Digital BW, The Print

Have you taken a look at Convert BW Pro from 
<http://www.theimagingfactory.com/>http://www.theimagingfactory.com/ ?   It 
goes in as a filter under Photoshop, and if you were at home in a darkroom 
you will be comfortable with the interface in about 60 seconds. It offers a 
continuous slider that simulates a color contrast filter, with another 
continuous slider adjusting the color density from 0 to 100. Another set of 
sliders lets you set "film" color response, with selectable presets for 
common B&W films.  A third set of sliders mimics more or less exposure on 
the film, more or less exposure in the enlarger, and a continuous variable 
contrast slider from 0 to 5.  All sliders affect a grayscale image in real 
time. I can't imagine doing B&W conversions without it.  I don't think it 
does batches, but it remembers the settings from the last image each time 
you bring it up.  You can download a 30 day trial version and see how you 
like it.

Cheers,
Kip


At 11/26/2003 11:32 PM -0500, Mike wrote:

>Alright! I'm really looking forward to working with this system. I've
>been printing in color since getting my D100 a year ago, and am about to
>try doing everything in B&W for as long as I can (hopefully a year).
>
>The hardest part for me is converting my images from color to B&W. I go
>into the channel mixer and usually come out with 40% green and 60% red,
>or vice versa... but there are so many combinations that technically
>"work." I'm constantly secong-guessing myself.
>
>Most importantly, I'd like to set up a Photoshop action that will
>quickly convert hundreds of images from color to B&W... Does anybody
>have a recommendation for a basic setting in the channel mixer? or some
>other way of confidently batch-processing from color to B&W for
>"everyday" shots? I'll be printing with the Epson 1280 onto Epson
>Heavyweight Matte (and then Enhanced Matte, once all my Heavyweight runs
>out) with UltraTone Inks from MIS and Paul Roark's workflow.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Mike