eBay

Monochrome Black and White Digital Camera Canon EOS 350D

If you're reading this, it's likely you already know what this camera is and what it can do but here is a brief overview:

This camera will shoot B&W images only, as close to true monochrome as you can get on a digital camera. It won't take colour photos. The Bayer filter (CFA) of the sensor has been removed leaving only the light sensitive receptors, there is no colour filter left. It does the same job as the beautiful Leica Monochrom, without needing to remortgage your house since it doesn't cost as much as the average family car.

The reasons to remove the Bayer filter rather than just put your standard digital camera into monochrome mode are:

Increased depth and control over shadows
No colour filters mean increased sensitivity
As close to film characteristics as you can get without spending hundreds (or even thousands) on cameras and software
Gain around 1 stop in light sensitivity

There are companies offering to convert cameras for relatively high prices but this is still a very niche area of photography.

Image description

Image 1 (moka coffee pot) is a RAW image, converted to jpeg after 2 minutes spent cropping and altering contrast. No Photoshop skills necessary.
Image 2 (houses) is a RAW image, converted to jpeg after 2 minutes adjusting light to pull detail from the shadows, no cropping but a little touch up on a couple of areas.
Image 3 (skates) is a RAW image, converted to jpeg after 2 minutes spent cropping and altering contrast. No Photoshop skills necessary.
Image 4 (skateboard) is a RAW image, converted to jpeg after 2 minutes spent cropping and altering contrast, mild sepia tone added. No Photoshop skills necessary.

Image processing (easy version)

The only thing you have to remember to do is have the camera set to shoot in RAW to get the advantage of the B&W conversion. The images above are all done by converting the image to jpeg after a little tweak. You get most of the benefit of the conversion with this method, the images in the listing are all done by this method.

Image processing (more advanced version)

If you want to go down the route of getting a demosaic program like Monochrome2DNG (£20-30) you can get even better images with more depth and more control. There is no point describing the process in detail here, if you know what this software is, you know the benefits. Short version is this:

Shoot RAW, open image in conversion software to debayer/demosaic the image, open in Photoshop, pull all the detail you want, faff around to your heart's content, export as jpeg or other.

Images 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 show the condition of the camera. It has a couple of little scuffs but nothing major, everything works as it should and it has no issues. It needs a battery, charger, CF card, and a lens of your choice, it comes as it is shown with a body cap only.
Image 10 shows a photo as it comes with no crop/edit, showing the odd little blemish on the sensor.
Image 11 is a photo of a white wall so you can see the imperfections on the sensor. I put these images next to each other so you can flip one to the other and see what effect the blemish might have on a standard image.
Image 12 is an explanation of the blemishes.

If you'd like to know more about this camera or want some high resolution versions of these photos to have a look at what this camera can do, please let me know. Feel free to send a message, I'll get back in touch in a couple of hours or so.

Other than the small blemishes there is nothing wrong with the camera, the reason I'm selling it that I'm moving abroad, I already have a second 350D Monochrome, and I can't justify flying with more than the 8 cameras I've currently got packed.