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Comment by PhantomGremlin | Hacker News Reader

> I still want a bare-bones monochrome laptop.

That's not a bad idea, from both a cost and power standpoint. I wonder why nobody has done it?

Same thing with digital cameras. There is a good use case for a grey scale image sensor. Higher sensitivity, fewer artifacts, lower power. But, sadly, nobody has built an affordable one yet. Sure it's not a large market, but there are hundreds of cameras that are almost identical, why doesn't somebody dare to do something different?

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There are various after-market places that will modify your camera to take black and white photos[0]. Considering how well loved black and white film is, and how many people running the industry have their roots in film, I am sure this idea has been looked at. However, the economics of camera making are really harsh. If you look at the numbers in the 'mirrorless' camera segment (a change from the SLR form-factor with wider appeal than a B&W-only camera), you can see how dangerous R&D spending can be.[1]

[0] https://www.maxmax.com/b&w_conversion.htm [1] http://www.43rumors.com/january-shipment-report-dslr-crash-m...

Leica makes the M Monochrom:

http://us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M-Monoc...

There are a few good use cases, I think:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/31/256-shades-of-grey/

Searching DP Review, I see I can buy that camera for $7,950 on Amazon. More recently Leica introduced the Leica M Edition 60 rangefinder with interchangeable lenses. It's on Amazon for $895.

It's a somewhat apples-and-oranges comparison, but maybe that's the price you need to pay for such a niche camera.

Actually the Ed 60 costs even more than the Monochrom. You're not going to get a red dot on anything for less than a grand, though some of the ones that are rebadged Panasonics can be got cheap (though they're never worth the money).

It's pretty much out of the question, alas....

There are greyscale monitors. These tend to be very expensive and used for medical imaging. I've never used one.

http://www.necdisplay.com/category/medical-diagnostic-displa...

http://www.necdisplay.com/p/medical-diagnostic-displays/md21...

We have a workstation with 4 EIZO monochrome medical monitors at work (to test radiology software ofc) and the resolution is astounding as is the 10-bit greyscale image. The price tag however, well, it's the greater than the sum of all the other monitors we have...

Why are these so expensive? You could get a top-of-the-line new 5k iMac for that greyscale 2048 x 2560 monitor. Presumably it's all the calibration and certification that goes in, but wow those are pricey.

These typically have many bits of grey and a calibrated response curve that is stable over time. Specialty stuff.

The linked greyscale monitor above only had 8-bit greyscale, but describes it as "256 levels of gray out of a palette of 3826". Does that mean anything significant?

Yes, it means the monitor has an 8-bit host interface but each value on the range [0,256) is mapped to a range of levels [0,3826) that the panel can actually produce. The number seems weird, I'm not sure why it would be 3826. Maybe someone can explain.

Because insurance is paying for it anyway, so why not develop unnecessary specialty stuff that uses all proprietary connectors, power supplies, etc.

Economies of scale.

I have always longed for an affordable BW digital camera. No Bayer filters!

Heh, the B&W RED camera costs more than the color version, and people still buy it.

I've seen zilch available in the consumer space, though.

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