I was using the B/W setting on my camera for the first time today, woooo-hooooooo. Moving up. But when I import the B/W file into LR it turns it into a color photo. Does the same thing in ACR. Why is that. I can pull a B/W jpeg into both but not a B/W raw file.

I think it goes back to my answer to your first question. The camera takes the sensor data (RAW) and then converts it to jpeg or B/W jpeg, but the original data is still there... color and all.

Suzi, based on your other thread, I assume you've figured out by now that a RAW photo is a color image. Even a black-and-white JPEG starts off as color but is then converted in-camera to grayscale.

EDIT - What Gary said!

Yep, Chuck found that out. Boy, was I surprised by that.

Ok...I'm going to confuse you even more.

The sensor only records in monochrome. Notice I use the term monochrome and not B&W because what each Pixel on the sensor captures is only a grayscale of each channel. In other words each Pixel has a R,G or B filter over it so the resulting data from the Pixel is just a grayscale version of Red or Green or Blue. (Some Fujis do this differently).

Processing it either as a JPEG or with ACR converts the grayscale channels back to colour channels. Then each Pixel becomes Red or Green or Blue - then the processing has to make each Pixel contain a mixture of Red, Green and Blue, so the camera or ACR looks at the Pixel neighbours and interpolates some of the other colours from them.

Those Picture Styles in your camera are only 'tag's and depend on the processing S\W to understand them and process accordingly. Photoshop doesn't know anything about them so you always get the plain vanilla image.

Bet you wish you hadn't asked now

Colin

I dont have lightroom but im interested in knowing if thats the case than why bother changing the camera settings to B&W or sepia if you have to change it again in ACR or lightroom?

I dont have lightroom but im interested in knowing if thats the case than why bother changing the camera settings to B&W or sepia if you have to change it again in ACR or lightroom?

Linda, that only applies to RAW images. If you take a JPEG in B&W or Sepia, ACR or Lightroom won't recover the color information; it's gone for good.

OH ok!! Thank you. I seem to be saying that alot lately