Camera Labs

Hi guys I’m looking for good advice on how to shoot in B&W without the need for hours of post production.....
I’m using a canon 500D ........
I usually shoot in RAW.......
But I want to get away from this......on B&W Street shots........
What I’m trying to do is still achieve great contrast and tone.....without spending hours on post production.....coming from film I’ve been disappointed with the tone / contrast I get from my DSLR when trying to shot with B&W in mind.....( I can actually think in B&W before I take a shot or set up a shoot).......I’ve had good results with post production but I don’t want to spend the time on it if I go out and take 500 shots in a day.... so how do you do it without hours of post production.....or do I get out my OM10 and go back to film when I want to shoot this.....not something I really wish to do......
So if you shoot in B&W with a canon what settings do you recommend.....all advice will be very welcome.....

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Canon EOS 500d
lens: 18-55 efs is, 17-85 efs is,
sigma 10-20ex dc

Have you tried batch adjustment for your shots? That would save manipulating every image. Just change one pic to your requirements in pp. Then have your software apply those changes to every selected image. You can apply the same tone curve also if you save it as a default setting.
The problem arises when you want to manipulate every image differently. I am not aware of any way around this so you just have to put the time in. I am not a Canon shooter but the problem is not really specific to Canon users, anyone shooting in monochrome will have the same problem if they are not satisfied with the camera's mono output. Maybe someone else has a better answer but that is all I can come up with.

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Nikon D300 D80 D40 18-55mm 18-70mm 18-135mm 55-200mm 18-200mm 28mm 2.8f 50mm 1.8f 85mm 1.8f
Panasonic DMCFZ28 Slik Pro 700DX

I know a little about a lot, a lot about little and everything about nothing.

If you are shooting RAW, then you have to PP your images otherwise of course you are going to be left with flat and uncontrasty images.

Do you know what RAW is or are you just blindly shooting it?

If you dont, then ill tell you it doesnt add sharpening or contrast to your shots so you have to add them later yourself to your taste.

If you dont want to spend time in post processing, then shoot Jpeg, you'll get better results out of camera.

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

On my 400D I shoot RAW + JPEG. I then select a custom picture style I created on the camera based on the monochrome style with the contrast significantly increased.

This gives me a B/W preview on the LCD and the ability to look through the JPEGs in B/W on the PC. This lets me decide which shots look good in monochrome. I can then either use DPP to apply the monochrome preset to all my pics or I can batch convert the RAWs to B/W.

Usually I grade the pics using the star ratings in Bridge and then PP the good RAWs into B/W using CS3 or Silver FX Pro

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Canon EOS 400D, EF-S 18-55mm, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, EF 50mm f/1.8 MK I, EF-S 10-22mm, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, EF 28mm f/1.8, EF 85mm f/1.8
Canon 430EX II, Manfrotto 055CXPRO3, Arca Swiss P0
Panasonic GF3, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Olympus 45mm f/1.8

MY FLICKR!

thanks for the replies guys.......jeremy1302 yes i know exatly what a Raw file is thats why i mentioned i wanted to step away from this.......sorry i may not have been very clear on this.......Thanks for everyones in put on this so far........I may have not been as clear as i could on this......
so.........
1. im not worried about shooting in high quality jpeg.
2 im not even worried about letting the camera do some of the work if needs be.....( i shoot alot on manual) ill even let the camera take over completely if needs must....
3. what im looking for is settings that produce good high quality contrasty pic like i used to get from film without the need for post production.....is this possible or is it back to film for B&W shoots......

i hope this may have clarified my first messy attempt at trying to explain what im looking for

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Canon EOS 500d
lens: 18-55 efs is, 17-85 efs is,
sigma 10-20ex dc

@stu@bristol. I am having the same problem. I have just started doing some B&W photography but am having a few problems. I tried using photoshop elements 9 and converting the file to B&W, and the results were ok.

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Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

@stu

If you don't want to post process at all, you need to play around with setting up a user defined picture style (based on monochrome). You manual will explain how to do this. from memory you can customise sharpness, contrast and add filters and toning.

On my 400D you go to picture style in the menu select user defined and press the jump button to edit the settings

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Canon EOS 400D, EF-S 18-55mm, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, EF 50mm f/1.8 MK I, EF-S 10-22mm, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, EF 28mm f/1.8, EF 85mm f/1.8
Canon 430EX II, Manfrotto 055CXPRO3, Arca Swiss P0
Panasonic GF3, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Olympus 45mm f/1.8

MY FLICKR!