Digital BW, The Print

Val,

>I had been printing just grayscale film images, but I am now fooling 
>around with desaturated RGB files from  a 6.1 mp dslr.

>1.) In reading about different workflows, I see the 
>term "partitioned" workflows being used.  What does this term mean? 

It just refers to putting lighter inks in the highlights.  For example, the
Epson driver does this with hextone printers and the cyan and magenta inks,
putting the light inks in the highlights and then substituting the dark inks
in the darker areas.  With B&W inksets we can have very light inks in
different spots and do the "partitioning" either with a RIP or Photoshop
curves.  The goal is to get the dark inks out of the highlights to avoid
dots.

>2.) Is there a quality difference in a print from a (dslr) grayscale 
>file vs a (dslr) desaturated RGB file?

(I'm a film guy still.)

>3.)  Same question as #2, but what if the source is scanned color 
>negative?

You'll get varying opinions on this.  

When digital scanning became a reality, I decided to try color negative film
(Konica Impressa 50, medium format).  I shot it for a year and decided to go
back to B&W film.  The images were fine when no "filtering" is used -- with
any number of conversion methods.  The problem I ran into is that when a red
filter was put on in the computer -- via any method -- the film looks more
like 400 ISO than 50 ISO film.  

With color film the multiple emulsions smooth out the grain of each separate
emulsion.  When just one emulsion is used, the films are not nearly as good.
After all, each emulsion layer must be exposed with just a fraction (1/3) of
the visible light spectrum.  As such, each one must be, in effect, more
sensitive -- faster -- than a B&W film which is sensitive to the full
spectrum.  When a red filter is put on a B&W film, one has to increase the
exposure, and the entire film emulsion is still being used.

I think digital capture devices suffer from this same problem, but perhaps
to a lesser degree due to "grain" not being in the image, as such.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com