Black and white conversion of Dslr?

[BW]

Can anyone point me to a company that do BW conversion on a DSLR? I'm talking about removing the RGB filter. Is it doable? Googling gives me no answer at all

[Erik Lund]

One option is to just buy a monochrome camera like the Leica Monochrom then you get the right processing in firmware etc.
Yes not a DSLR
A few have 'cut' off the filters but then you have the firmware issue,,,

[Erik Lund]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8mKcMlf_Yo

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Removing the "RGB" filter will leave the camera near-sighted. Plus the microlenses can be more or less fused to the sensor so chances of damaging it would be significant.

By removing the ICF (i.e. the AA filter and the mainly anti-IR filter over the sensor & microlenses) and replacing with the similar equivalent thickness of clear glass, you do get more acutance and in some cases, more moiré. In terms of spectral response, this will be shifted to have more emphasis in the near IR.

[Akira]

Børge,

If you can live with the slow operation, stay with the base ISO most of the time and can carry multiple spare batteries all the time, a FOVEON sensor cameras of Sigma may be one of a few solutions.

DP-1, -2 and -3 Merrill models have fixed lens, and SD1 Merrill is a Sigma mount DSLR.  The sensor has full 15MP pixels in all R, G, B channels (layers) and could be used with yellow, orange, red or green filters for B&W films without losing the resolution which is a major problem with the beyer sensors.

The latest Quattro series would not be suitable for the purpose, because the green and red channels (layers) have 4x larger pixels and thus don't offer the full resolution.

[Erik Lund]

But you don't gain anything by doing this,,,
You still have the in camera processing tuned for color.
Or did I miss something?

[BW]

I have  tried the Leica Monochrome (MM). Lovely files and a beautiful camera, but the sensor developed staines after a few hundred pictures. Leica replaced the sensor, but they kept the camera for 4 months!!! I jumped the ship after receiving the camera with a new sensor. Not for me, but I would love a BW Df The method described by Bjørn seem like the way to go, but I would like a professional to do the operation. The youtube fix is out of the question Erik, but you seem like a guy that could pull something like this off

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Børge: you only need a sharp chisel and determination, and the microlenses will come off

[BW]

Hehe.. Some fine grade sandpaper and glass of aquavit will certainly solve the color problem.

[Erik Lund]

Yes Leica was having a lot of issues with the sensor glass. Should be fixed now,,,

Yes you could modify the sensor but the firmware ?

[BW]

Akira, I want a solution without the rgb filter. Pure BW. Erik, I cant se why the current firmware would interfere with no color channels other than the rendering of the histogram?

[Erik Lund]

This is what I have read on the Monochrom sensor and firmware vs RGB sensor and firmware
http://www.imx.nl/photo/leica/camera/styled-11/

[Akira]

But you don't gain anything by doing this,,,
You still have the in camera processing tuned for color.
Or did I miss something?

You can reduce the affect of haze in the distant scenes, which cannot be done in the orange/red filter simulation of software.

[Erik Lund]

I theory yes, in practical image quality the Sigma SD1 is so far behind a conventional B&W-conversion done in Photoshop from any Nikon RGB camera IMHO

[Bruno Schroder]

Maxmax does that: http://www.maxmax.com/maincamerapage/monochrome-cameras