I learned photography with film, and one of my favorite things was using black and white film with color contrast filters, developing it at home, and making prints in my basement. So I’ve always been a little curious about monochrome digital cameras; is capturing a black and white image really enough better than converting a color image in post processing to make it worth either:
- the price of a dedicated camera or
- the cost of converting an old camera to mono?
Enter Malcolm Jay’s WLV-01 Monochrome Camera. It’s significantly more affordable than either of those options, and even more so if you build it yourself.
So that’s exactly what I did. I had a lot of fun building it, and have been having even more fun using it.
How much fun? I had a borrowed Leica Q3 Mono for a while. Once I finished building the WLV-01, I didn’t ever use the Leica again, and returned it. Does that mean the WLV-01 is a better camera than the Leica? From an image quality perspective, the WLV-01’s 1×1.2″ 8.1MP sensor is just not going to make the same kinds of images that a full-frame 60MP sensor will. And while this may sound like blasphemy, for me, there is more to a camera than ultimate image quality. As crazy as it sounds, I’m having more fun with a 3D-printed, Raspberry Pi-based, hacked together camera than I was with a high-end one.
If that doesn’t sound crazy to you, then you may be in the right place!
Even though it’s small, that little sensor is not a toy! It is capable of recording some really nice images. Would I use it for everything? No, of course not. But it is currently my first choice for all my personal photography. I make images because it’s fun, and the WLV-01 is a lot of fun.
This is the first in a series of posts describing the build, using the camera, things I’ve learned along the way, and things to consider if you’re thinking about building or buying one of these cameras.
I’m glad you’re here, and I hope you enjoy learning from my experiences!