I'd say no & no.
If I really want to, I can make digital pretty well indistinguishable from black and white film, with one exception, so I don't see the point.
People talk about increased res and light gathering, but as with the 5DS I have 50 damn mp anyway plus a quantum efficiency of about 60%, that argument won't stack up with me. I bet in a blind test no one could pick out an image produced on a B&W digital vs normal digital.
I think the biggest draw to a B&W sensor would be the ability to use traditional coloured filters. IME software doesn't do this in quite the same way.
The biggest drawback is the fact that much of good, powerful black and white images comes from the much greater dynamic range in the highlights as well as highlight headroom of film, and of course with current technology B&W digital will still cut off highlights abruptly just as any other digital camera does in extreme lighting.
If I really want to, I can make digital pretty well indistinguishable from black and white film, with one exception, so I don't see the point.
People talk about increased res and light gathering, but as with the 5DS I have 50 damn mp anyway plus a quantum efficiency of about 60%, that argument won't stack up with me. I bet in a blind test no one could pick out an image produced on a B&W digital vs normal digital.
I think the biggest draw to a B&W sensor would be the ability to use traditional coloured filters. IME software doesn't do this in quite the same way.
The biggest drawback is the fact that much of good, powerful black and white images comes from the much greater dynamic range in the highlights as well as highlight headroom of film, and of course with current technology B&W digital will still cut off highlights abruptly just as any other digital camera does in extreme lighting.
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