Having it both ways

Solomon wrote:

I started shooting B&W several years ago with a Mamiya/Secor 1000XL. I had my own darkroom and color was too expensive to develop, so I shot B&W. Recently I’ve been fascinated with the Leica M Monochrom (Though, not fascinated enough to pony up that kind of cheddar).

So, I’ve been experimenting with the three excellent non-color film sims in my Fujifilm X-T3. I love Acros with some “recipe” additions. I’ve been trying to get up the nerve to go B&W for 6 months to see if I can get my B&W eye back (I think a 6month commitment is about what it would take).

Then I was in a Ricoh GR III group (Just lurking) and someone had a problem. They were shooting B&W with their Ricoh camera and their files where still in color. The group answer was “You must be looking at your RAW file, only the jpgs are in color.” I thought, “Hey Fuji is the same way, the film sims are only applied to the jpgs!” There is my “safety net” for shooting in B&W. I’ve always got the raw to fall back on if a shot would look better in color.

How many of you shoot this way?

I currently shoot Acos with my Fuji X-T4 and previously used my Ricoh GR first version digital for monochrome. Like many older photographers I learned shooting Black and White film 35 mm, Rolliecord and 5x4. I've been considering if I could justify Leica Q2 monochrome.  I have also taken up bird photography in colour with my Fuji H2S. The techniques are quite different and demand different visualisation. Usually trees, flowers and architecture in monochrome which is a steady deliberate process when I take the X-T4. I think I'll keep on with this for another 6 months before deciding. The recession in the UK is a factor too. I don't have a digital printer bigger than A4 at the moment and I think the benefit of the Q2M would be larger prints. At the moment, I'm not printing enough to justify the Leica.