Digital BW, The Print

While I would like to experiment using a digital camera to produce 
B&W, it is a bigger step for me than most as the cameras I use are 
all manual rangefinders and slrs from the 50s-70s.  (I do not have a 
camera with auto-focus and do not own a zoom lens.)  Given the recent 
exchanges on this list, I realize that producing a reasonable B&W 
print from a digital camera involves a reasonably steep learning 
curve and that it will take considerable effort.  While I am 
certainly willing to invest the time, I want to make sure the 
equipment I use  is capable of giving me reasonable results -  say 
more or less equivalent to what I now get from scanning negatives 
produced with a Canon FTb.    I have access to a Canon G2 and wonder 
if that will do it.  If not, what would it take?  I assume that there 
is something on the market other than the pro digital slrs that is 
capable of producing reasonable results.  I just don't want to spend 
all of the time and effort learning to use a digital camera and then 
trash the idea because I had the wrong equipment.

Please respond to me off-list if you feel that this question is not 
of general interest.

Thanks,

Steve