[JKCalhoun]

I had wondered if CCDs meant for astrophotography would work as a camera back. I actually prefer that there be no Bayer filter, etc.

I believe they are not keeping pace with regard to resolutions we expect these days? Perhaps a small sensor as well. I don't know since I have not investigated in the past decade.

[dylan604]

CCDs are B&W, so you'd need 3 of them if you don't want a Bayer filter. i'm suddenly having flashbacks to the 90s with 3-chip cameras <shudder>

[JKCalhoun]

A B&W camera back would be awesome though. I'm want a poor-man's Leica M (a truly monochromatic digital camera).

[rotifer]

There is also the recently announced Pentax K-3 III Monochrome [1], but it's a DSLR not a rangefinder. At $2200 I don't know if you'd consider it a "poor man's" camera, but it's certainly cheaper than the Leica.

[1] https://petapixel.com/2023/04/12/pentax-unveils-k-3-iii-mono...

[JKCalhoun]

Holy Christ, that looks awesome. $2200 is not for the poor man, but I'm definitely going to think about that one.

[numpad0]

Apparently it isn't impossible to place CMOS under laser etcher to destroy Bayer color filters, causing it to become a panchromatic CMOS sensor(?)[0].

Or I think one could argue that Foveon X3 sensors are monochromatic... "More like YCbCr" or something.

1: https://hackaday.com/2021/08/09/using-a-laser-to-blast-away-...