"life isn't black and white. it's a million gray areas"

ridley scott

By 默默富酷

June 10^th, 2022

the relevance of colorless

a famed local photographer once quipped to me "black and white photography is irrelevant in modern photography." perhaps he wasn't dissing the genre. after all, monochrome photography was dominant since 1850s till the mid 20th century, despite advancement in colour photography (firstly film and later digital).

there must be sometime captivating about monochrome photography.

perhaps it is nostalgia.

perhaps making an image using different amount of light (and how light reflects off) instead of using different hues (as in in colour imagery) is a preferred way of expression for some.

perhaps the photographer is colour-blind and terrible in white balance, like me.

or perhaps it is indeed irrelevant.

whatever the lure of monochrome photography, one camera company (or a luxury goods company these days) decided to launch a full frame point and shoot camera that only makes monochrome images.

don't ask me about the specifications, i never read and didn't really care. if you must, you can find out more of the leica q2 monochrome on the link.

i had the chance recently to take the camera for a quick spin. this is hardly a review, more of an impression note on 5 areas that i look for in a camera.

the leica q2 monochrome - image taken with gr3 and converted to black and white

1. dynamic range

the technical definition of dynamic range is the range of light the camera sensor can capture. the wider the better (unlike waist size). the wider the range, the easier you can unf**k an image if one is too lazy to properly expose during an image making process. here's the conundrum about using q2m - the whole purpose of doing monochrome photography is so the user master light difference, yet the q2m capture so wide a range, that mastery is no longer needed. perhaps that is the purpose of leica, to democratise black and white photography without the need to learn or master light.

i like to watch storms forming (from my home balcony or in work meetings) - i made this image while on a zoom call and didn't even properly meter the scene. post processing, the highlights weren't blown, the blacks weren't dark as hell and there were so much grayness it makes politics look binary.

if i owned the q2m, i might actually pick up landscape photography

2. speed to capture

here is where the leica q series (including the q, q2) shines. both images were captured in a matter of 1-2 seconds, from my bag or the camera slung from my shoulder. no focus hunting and fussing with dials. the leica q series, including this monochrome, is that easy to use - brilliant if you need fast candids, a "street photographer" or just a creepy voyeur.

i have not utilised the q2m's features during this test run - i think there is face detection and all that fun stuff that potentially can speed up the shooting agility (or completely mess it up).

caveat: i am familiar with the leica ecosystem (m and q) so there is some muscle memory already.

"life isn't black and white. it's a million gray areas"

3. bokeh

what make the leica q series amazing is the lens (actually the lenses >> leica bodies). the bokeh is beautiful - great for portraits and other forms of narcissism. i think the q2m will be an excellent camera for environmental portraits (though i will rather use the color version of the q2).

4. macro

the macro feature is a nice addition to the fantastic lens, but basic and nothing to shout about. this is section is just an excuse for me to show my most loved quartz watch in the world - +/- 3 seconds per year, only my apple watch is more accurate than this watch.

5. iso

the leica q2m can shoot at iso 100,000 - that is 5 stops more than the fastest black and white film i used. of course there are banding, noise and image degradation shooting at such high iso - but the images are pretty useable. i cannot think of scenarios i need to use high iso except to make unglam photos of my partner to blackmail her during an argument.

final impression

is the q2m relevant? for some definitely, for the casual photographer who occasionally wants that moody noir feel - then no.

can one tell the difference if an image is natively made in black and white, or post-processed using a colour image? no, especially when they are displayed on ig.