Let's ditch the term 'monochrome.'

[ollypenrice]

I had this idea responding to another thread.

Monochrome means 'one colour.'  It doesn't mean greyscale. It doesn't mean black and white. An all red image is monochrome. (Monochrome red.) Picasso's 'blue period' paintings are monochrome blue.

A one shot colour camera with its permanent filters is, in truth, monochromatic on a pixel by pixel level. Each pixel is monochromatically sensitive, either to red, or green, or blue.

The cameras we call 'monochrome' are only monochromatic in the sense that they can't distinguish between the colours, but they are sensitive to all of them. So would it not be more accurate to call them omnichromatic? 

I think it would. It would also help to dispel a lot of confusion since we get questions asking whether or not deleting the colour data would make an OSC camera omnichromatic on a pixel by pixel level. It wouldn't, of course. And it might also help dispel the misconception that OSC must be faster than mono. Nobody would expect it to be faster than 'omni' - would they?

Yes, I think it would be far better to call monochrome cameras 'Omnichrome.' What do you reckon?

Olly

[swag72]

I think that your weather must be pants and you've got too much time on your hands or................ Tom's not given you enough data to capture!!!

[Daniel-K]

i agree with sara get a grip Olly

[JamesF]

I think Sara might be right

Depends whether you think "monochrome" applies to the camera's input or output, I guess.  It can be sensitive to a wide range of frequencies, but the output is a single colour.  Or perhaps it isn't even a single colour.  The output doesn't have any colour information, just brightness.  That could be tricky to come up with an adjective for.  I'm not sure the ancient Greeks had a word for zero.

James

[Earl]

Sounds like you have been watching too much Ben 10

"Omni Chrome!"

[ollypenrice]

I think Sara might be right

Depends whether you think "monochrome" applies to the camera's input or output, I guess.  It can be sensitive to a wide range of frequencies, but the output is a single colour.  Or perhaps it isn't even a single colour.  The output doesn't have any colour information, just brightness.  That could be tricky to come up with an adjective for.  I'm not sure the ancient Greeks had a word for zero.

James

Input and output is a good distinction. However, I spend a lot of time explaining things and unhelpful terminology is... unhelpful. No, I'm going to stick to my guns for a while on this one!

The weather is lousy though. I'll admit it!

I still think I'm right on this.

Olly

[RikM]

Sorry Olly but I don't like omnichrome as a word, though it is quite correct and I agree with the sentiment. To me it just sounds 'old', like omnicycle or something. Why not a 'full spectrum' camera?

[sharkmelley]

Great idea but I don't think omnichrome will ever catch on!

One shot colour is an apt description of sensors with a colour filter array but monochrome sensors do deserve an alternative name.

Mark

[Merlin66]

What about reviving the ol' "Polychrome"......or should that be "Ollychrome". ;-)

[Zakalwe]

Sounds a bit like "prevening" (fans of The Big Bang Theory will know what I mean)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100524190613AA9kGkv

:-)

[Sandancer10]

A colour camera is by its very definition able to 'see in RGB' whereas a Mono only 'sees in shades' however, you can add colour filters to a monochromatic image thereby making it colour. Therefore, does that not mean that all images have the potential to be colour, whether they are captured in mono or colour?

[Merlin66]

I hope so!!

I and all the other amateur spectroscopists use mono cameras (better definition/ resolution/ QE curve etc) to record our spectra.

We can easily "map" any calibrated wavelength to a pseudo colour - as many as you'd like!!!!

[ollypenrice]

Sorry Olly but I don't like omnichrome as a word, though it is quite correct and I agree with the sentiment. To me it just sounds 'old', like omnicycle or something. Why not a 'full spectrum' camera?

Full spectrum is a good idea. Words are powerful and shape the way we think. The present nomenclature leads newomers to think that you get something for nothing with an OSC, which you don't.

Olly

[Gina]

Interesting thread   A "mono" camera only becomes monochrome when you add a narrow band filter and even then it would only be monochrome with an infinitely narrow passband.  So I agree that monochrome is a total misnomer.  What to use instead is a problem.  I don't like "omnichrome" either really - as said above, it goes with "omnibus" (for all in Latin) though it is more technically correct IMO.  "Polychrome" isn't bad.  I dunno 'tis a conundrum, for sure.

