Digital BW, The Print

Martin Wesley wrote:

"I have shot some Supra but have not tried scanning it yet. With 
all the advances in film technology in recent years the sharpness 
gap between B&W and color is probably shrinking and may no 
longer be as critical as it once was."


My experience scanning color negative film to B&W for Piezo 
output: I recently scanned some Fuji Superia 200 (4 dye layer) 
color neg film using Vuescan software using the 16 bit B&W 
Grayscale setting (I used the Vuescan preset curve for Ilford 
XP2). I was amazed by the quality! Fine-grained, sharp as a tack, 
and the tones & grain looked like I had used was a medium 
speed B&W film shot with a yellow-orange filter (wonderful, rich 
sky-tones with prominent white clouds). 

The final result was beatiful, effortless Piezo B&W prints, without 
any spotting (I used the infrared channel and Vuescan's dust 
removal filter when I scanned the negatives).

So I'm thinking I may abandon my 20-year affair with HP-5+, and 
start shooting the current color-negative emulsions for both my 
B&W and color needs. I'd like to know what others think - I'd 
certainly encourage anyone else to give it a try.

Cheers,
James