When I bought my circa 2009 Panasonic Lumix FZ38 three years ago, there were two major appeals.
First, being a bridge camera, it would potentially be more flexible and capable than a compact digital.
Second, it has a black and white “film grain” mode.
I’ve enjoyed other cameras with similar high contrast b/w modes, like my Nikon P300, Lumix LX3 and Lumix XS1, which I bought about six months previously, and I tend to go for long periods without any interest in colour photography.
So then on and off for the next couple years, I shot only b/w photos with the film grain mode, and kind of forgot altogether it even had a sensor capable of colour.
My recent renewed interest in colour photography with CCD sensor cameras made me remember that before nearly a year of not using anything but my phone for pictures, the last camera I’d used for an extended period (and that I’d used exclusively for longer than virtually any other digital camera I’ve had) was the FZ38.
Which of course has a CCD sensor, paired with a “Leica” branded lens.
So why not have a play with its colour settings and see what it can do?
To my great pleasure, in the last week or two I’ve found that indeed its lens and (CCD) sensor combo is none too shabby for colour shots either.
The obvious greater capabilities of the Lumix over my recently acquired Pentax Optio E90 mean comparing the photo output of the two head to head isn’t a fair game.
But given the Optio is much smaller, has great handling, neat features like a zoom memory and in my view punches well above its weight with its lens and sensor, mean it’s a camera I’ll use when I want a true pocket point and shoot and not something larger and more involved like the FZ38.
These two cameras alone – using the Optio for colour and the Lumix for both colour and the high contrast b/w film mode – can satisfy pretty much all of my photography requirements.
Yes I do have four DSLRs and a dozen lenses for them, but the only one with Live View I don’t much like the colour output (the Pentax K30) and the other three increasingly I struggled to use the viewfinder with.
But more on this story in another post.
Back to the FZ38, all the photographs in this post were made with it, and aside from increasing the contrast and saturation +1 in camera, have zero processing. Just how I like it.
How about you? Do you use a different camera for colour and b/w photography (even if you’re only a film photographer)? Or do you have one that’s great for both?
As always, please let us know in the comments below (and don’t forget to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box to follow the conversation).
Thanks for looking.
What Next?
Share this post with someone you think will enjoy it using the buttons below.
Read a random post from the archives.
See what I’m up to About Now.
35hunter 
Very soon after I started shooting with the Minolta SRT 101 I was struck by how much I preferred shooting b/w. My first roll back was color, which was not the progression I’d planned (I’d wanted my first developed roll to be b/w but I messed that up with my own bumbling). I strongly, very strongly prefer shooting b/w for the simplicity and elegance. It’s not that the color negatives turned out poorly……I just like what feels like a far more elemental approach of b/w. More and less demanding, in certain ways. Less distracting. Less reductive in any way. I love the timelessness, the art of it.
It seems to be evolving that I’ll only do b/w with film. I’ll reserve color with my dslr, especially my Fuji. Although I only do minor, limited editing on my pictures, I do perform it. And I like the latitude that I have with my color exposures, being able to make it match what I felt like the exposure should have resulted in.
I agree with nearly everything you’ve said. I have thought about the difference between shooting colour and b/w for many hours, as you can imagine!
The best way I think I can sum it up for me, is that when shooting colour, I’m shooting for the colour, more than any other factor.
With b/w I’m shooting for the composition, the arrangement of the objects in the frame, the light and shadow, the textures.
I do consider these things when shooting colour, of course, but my main thought process is “I want to find something with gorgeous colours I can capture”.
Which is why I’ve spent so much time faffing about with LightRoom in the past, trying to make the colours look right, then discovered a handful of CCD sensor cameras that deliver colours I love straight out of camera, like the Lumix FZ38.
The few days after I took the photographs in this post were wet and windy and with far less available light. I went out during a dry spell with the Lumix and straight away switched it back to the “film grain” b/w mode, it made complete sense for the conditions.