gained, right? If it is successful, I'll send you links to the results
You know, I have one of those around here somewhere that I bought 20 years ago. I used it about a year ago with my X-T3 and it worked well. I'll have to rummage around and give it a go if I find it...
Well Ed, I am sorry to say, REALLY BAD news using an opaque IR pass filter on these. Not only is there an IR block filter in front of the sensor on this camera, it is a REALLY strong IR block filter. Doing a 1 minute exposure at ISO 6400 at F 5.6 yields an image that loos like a weird steak of light leak like thing across the top of the image, and any details in the washed out low contrast image loos like something you'd see in some phony ghost hunters show.
I'm afraid you'd have to send a second one-off to have the IR block filter removed from it (for another 800-1000 bucks plus). I guess Pentax would have to release a super niche IR version of the camera, but you know the demand to justify making something like that small scale just is not there. Oh well-I think I'll ask Adorama if they could credit the return for a 49mm and 55mm red filter for my lenses, and resist the temptation to overuse them:-) .BTW, your train video looks really neat-I need to finish watching it-I left it in the middle of your additional technical explanation of how these monochrome cameras work.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography I ended up exchanging it for a 55mm #29 Dark Red filter for 92 bucks. Funnily enough, they based the exchange on the original 142 dollar price for the IR opaque filter, not the VIP discounted price,, so they gave me 47 bucks of store credit rather than refunding money. Maybe if they discover their mistake, they'll only owe me 8 bucks instead of 47 bucks🙂
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography BTW, Yellow, Orange, red filters. Where is the green filter? In my experience, green filters are next to useless for black and white photography. They do NOT lighten foliage and grass, because foliage and grass is dark yellow, not RGB green. Second, since they pass the green portion of the cyan sky and lighten it, they make skies MORE washed out than shooting without a filter. They were mostly used to give a swarthy look to male portraits, since they darken their compliment color (magenta) and caucasian skin has a LOT of magenta in it. So, I will not be getting any green filters.
@@MaximMuir I really don't have much use for infrared photography. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just that it's not my thing. And yes, portraits is really the only use for a green filter. 👍🙂
It would be nice if there was a square sensor in aps-c and/or fullframe. It would take advantage of the best part of the lens. I don't understand why Sony did not do that. May be it is not economically viable for a niche photographers.
Given the GR III has an APSC sensor (I think same sensor as the K70/KP) would be interesting to see why they couldn’t put the monochrome sensor from the K3 III Mono in there, the demand for a pocketable monochrome camera seems high on the forums. They could easily charge a 30-40% premium on the GR III and sell well, as you correctly said what are the alternatives…10k Leicas?!
I think the reason that Pentax is still selling new cameras is that although they don't make a lot of money, they don't spend a lot of money either. The K3 Mark III Monochrome uses an "off the shelf" sensor that is the mono version of the sensor in the K3 Mark III already. It took very little tweaking to make it happen and required no r&d for a new sensor ship or camera architecture. If Pentax were to do the same thing for the GR they would have to commission the new chip and the fab would have to gear upper it, all adding a lot of expense. I don't know any of this for sure, but it's what I've read on the internet so it has to be true... 🙂🙂 But who knows, if the K3 Mark III is successful, maybe Pentax will have the extra mad money to do something else.
A very fascinating camera but with limited technology and features. Of course the results matter the most. I'm waiting to see what your additional research reveals. I think before you change your Fujifilm kit that you should add the Silver Effects Pro to the DX0 Pure Raw and see what you can achieve with B&W conversion on the XT5. I haven't used the Silver Effects but it seems to have great results. Now I have to look up what lenses are available for this camera. Leave it to Pentax to be the dark horse. Very interesting.
Not sure about the limited technology. It's a camera which means it's supposed to take still images which it does very well. The AF might not be bleeding edge, but any competent photographer can use the tool to photograph anything they want. What the bleeding edge tech is doing is making incompetent photographers able to sometimes achieve decent photos.
Silver effects pro would still be a computer simulation of what the Pentax Monochrome does natively.
Lenses for Pentax APs-c are an easy choice. 11-14, 16-50 PLM, 70-210 f4 and 150-600 if you need to go telephoto crazy. The DA limited primes are lovely as well.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography thanks for the lens information. I may have to try this camera. I'm landscape 95% of the time and usually on a tripod and manual focus 99% of the time. I'm wanting to do more monochrome work. Now where is the XT5 monochrome???
Where is the X-Pro 4? LOL.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography About the only thing silver effects offers is a collection of film characteristic curves you can apply to a tiff file converted over from Lightroom. Whether these curves are based on actual readings from a densitometer and plotted (oh the days when I used to do that...bleh), or just a best guess by the programmers of the software. I had a friend actually give me characteristic curves for Lightroom that were based on plots from a densitometer, but I don't use them much anymore. The fact silver effects can't work directly from a raw or a .dng file is a huge P.I.T.A to me, so I gave up futzing with it. And my toning presets look more like toned silver prints than what silver effects offers as well.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Don't forget the 20-40mm F 2.8/4 DA Limited-absolutely fantastic lens. It is not a razor sharpness lens, it is a balanced lens with pleasant bokeh-a Japanese market lens in other words. And they are sale right now.