[Zakalwe]

Its called monochrome because the the name refers to the outputted data, not what the camera is sensitive to. A monochrome camera only outputs white, with varying levels of intensity, from fully saturated right down to black.  It would be referred to as "greyscale" only if it did not output pure white or black. Yes, a monochrome camera is sensitive to a wide range of frequencies, but it only outputs a monochromatic image.

In contrast, a OSC camera will output a RGB colour image after a single exposure.

Trying to come up with another name is a solution looking for a problem, IMHO.

[reddoss]

Should not the term 'Full Spectrum' include IR and UV ?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Zakalwe]

Should not the term 'Full Spectrum' include IR and UV ?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Why stop there? Why not microwave and X-rays?

[opticalpath]

If we want to be strictly Greek about this, shouldn't it be 'Panchromatic' (i.e. sensitive to all visible colours)?

That harks back to colour film days of course and would perhaps just add to the confusion.

(Weather is pants here too.)

Adrian

[ollypenrice]

Yes, Panchromatic would good!

Olly

[RikM]

Most CCD's, when unfiltered are sensitive from the near-UV well into the IR range.

I never really thought of it in terms of a single output channel vs. three output channels. I think the point is to get across the message that a 'full input spectrum having single output channel CCD camera' is more sensitive, more flexible, offers potentially better resolution, and I find easier to process compared to a 'one shot colour' camera.

FISH-SOC cameras are the future my friends!

Raining here Panchromatic is good too.

[ollypenrice]

FISH-SOC is in the lead!

lly

[lensman57]

I had this idea responding to another thread.

Monochrome means 'one colour.'  It doesn't mean greyscale. It doesn't mean black and white. An all red image is monochrome. (Monochrome red.) Picasso's 'blue period' paintings are monochrome blue.

A one shot colour camera with its permanent filters is, in truth, monochromatic on a pixel by pixel level. Each pixel is monochromatically sensitive, either to red, or green, or blue.

The cameras we call 'monochrome' are only monochromatic in the sense that they can't distinguish between the colours, but they are sensitive to all of them. So would it not be more accurate to call them omnichromatic? 

I think it would. It would also help to dispel a lot of confusion since we get questions asking whether or not deleting the colour data would make an OSC camera omnichromatic on a pixel by pixel level. It wouldn't, of course. And it might also help dispel the misconception that OSC must be faster than mono. Nobody would expect it to be faster than 'omni' - would they?

Yes, I think it would be far better to call monochrome cameras 'Omnichrome.' What do you reckon?

Olly

Good evening Olly,

There is no need call these sensors OMNICHROMATIC, there is still a word, a legacy from the film days that accurately describes the behaviour of these cameras, PANCHROMATIC, which as you know means sensitive to all visible colour. I would rather use panchromatic if I had to. I hazard a guess that the origins of the word monochrome had more to do with the photographic printing than the film itself, a certain amount of  the black silver halide were to be deposited on top of the white base of the paper to make shades of gray colour that we called monochrome print.

Regards,

A.G

[ollypenrice]

Good evening Olly,

There is no need call these sensors OMNICHROMATIC, there is still a word, a legacy from the film days that accurately describes the behaviour of these cameras, PANCHROMATIC, which as you know means sensitive to all visible colour. I would rather use panchromatic if I had to. I hazard a guess that the origins of the word monochrome had more to do with the photographic printing than the film itself, a certain amount of  the black silver halide were to be deposited on top of the white base of the paper to make shades of gray colour that we called monochrome print.

Regards,

A.G

Greetings, AG.

'Monochrome' as a noun is older than that, dating from at least 1660. It refers to paintings or drawings done in different tints of the same colour. This is how I first encountered the word since my parents were both artists. It has no implication of  'black and white' when used in its orginal form. It's earliest know appearance in photography is recent; 1940.

Interesting things, words! My source was The Online Etymological Dictionary.

Olly

[Gina]

I agree - panchromatic would be the right word   I remember in the distant past mention of orthochromatic film being superceeded by panchromatic film which would give a much better greyscale image of a scene than the mainly blue sensitive orthochromatic film.  I started photography at a very early age under the influence of my father and though I never used ortho it was still around as I recall.

[chiltonstar]

Omnichrome as a term would of course be a bit of a mongrel since omni- is from the Latin and chrome- from the Greek. I had a University professor who used to regularly go scarlet over such "modern", mongrel words (television was modern for him). Can't we come up with an acronym - they can be so much more appealing? eg WISIA (wide spectrum imaging array)?

Chris