How to choose a black and white camera or a color camera
Black and white cameras are easily overlooked when choosing an imaging solution because many new cameras offer vibrant colors, sharp contrast and improved low light performance. However, for many applications, black and white cameras will be a better choice. Because they produce sharper images, better resolution, output smaller file sizes. And they are more sensitive to light.
The main difference between black and white and color image sensors is the lack of a color filter array (CFA) for black and white sensors. Removing this optical band pass filter allows more photons to reach the photosensitive surface of the sensor, making it more sensitive to light, equal to higher quantum efficiency. In addition, color cameras usually have an IR-Cut filter to prevent chromatic aberration of the infrared light. Without these filters, the red, green, and blue pixels will also react to various wavelengths in the NIR band, resulting in strange and inaccurate colors. Because each pixel of the black and white sensor is able to detect a wider spectrum without a color filter array (CFA) and an ir-cut filter, the overall performance of the camera is significantly improved under low illumination conditions. Therefore, at higher wavelengths, especially above 650 nm, where near-infrared (NIR) begins, we observed further improvements.
Cameras equipped with a color filter array (CFA) must interpolate the color data filtered by the optical filter through a sophisticated demosaicing algorithm. Since the data is interpolated rather than measured, there is always a certain amount of error introduced by the calculation. Obviously, the added error is eliminated by removing the color filter array (CFA).This means a sharper image with a higher effective resolution because each pixel of the black and white sensor contains measurements and is unaffected by its neighboring pixels. Cameras equipped with a color filter array (CFA) must interpolate the color data filtered by the optical filter through a sophisticated demosaicing algorithm.