A 6-Mp (8 Bit) colour image is made from a 6-Mp sensor giving a 6-Mp (12 Bit) B&W RAW image.
There is only one photosite per pixel. The colour information is taken from surrounding pixels (far more than 4) in the demosaicing (RAW conversion) process.
The Raw file itself has no colour information. The colour is added in your computer and the algorithm used and how many surrounding pixels the information is taken from will depend on the software you use to process the RAW file. So all you need to do is desaturate it and you're back to black and white
Taking out the bayer array and diffusion sheet would leave you with a 6Mp (12-Bit) B&W
Herschel
karl shah-jenner <shahjen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Dyer-Bennet"
: For me the point of a B&W camera would be that it should be more than
: a stop faster; the Bayer filter blocks 2/3 of the light at each pixel.
: Also higher luminance resolution of course, but that's more a
: technical point than an important artistic or usability issue. (And
: for the things I need the extra stop or so I certainly don't need
: 48MP; a 6MP B&W camera made with current sensor tech would be lovely.)
4 pixels are covered by the Bayer array to yield GRGB - 4 photo sites to
make a single pixel
A 6Mp camera is actually a 24Mp already, with 3/4 of the photosites
effectively unavailable to us :(
..plus that extra stop you mentioned :)
: It'd also be nice to remove the IR filter while we're at it, so it
: could be an IR camera with good sensitivity.
The Sony high enders do that - it's a nice feature :)
: I thought one of the MF backs was up into the low 40s in megapixels?
: Maybe it's only 39. May still be pointless, but somebody made it and
: people are buying it -- for rather a lot of money even.
Oooooh! - 40Mp x 4 = 160Mp.. too much for me! ;)
k
Herschel Mair
Head of the Department of Photography,
Head of the Department of Photography,
Higher College of Technology
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Adobe Certified instructor
+ (986) 99899 673
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