Digital B&W grain vs colour at same ISO?

Question

Hi all, I'm moving to digital from film and I know that black & white film has less grain than colour film at the same ISO, but is this the same for digital photos? I am photographing indoor sports with a long telephoto so I want to maximise the image quality. On film I'd "sacrifice" colour by using very fast (1600 ISO) b&w film. Colour at this speed is much too grainy. If I do this on digital (I'm planning on getting a Canon 30d) is it as effective?

Answer 1

The 30D is considerably better than color film at high ISO, but I don't know about black & white. (With digital, everything is recorded in color. If you want black & white, change the file in post processing.) Here's some 30D sample images from ISO 100 to 3200. This link drops you halfway into an in-depth review for the 30D: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos30d/page20.asp

Answer 2

With digital there is not difference in color and B&W shot at the same ISO. In the digital realm we usually use the term "noise" more so than the word grain. At higher ISOs an image will generally have more noise although camera makers have greatly improved on that. The 30D should do fine at those high ISO levels. All the books I have read or instructors I've worked with say go ahead and crank up that ISO.

In regards to grain some people will add a grain effect in post processing to try an get the look of film. Alien Skin Software makes an Adobe Photoshop plugin called Exposure that is built specifically to try and make images look like different versions of film. Some of the settings in Exposure allow the user to emulate the film with grain or without.

Your 30D and some fast glass will turn out great images.

Answer 3

Grain translates as noise in digital. Shooting high ISO in digital generally results in very noisy pictures, although more recent compacts and higher end cameras are getting better at reducing it.

As to the black and white factor, hmm, not sure I'm afraid. With digital, you aren't really ever shooting black and white, you would change the RAW files containing colour data to black and white in software, although some cameras will have a BW setting it's still done after the fact as it were, I don't think it's the same as switching films...

There's probably review websites where you can examine digital photos shot on different cameras at different ISOs...

Answer 4

Graining on digital cameras depends on the CCD size (i.e. megapixels) and how much 'digital zoom' is used or how much the picture is 'blown up' for printing (and also the type of file being saved).

ISO setting on the digital camera doesn't affect graining. It is an artificial setting that is used to make digital cameras work more like film cameras, and is programmed to produce similar effects to changing ISO settings on a film camera - except they don't see the need to program 'graining' in (tongue-in-cheek).

There are different speed compromises related to multiple sequence shots and memory type.

Read the digital camera's manual, and don't get rid of the film camera (if you can help it) until you've mastered the new compromises of the digital camera. It's better in most ways.

Answer 5

There is no issue with grain with digital; the issues are about stuff like shutter lag and pixelation.
Get a whole bunch of memory cards and just take loads of test shots, because the advantage of digital is that there are no prcessing costs or wasted film.
You add grain filters in image processing programs but htey still don't really look like film prints!
With film you use b/w or colour. With digital its the same photo, you use the computer in the camera or on the pc to alter the colour.

Answer 6

i became taught with movie, yet now have digital. My reasoning for shifting to the different aspect became purely budget friendly. With a digital digicam I pay the initial fee and the modifying and 'printing' i take advantage of my computing device for, with movie theres ongoing fee. As i'm also coming decrease back to images i will get extra instant outcomes and play round extra. movie will continually have my heart although, being waiting to manually produce images in a gloomy room, the scent of the chemical substances, the sensation that you truly were in the back of each and every procedure. If i had the money i'd have my personal darkish room in a 2d. I also got here upon that i'm getting 'extra useful' images when I used movie.

Answer 7

Moving from film to digital where digital is at it's weakest in dark conditions for sport.... If you like a smudge instead of a picture then you will be fine.