Is this possible with a digital camera?

Question

I am taking a freshmen year photography class, and I need to know if there is any way to make a picture black and white with a digital over the camera. Or any way to do it over the computer w/out photoshop?... The camera is a Kodak easyshare M753

Answer 1

most cameras will have a setting

u have to go into the menus and look around.

found this on a site about it.

There is a choice of scene modes where relevant settings have been preselected and these include landscape, portrait, sunset, panorama, night, beach, fireworks, snow, sports and children. Colour modes offer high/natural/low, black and white and sepia

Answer 2

While many digital cameras have this feature, in camera black and white images are very poor.  The images contrast is determined by an algorithm and leave the photographer little control over the resulting image.

All the good black and white prints made from digital image files are made so using an original colour image file and then using the saturation tool set the saturation to -100 and then using the levels tool set the black threshold, white threshold and then make final adjustments using the mid-tone adjustment.

Now I suspect there is more to your question.  Usually first year photography classes start the student out using a 35 mm SLR and the classes are in black and white.  If this is true, there is no inexpensive way to get a negative from a image file you can print in the darkroom.  You will be required to buy a 35 mm SLR (used is fine) to not only produce black and white negatives, but to learn how to control a fully adjustable camera to get perfectly exposed images.

Your problems seem to be these

* you are attempting to use a camera that is inappropriate for learning photography.  At a minimum the camera has to be fully adjustable a P&S camera is not.

* you don't know for sure if these first classes are traditional or digital in nature.  The M753 will have to be replaced by either a 35 mm SLR or a DSLR ..

* you cannot yet buy a camera until you talk to your instructor

* if the class is indeed a digital class, you will be investing in Photoshop (the good news is, you will get a good student discount).

Answer 3

each of these free software choices has the ability to make a b&w image

Online aps:

"Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It's fast, easy, and fun."

http://www.picnik.com/

"FotoFlexer is the world's most advanced online digital photo editor. It performs advanced effects previously only available to professionals using expensive software."

http://fotoflexer.com/

"Splashup, formerly Fauxto, is a powerful editing tool and photo manager. With all the features professionals use and novices want, it's easy to use, works in real-time and allows you to edit many images at once. Splashup runs in all browsers, integrates seamlessly with top photosharing sites, and even has its own file format so you can save your work in progress."

http://www.splashup.com/

"Do what you want with your photos. Give them cartoon colors. Distort them. Go nuts. Turn average photos into jaw droppers with options like Pop Color, Sketch, Hue, Black & White, Tint, and more."

https://www.photoshop.com/express/

Downloadable opensource freeware:

"The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) does most of what Photoshop does; the Gimpshop project (plasticbugs.com) even makes it look like Photoshop."

http://gimp.org

http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294

(hall of fame - best free software - pcmag - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,226...

"Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organize all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks, share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it's fast, easy and free. Take your photos further with Picasa from Google."

http://picasa.google.com/

"Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins."

http://www.getpaint.net/