Nikon, why no "Monochrome" digital camera?

[BruceSD]

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I still love black and white prints.  Like most of you, back in the day I had a black and white analog dark room and exclusively printed black and white.

I currently own over 40 digital cameras, but none of them are dedicated monochrome bodies, until now...

Leica makes a number of full frame "Monochrom" cameras.  The are expensive running $4,000 USD to around $10,000 USD.

About a year ago, Pentax came out with a Monochrome APS-C DSLR camera body.  I finally decided to purchase one, it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.  It costs $2,200 USD new; mine is an "open box" copy I bought from Amazon.com for $1,600 USD.  While still expensive, it is much more affordable than one of the Leica "Monochrom's".

I'm greatly looking forward to learning how to use my new B&W body.  I've got 6 or 7 colored filters all ready to try out.  Also plan to try IR filters and polarizing filters too.   Initially, I'll be shooting:  Zeiss ZF 25/2.8, Pentax 28/2.8 shift, Leica 50/2 Summicron R, the Pentax 77/1.9 limited (voted Pentax' best lens), and a Pentax 50-135mm zoom lens.  Should be lots of fun!

Why does Nikon not make a monochrome camera?  Do you think they ever will?  If Nikon did make a monochrome camera, would you buy one?
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[pluton]

Personally, I probably wouldn't buy a monochrome Nikon since I find the mono conversions from raw files to be adequate.  I have read that monochrome sensors (and sensor conversions) have a nice rendering of detail that's different from converted color raws.  Have fun with your new camera!

[ARTUROARTISTA]

With the Nikon D200 you can shoot in black and white

[Birna Rørslett]

Many modern Nikons have a dedicated b/w mode. If you shoot jpgs, you get the b/w output directly. If shooting in RAW, use NX Studio to get full b/w tifs (or jpgd if you so prefer).

I have a Sony NEX5-N modified to true monochrome (thanks Vivek Iyer ). This is 16MPix APS-C and output files are very nice through Monochrome2DNG converter. Perhaps a bit sharper too? I mainly use it for IR.

[Airy]

I also like shooting monochrome. Ilford HP5 used to be my standard. With the Zf, I have the possibility to view B&W which I think inspiring. B&W conversion in PP looks satisfactory, not only with the Zf but also the D800 I used before. SilverEfex is also a useful add-on when one lacks inspiration or time.

Having a monochrome sensor would not add much where (in my case at least) more serious practice should come first.

However, If could swap a conventional sensor for a B&W IR sensor as easily as changing film, I'd be happy.

[Les Olson]

The first thing to remember is that B&W film is not equally sensitive to all wavelengths of light, and the wavelength sensitivity of films varies quite a lot. There is a convenient graphic showing a bunch of film spectral sensitivities at www.linabessonova.photography/spectral-sensitivity showing how much they vary. The amount of silver in an area of film is not just a measure of light intensity, and a B&W film image is also a record of the colour of the light.

The same is true of digital sensors. Silicon is not equally sensitive to all wavelengths, so the voltage output of a monochrome photosite is not just a measure of light intensity - it also varies with the colour of the light (micromagnet.fsu.edu/primer/digitalimaging/digitalimagingdetectors.html). In a monochrome sensor you don't know how colour and brightness combine to determine a photosite's output, but if you have the Bayer filters you do know the colour of the light each photosite saw so you can adjust for the spectral response and reconstruct the luminance information more accurately.

You do get a small increase in resolution by getting rid of the Bayer mosaic. That may have been worthwhile when we had 6MP sensors, but until someone invents a higher resolution printer it doesn't make any difference with modern sensors.

[ARTUROARTISTA]

This morning's photo, taken in black and white with a Nikon D200 and an old lens, the Micro-Nikkor Auto 3.5 55mm.

[BruceSD]

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Here's my first monochrome IR image.  The lens I used was an adapted Zeiss ZF 25.2.8 lens at f/11 for 30 seconds.

The sharpness and detail of my first few monochrome IR images is amazing!  On this shot, I can clearly see every single pine needle on the sidewalk in the foreground, and read the fine print on the signs in the middle.

