Digital BW, The Print

On Friday, November 28, 2003, at 01:36 AM, 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com wrote:

> Message: 6
>    Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 09:16:52 +0100
>    From: "Anthony G. Atkielski" <anthony@...>
> Subject: Re: Re: RGB Convert to Grayscale
>
> Mark Hahn writes:
>
>> If you never learn how to do a quality conversion from
>> RGB ->> Greyscale then you will never know how to make
>> the required adjustments when your plugin does a less
>> than perfect job ...
>
> If you want perfect black and white, your original image capture _must_
> be in black and white.  And since there are currently no B&W digital
> cameras available, that means that the only way to get the best B&W is
> to shoot film.
>
> I'm surprised to see people arguing about the quality of RGB-to-B&W
> conversions, when they've already agreed to throw away 2/3 of the image
> quality by shooting RGB to start with.  It's like arguing over the best
> lens for a disposable.


Anthony,

Just another perspective. I've experimented with shooting B&W 
traditional film, B&W c-41 film, and Color negative film for B&W output 
on my epson.

The clear winner for me has emerged as color negative film. I like that 
I can choose which colors to "throw away" when converting to grayscale 
using the channel mixer.

And, making selections while the image is still in color--often much 
easier. Not to mention using the saturation adjustment on selective 
colors to to change the tonal response of just those colors.

-bruce