Olympus XZ-1 Tips And Tricks Manual page 26

XZ-1 Tips page 26 of 29
goes something like this: if an image looks good in black-and-white... if it has form and
structure... it will look good in color. Too simplistic? What do YOU think?
XZ-1 -- a Leica Monochrom for the rest of us?
After a year with my XZ-1, discovered the Monotone settings today. Decided to make
Monotone my C Custom mode, to easily take B/W pictures. You sure get one smooth
image when you turn your B/W image from a 12-bit RAW file into an 8-bit JPG! The
Leica Monochrom doesn't take color pix, either. So we're in good company here... except
that, unlike the Leica, you can use Olympus Viewer RAW Picture Mode to turn the image
back into color.
Anyway -- setting Monotone as your Custom Mode -- to start, from your normal color
Program mode (I leave mine in RAW), change the color setting from Vivid or Natural or
Portrait to Monotone.
Then, from the Menu button, on the Camera Menu, go to Picture Mode > Monotone, and
set Contrast to +2, Sharpness 0, B&W Filter=Orange, Picture tone=Neutral, and
Gradation=Auto if you like ESP exposure averaging, or Gradation=Normal if you want to
have the choice of Spot metering.
Then, go back to the Main menu, and go to the Setup Menu (the wrench icon). To
Custom Mode Setup, click OK; then Set; click OK.
Lastly, go back to P Program mode, and change the color setting from Monotone back to
Vivid or whatever you normally use.
The next time you use C Custom, the XZ-1 will be in Monotone... with your settings
retained and ready to use.
Like the Leica Monochrom, the XZ-1 warms the hearts of photographers who loved
black-and-white film. Notice the Orange filter setting above? Oh boy. Or Red to really
darken blue skies, or Green to lighten faces. I just leave mine on Orange. And you can
change the Contrast -- I leave mine on +2, with Sharpness at 0 since increasing contrast
adds a sharpening effect anyway.