Digital BW, The Print

Please ignore my last post. I was having a bad day.  I now realise 
that instead of selecting the lightness channel all I was doing was 
viewing it!!!!

However do you use the lab color method when converting RGB B/W scans 
to greyscale, or is there another method that you prefer?

Cheers

Martin





--- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "martinshakeshaft" 
<ms.photolists@v...> wrote:
> I am currently scanning some of my B/W negatives (Tri-X) using a 
> Minolta 5400 and VueScan.  Fine tuning is carried out in PhotoShop 
7.
> 
> My workflow is:
> Scan the negative as a 48bit (RGB/tiff) scan.  In PhotoShop covert 
it 
> to a Greyscale image/adjust the levels/adjust contrast.
> 
> This is OK but I find unless I adjust the contrast my images are 
> muddy.  I have found that taking the RGB scan/converting to Lab 
mode 
> and just viewing the Lightness Channel is a good way to go BUT if I 
> stay in 16 bit mode it does not let me discard the a and b channels.
> 
> Is there a way I can do this and stay in 16 bit mode?  How do you 
do 
> it?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Martin