I could immediately see the difference on RUclips. Prefer the Pentax B&W for sure. (I have an expensive 27" monitor so I got a pretty good visual). What about custom making a K1 to monochrome so you could have the tilt screen. No tilt screen would be a deal breaker for me for sure.
I knew I saw it, but when I showed the prints to the wife, she picked out the Pentax shots straight away as well. Not that the Fuji prints were bad, actually they were what I would normally frame and sell other than the composition. But the Pentax mono sensor photos are that nth degree better for sure. I know I'm going to continue to shoot it, it's the rest of the stuff in my bag I need to figure out.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography this video got me itchin' to take the K1 for a spin tomorrow ;) it's been a while since I used it.
If they were going to do this, why not do a full frame body?
Sony had the K3 Mark III sensor already worked up in monochrome so it was an easy swap in for Pentax. (Makes you wonder though, why Fuji dropped the ball, the K3 Mark III sensor is a derivative of the Fuji's 26mp sensor too as I understand it.)
All right. Yeah, the sensor is very specific.
@@TighelanderII If Pentax wanted to do the GR III or K1 Mark II in monochrome, they would have had to pay for the R&D on the sensor. Pentax operates on a shoestring these days. But they saw an opportunity to do the monochrome with very little R&D investment and they went for it. Clever move actually.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Yes, they don't make their sensors. They use Sony sensors for most of their bodies, right?
@@TighelanderII I think so.
What lens are you using on it?
Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. I have a Pentax 28-105mm coming tomorrow and some Limited primes.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography thanks! I get what you’re saying about the sensor. I feel the same way. It is on another level. I hope it works for you.
Looks like Pentax Monochrome have more depth.
The subtle and accurate tonal gradations can do that. Depth is a good way to describe it. The color conversions do seem flat in comparison.
Ed you said the results between Fuji and Pentax was subtle - sorry but with the rock photo - it was not subtle. The Pentax image was like it was already dodged and burned - contrast was perfect. It reminded me of the days when I shot FP4+ and developed it in replenished D-76 - some of the best most creative work of my life with that combo.
I might have given it about a third of a stop more exposure just to have the option but it was ready for the gallery. The Fuji still needed a lot of work, if it could even get there without falling apart. I was actually floored by the difference. I tested the XT5 a few weeks ago and did not like the Acros mode. It did not build contrast like the film I used to use. It was like applying an Instagram filter to my photos from the testing I did. Was not impressed frankly.
None of the color digital cameras I've ever used have given me really satisfying b&w like film does.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography I have heard people rave over the Fuji film simulations. Granted I only had the camera for a week rental and didn't get the chance to really get to know it, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the film simulations. They all felt like VSCO filters.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography how does the K-3M do with high ISOs? Do we ever get gritty contrasty stuff like Robert Capa or Delta 3200?
I think the reason people think they are so great is because everyone else's colors suck so bad. Sony's is burnt orange, Canon's got a brown tint to everything and Nikon leans yellow. I have always liked what Pentax does with color, but nobody else knows about them so whatever.
Don't know yet, but I do know that that ISO 6400 on a color camera is about ISO 25000 on this thing. I think it's got grain filters and such, I'll have to experiment.
I am colorblind. I see and respond to B&W photography. I was extremely intrigued by this camera when it was released. Sadly by that time I had already given up on the instant return mirror and sold all my Pentax equipment. I'm not going to go backwards. This is one reason why I am very interested in the Nikon Zf - it has a B&W mode. My question is, is it Debayered B&W like the Leica M11 Monochrome and K-3 Monochrome? Or is it simply a pre-programmed digital filter. I am waiting on reviews from people who actually use the equipment rather than kiss the maker's ass for free gear.
If the Zf shoots color, then there is a physical RGB filter in front of the sensor and I'm not sure how they could mitigate that. Be cool if they could though.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography I see, so there is no way to have a sensor be fully B&W in one mode and fully color in another. I guess I assumed that Nikon had cracked the code but it seems not. That is somewhat disappointing but not surprising.
@@RoastBeefSandwich However, the Nikon Zf is a PERFECT camera to also offer a monochrome sensored version. Since the Nikon Zf is basically a reasonably priced niche camera(and in the current Market, 2000 grand or so is just fine for a niche camera) here is a golden opportunity for them. Will they take the plunge and add another monochrome option to the market? I certainly hope so.
@@MaximMuir I agree - I'd love to see it.
But why doesn't it have a video mode? Something like 10bit or even 12bit monochrome output would have been amazing.
It does have a video mode and does 4K30 and 1080-60. I think it's around 100 bps.
K70/KF would be better idea for monochrome. More affordable
I don't think you understand what the K3 Mark III Monochrome is... No offense.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Apsc camera. Like k70/kf. Niche market. Makes more sense to do cheaper one so folks can buy one as addition to current gear.
Your saying they should have put the Monocrome sensor in the k70/kf? OK, that makes sense. Sorry for not understanding. If that's what meant, then I can understand that.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Yes. It would most likely make more folks buy dedicated monochrome camera. Ricoh gr monochrome would be great too.