Monochrome Only Digital Cameras

For all of us who cannot spend the money on the Lecia, Pentax gives us a wonderful Monochrome digital camera. Based on the K3 chassis it is a Monochrome only Pentax K-3 Mark iii. It is an APS-C professional-level camera. With excellent ergonomics that Pentax is known for. Yes everyone is dashing off on mirrorless but the bright, eyeglass-friendly viewfinder is wonderful. With a nice catalog of lenses, this is a black-and-white camera that can be used in any situation. Finally black and white with excellent fine resolution, usable high ISO, and professional grade. The images have fine detail, highlights, and shadows. Easy-to-use menus and settings that address every situation you may encounter. For those who remember all those color filters for black and white are usable to manipulate the the images before tripping the shutter button. Two things to consider. LCD panel does not flip up or rotate. I use a Ref a right angle viewfinder by Pentax. It works well on all the 35mm Pentax cameras and some other brands. It rotates and has a 2x setting which is nice for macro. The other thing I have noticed is the very sensitive shutter button. It has a very sensitive and short motion to trip the shutter. I can highly recommend this camera to anyone who wants to do Monochrome. You will not be disappointed Monochrome is far from a niche place in photography. You see it in many venues. It is not limited now to the conversion of color digital or shooting film. We now have a well thought out Monochrome from Pentax at a more palatable price than Lecia.

The Pentax Monochrome, following Leica's lead into digital black and white photography, opens the doors for affordable, high quality rebirth of B&W images for hobbyists and professional photographers alike. As a young hobbyist I will never forget watching my first image emerge in the development pan in the dimly red light room. A second AHA moment was my first view of B&W negatives taken with my first Leica rangefinder camera and lens. I now have a third, and possibly most important event, that occurred when I reviewed my first images using the Pentax monochrome camera -- finely nuanced B&W pictures that virtually jumped off from the view screen. My first thought was that I had been shortsighted and tight-fisted by my initial response to the high price of the Leica Monochrome cameras. My second thought was that there now exists a clear, challenging future for hobbyists and professional photographers. The question most photographers now have to answer for themselves is how best to capture their images. There is a bright future awaiting B&W photography. The Pentax monochrome is an incredible photographic instrument at an unbelievably low price. Leica opened the door to 35mm photography and now has opened the door to digital B&W photography. The Pentax DSLR is the first to follow Leica and has done so with its SOA improvements to DSLR cameras. It will not take long for all the usual copycats to compete in this new and exciting dimension of photography.

I have 1 for each of my 4 digital cameras because they are the do everything lens.

Great for digital cameras

To preface this story, this is my first DSLR and my first Pentax. Before this I had owned two mirrorless cameras.  First I started with a Lumix S1 but was looking to upgrade and convinced myself to sell everything to buy into the Fuji GFX system. To my (and many others) surprise I was dissatisfied with not only the build quality of the 50sii but the images I was creating with it. Something just didn't look right. I couldn't place my finger on it but things looked... sterile?  I thought a digital medium format sensor was the answer to replicating my medium format film cameras but alas, this was not the case. I wanted to capture a black and white film look with a digital camera but couldn't afford a Leica monochrome. It was a risky move on my part but I sold my GFX after doing a lot of research into the K3iii monochrome. The first day I took it out I knew I had made the right choice. Images from this camera are pure magic and have tricked many people around me thinking it was film. Match this sensor with a M42 adapter and throw some Super-Takumar, it looks identical to B&W film. Love shooting this thing at night at ridiculously high ISO levels. The build quality is like a tank. View finder is bright and easy to focus. Speaking of focusing, the auto focus is faster than some of the mirrorless cameras Ive used. I don't ever want to go back to mirrorless after using this gem, there's nothing like framing your image through the lens. My only complaint is it takes a second to get used to exposing correctly. You need to be very mindful of blown out highlights. Images match that of any full frame camera I've ever used. I love this thing so much I can only hope Pentax will release a full frame monochrome camera in the future to compete with Leica. Anyway, if you love B&W photography then this is the camera for you.

Great for digital cameras. Long lasting.

Lumix is the best brand of digital cameras so I would not use anything but the best battery in them.

Now able to use my old FD lenses on my digital cameras.

UV is not necessary for digital cameras, but it is good to have it on just for protection.

It performed very well. It encourages me to experiment more with Monochrome.