Let's ditch the term 'monochrome.'

[themos]

Don't call them "monochrome", call them "mono", meaning "single channel", like the old records. Actually, we do call them "mono"!

If you want a fancier name, how about "holo"-camera, meaning they capture ALL the light!

[lensman57]

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.

Hi Gina,

I still have a few rolls of the "ortho" left somewhere in my stuff. A wonderful choice under our usually cloudy, blue illuminated skies, just don't put a no12 filter on it, it turns almost " nonechromatic".

A.G

[Chris]

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

yep, full spectrum sounds great but its wrong unfortunately. Maybe Full Visible Spectrum then (FVS), not even sure if this is right even ?

FISH-SOC!

[opticalpath]

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.

Ah yes, Ortho! I seem to remember using 'Agfa Ortho' - a very fine-grained, slow film - for copying documents. And my first ever astro image (Pleiades) was taken on a (ISO 25!!) 'Kodak 0.800 Pan Superspeed' (sic) glass plate negative; I still have the plate. All that dates back to university days in about 1972.

Adrian

[slickfonzy]

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

 I wouldn't say that "monochrome" is any more unhelpful than "panchromatic" or such like.  I appreciate that some might find it confusing that by using appropriate filters you can capture colour data with an apparently monochrome camera, but I suspect that some would find it equally confusing that a so-called "panchromatic" camera that is sensitive to all visible light actually produces a monochrome output.  Since you can only properly characterise the camera by its input sensitivity and the output, FISH-SOC wins for me!

[Gina]

OK - I give up - what does FISH-SOC stand for?

[lensman57]

Ah yes, Ortho! I seem to remember using 'Agfa Ortho' - a very fine-grained, slow film - for copying documents. And my first ever astro image (Pleiades) was taken on a (ISO 25!!) 'Kodak 0.800 Pan Superspeed' (sic) glass plate negative; I still have the plate. All that dates back to university days in about 1972.

Adrian

All this is making me feel nostalgic, I may get my WISTA field camera out and give it a dust off, I still have an unopened box of 5X4" Kodak TrI-X Pan and some HC110 US spec developer left over from a not too distant past.

A.G

[slickfonzy]

OK - I give up - what does FISH-SOC stand for?

Full Input Spectrum Having Single Output Channel - not that I can claim the credit, Rik suggested it earlier in the thread   

[opticalpath]

yep, full spectrum sounds great but its wrong unfortunately. Maybe Full Visible Spectrum then (FVS), not even sure if this is right even ?

 

FISH-SOC!

 

Excellent illustration of the FISH-SOC concept. I think that image will stay with me for a while

 

Adrian

[russellhq]

What about just unfiltered...

[Merlin66]

Hmmm

I think "65 (thousand) Shades of Gray" might work...With the "mono" CCD, it's only the intensity that varies over the wavelengths.....

We'd then have FISH-OSOG.....

[ollypenrice]

All this reminds me of getting the kids at school interested in debating. I began by trying to think of things they'd be interested in debating. I ended up learning that it wasn't what you debated that got them going, but how you debated it. So as a wind-up I'd say, 'I can argue anything. I can argue that black is white and you won't beat me.' Of course they'd say, 'Nah yer can't!' so I'd give a quick exposition of the idea that grey comes in infinitely varied shades of lightness and darkness and there was no one point at which you could reliably distinguish such small gradations by eye, thereby proving that white and black are merely shades of grey. The next hour of the lesson generally took care of itself...

Olly

[Photosbykev]

Hi Gina,

I still have a few rolls of the "ortho" left somewhere in my stuff. A wonderful choice under our usually cloudy, blue illuminated skies, just don't put a no12 filter on it, it turns almost " nonechromatic".

A.G

Kodak Techpan was my normal choice of greyscale film (biased towards to red end). I've still dozens of 120 rolls in a fridge just waiting for me to dust off some medium format bodies.

[nytecam]

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!!!

+1 :-)

[ollypenrice]

Spoilsports!   

 A camera with Bayer type chip

With a third of the light can unzip

The colour of stars

Or the redness of Mars

But two thirds of the light it must tip.

Now a mono is only a mono

Though all of the light it can swallow

But ask, Is that red?

And it just shakes its head

And says that, I'm afraid, I can't show!

Olly

[lensman57]

Kodak Techpan was my normal choice of greyscale film (biased towards to red end). I've still dozens of 120 rolls in a fridge just waiting for me to dust off some medium format bodies.

Tech Pan and Technidol LC, now that brings memories back. I wonder if it would have worked with Pyro? Such nice stains .Yes it was sensiive well into IR.

Regards,

A.G