Life Without Color

Any camera enthusiast will know that when someone mentions a Leica rangefinder, they are one of two things: loaded with cash, or they really know what they are doing to purchase one of the many expensive cameras and lenses that this German camera company has to offer. Since I don’t fall in any of the aforementioned categories, all I can do is read up on all the latest innovations that Leica has to offer.

Just recently, Leica launched its M-Monochrom camera, which I have to say caught my attention immediately. Being a monochrome photography enthusiast, you can imagine why a camera that only shoots in Black and White will capture my attention. And that is exactly what this new offering from Leica does.

The new M-Monochrom comes housed in a body almost identical to the Leica MP-9 rangefinder with only subtle differences to tell them apart. Now, the one innovation that separates these cameras is the fact that with the M-Monochrom, Leica has decided to remove the color array filter, which generally looks something like this.

With this filter removed, Leica reports that this 18MP full frame sensor will be able to deliver 100% better quality than color filters, because each and every pixel records true luminance values. Here are some sample images taken from the Leica website:

As awesome as this camera sounds, I don’t think I will be able to afford one anytime soon, but hopefully other camera manufacturers will take a page out of Leica’s books and hopefully we’ll be seeing more affordable digital monochrome cameras.

Any B&W photography enthusiasts out there? Head on over to the Aperture section on our forums and post your thoughts there!