Black and White import

When you set your camera to B&W mode when shooting RAW files you are not setting the file to B&W, the camera just includes an instruction to the RAW convertor to process the file into B&W but doesn't do any B&W conversion.
This instruction is only understood by Nikon software for Nikon cameras, and Canon software for Canon cameras etc., but not by third-party apps such as Aperture.

You see a brief flash of B&W when importing as you see the embedded JPEG preview before Aperture starts generating it's own thumbnails from the RAW data.

Ian

yes, i would say this is the way to go. using Aperture's black and white conversion tool, you have much more control over how the red/green/blue channels are mixed together to form the black and white image. you can use these settings to control the overall tonal values in the image and often times get a more pleasing result.

in addition, i've found that starting with a good color image prior to converting to black and white makes a world of difference. so be sure to get the exposure, saturation, and contrast right prior to applying the B/W conversion.

Just in case Apple is reading....

Having Aperture display a RAW file shot in B&W in B&W within Aperture is a major issue for me.

I can visualize an image in B&W, I can then shoot it and view it in B&W on the camera display, but when I get it into the computer it is suddenly displayed in color.



Might sound like a trivial issue to some (just apply the B&W conversion!) but for a serious B&W shooter is messes everything up. I don't even recognize the shot sometimes. Certainly whatever was compelling about the image is confused by the color.

Turning on the B&W conversion is easy but it is not so easy to forget the color image now in your head.

Its hard to put into words but the identity of the image is adulterated by seeing it in a different form.

I'd love to have B&W images stay B&W except if I choose to look at the RAW file in full color.

--Darin

www.darinboville.com

uhh Darin this is impossible for apple to change that

RAW is just that, RAW
you would have to use the software that came with your camera as they are the only ones that would recognize those settings from your camera

All third party converters Aperture, Capture one, Lightroom, ACR don't recognize the "special" settings (sharpness, B/W, Saturation, Sepia) cameras have

DAVE
BTW there is no "guaranty" that apple reads the forum if you want to let them know with the feedback form http://www.apple.com/feedback/aperture.html

I think the only apps that actually respect the B&W tags on RAW files are those of the vendors themselves -- i.e. Canons and Nikons applications.

Aperture and LR display them in color. And they can do a better B&W conversion than the camera can internally.

"I think the only apps that actually respect the B&W tags on RAW files are those of the vendors themselves -- i.e. Canons and Nikons applications."

That's half right. The cameras don't just save tags - they save rendered jpeg previews and thumbnails in the raw file which can be read (via QuickTime's API) by other programs eg iView or Portfolio. So what the original poster is requesting - to see the camera-produced image - is more reasonable (in fact Lightroom does briefly display the preview, before substituting its rendition of the raw data) as a reminder of the original intention. Of course, displaying the preview or thumbnail in Aperture wouldn't mean that the preview and undocumented camera settings can then become the starting point for adjusting the raw file itself.

"Aperture and LR display them in color. And they can do a better B&W conversion than the camera can internally."

Exactly right. I hope the OP, "a serious B&W shooter", would understand this.

I should get off my duff and just try it with a Canon shot via DPP, but my point is that I think if you take a B&W and then open the RAW file in Canon's DPP, that it may do a default B&W conversion from the RAW file. I don't believe it will work with the B&W JPEG, that would be silly.

But I haven't tried it, so this is conjecture. I haven't fired up DPP in a couple years 🙂

And I don't dispute that point. I'm pretty sure it would work like you say - Nikon Capture NX does - though it would apply any picture styles such as b&w filter simulation, not just do a default conversion.

But as a reminder of the rendering intention, those camera-rendered JPEGs are there in raw files and can be used. The argument could even be extended to other picture styles.