This will certainly not be a trend, but Leica recently released another monochrome digital camera, the Leica Q2 monochrome with 40 MP for a mere 5,500 Euros. In analog times, it was hardly possible to bring such a strong contrast range to black and white photography as is possible with today’s digital cameras and lenses. The images were softer and didn’t have as many shades of gray, due to the analog film stock.
The softness is also beautiful and certainly has a lot of charm. However, I am fascinated by today’s technology and the possibilities it offers in black and white photography. Through focus stacking and high contrast RAW development, a sharpness can be brought into the micro contrasts of the images, creating a very clean look. I am aware that the human eye and brain looks for the softness in B&W images. I try not to imitate an old look in my B&W photography, but to develop a crisp one and rediscover it for myself. Well, everyone will not like it. So what? I like it 😉 A big exception are head portraits in black and white, I shoot them mainly analog. I’m either moving in the direction of shooting portraits analog only or shooting one set digital and one analog. Time will tell.