Digital BW, The Print

Jeff Magidson writes:

> On practical terms how would the resulting images be Inferior?

Inferior in the sense that the range of different results you can obtain
from converting color images to grayscale is far, far smaller than the
results you can obtain by shooting black and white directly.

For example, if you shoot a scene through a narrow-band yellow filter in
straight black and white, you get results that are impossible to obtain
through any conversion of a color image.  If the original scene includes
both objects that are spectral yellow in color and objects that are
green and red in color, all of them will look white in the converted
color image, whereas only the truly yellow objects will look white in
the image shot through a filter with true B&W film.  This can make a
dramatic difference in the results you obtain.

> Would anyone but the photographer say " wow.. these are inferior
> photographs and must have been made with a digital camera or on color
> film and converted to B&W rather than shot on B&W film" ?

Non-photographers might not say that, but they'd still notice in some
cases.  Converted photos typically lack "pop" as compared to straight
B&W.