[Akira]

Now that the B&W mode of the modern digital camera is quality enough, the only merit of the dedicated monochrome camera I could think of would be to use it with the red and orange filters for very high contrast and elimination of the haze that diffuses the distant scene.  Otherwise, the B&W mode of a normal digital camera should suffice.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Since in a monochrome native camera there is no CFA or the filter spectrum is the same over each photosite, I would expect more consistent rendering of detail in the spatial scale of individual pixels (since each photosite has identical spectral response to light) and also as a panchromatic spectrum filter is likely to absorb much less light overall (narrow band filters tend to have lower peak transmission) the sensitivity to light would be higher and one can get high quality images at higher ISO settings. I don't have such a camera though, due to reasons of cost. I would greatly appreciate such a camera though for low-light events as in some events indoors in the winter the ISO can be 25600 (with an f/2.8 lens) and the quality can be poor as a result. I am still going to convert those images in many cases to monochrome as the mixed artificial color spectrums of the light sources can look unpleasant combined with the noise, and converting to monochrome reduces or eliminates those issues. However, a native monochrome camera would produce still less noise and probably a bit better definition of detail as well. The raw files would be smaller as well.

I don't necessarily need the control of the weights for different colors in the black and white conversion as long as the sensor has a good choice of panchromatic sensitivity. Having this control is good for many cases but in the low-light scenario, better SNR would be more important to me.

[ColinM]

I've got a suggestion you may not like Bruce:
- 35mm camera
- Kodak Technical Pan film
- Some of the most beautiful B&W images i can remember
(and that's going back to a time when I only shot FP4 and HP5)

I believe Kodak set the colour sensitivities to respond more strongly to the red end of the spectrum
(I understand its original role was for copying technical drawings?)

I had a very enjoyable 2 weeks in Morocco in 1984, where deep blue skies and fascinating architecture made for some memorable and contrasty results with deep blacks

This one isn't a very good scan, but it's the only shot I have available from that trip

[Frank Fremerey]

I currently own over 40 digital cameras, but none of them are dedicated monochrome bodies, until now...

<<PENTAX<<
I'm greatly looking forward to learning how to use my new B&W body.  I've got 6 or 7 colored filters all ready to try out.  Also plan to try IR filters and polarizing filters too.   Initially, I'll be shooting:  Zeiss ZF 25/2.8, Pentax 28/2.8 shift, Leica 50/2 Summicron R, the Pentax 77/1.9 limited (voted Pentax' best lens), and a Pentax 50-135mm zoom lens.  Should be lots of fun!

Ay, Bruce. My take on the issue is the following:


A pixel-true stacked color sensor is great and so the idea is reinvented again and again and technical implementations like the current work at ETH Zurich wait for a breakthrough:

1) (in English): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392798640_Vertically_stacked_monolithic_perovskite_colour_photodetectors (inm German): https://ethz.ch/de/news-und-veranstaltungen/eth-news/news/2025/06/medienmitteilung-bessere-bilder-fuer-mensch-und-maschine.html

2) With a pixel true sensor you get monochrome & color in one go and I am looking forward to one of these appear in an attractive body (Foveon X3 by Sigma was not my thing)

3) A pixel true (stacked) sensor was also invented without knowledge by the others or by him here: http://www.ub.uni-siegen.de/pub/diss/fb12/2000/rieve/rieve.pdf

A "pure" Monochrome Sensor" features the same sprctral response curve as the silicon itself (see attached graphics) and has to be adjusted to taste. A stacked color pixel true sensor allows you to "create your own film"

So what do I want? I want a "Monochrome mode" on my camera that delivers a nice film look and with the Zf I get a exactly that and use it often

[Anthony]

Why does Nikon not make a monochrome camera? 

Probably because they think there is no money in it.

[Les Olson]

However, a native monochrome camera would produce still less noise and probably a bit better definition of detail as well. The raw files would be smaller as well.

Removing the colour filters reduces light loss, but that does not change dynamic range, because dynamic range is full well capacity minus the noise floor = dark noise plus read noise. If the highlights are not clipped, you can use the light not being lost to the colour filters to increase exposure, and then you get less noise in the shadows just above black. But you could do the same thing by using a larger aperture or a slower shutter speed. Conversely, if the highlights are already clipped, and you care about that, you have to reduce aperture or use a faster shutter speed to compensate for the extra light and you don't get the reduced shadow noise. So the conditions under which the extra light is useful are limited.

The increase in resolution with a monochrome sensor is small. One reason is that the Bayer process is the process of human vision, and our brains use luminance for detail and add a rather crude colour map on top of that. If you look at the limiting resolutions (MTF50) measured by target reproduction photography and compare them to the Nyquist limit that is the maximum benefit you can get, and with current equipment it is remarkably small. Then there is the fact that ink jet printers are limited to 260 or 300 dpi = 10 or 12 per mm, so the most they can print is 5-6 lp/mm. If that is achievable with a Bayer sensor and a good lens you don't get any benefit of a monochrome sensor's higher resolution in the print. 

[Bruno Schroder]

Thom Hogan just wrote something about monochrome cameras and why Nikon would not make one: https://bythom.com/newsviews/weekly-news-and-commentary.html