Digital BW, The Print

What is the meaning of the word 'staining' used here and previously.
I have no idea of it's meaning unless it is some reference to 'toning'
as used to be done to B&W prints. Please explain.
Jules


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tyler Boley"
<tyler@...> wrote:
>
> this is exactly the point of doing some b&w negs scan tests in RGB-
to investigate the 
> possibility of a superior channel, or channel combination as you
describe. Once 
> determined, if you have the channel option for mono as you describe
(Silverfast also has it, 
> I've seen it elsewhere as well) there is no reason to make the
larger RGB scans from B&W in 
> the future.
> If you have a clearly desirable channel, and no such option in the
software, there is no 
> choice but to scan in RGB then toss out the other channels once in
Photoshop.
> It is quite possible some scanners perform well in all channels, and
a more typical RGB to 
> Gray conversion in the scanner software or elsewhere will be fine,
or desaturate, or LAB, or 
> whatever your prefer.
> Another reason to investigate individual channels to optimize
workflow is for staining 
> developer users.
> 
> Some software has problematic LUTs for B&W negs, that never give you
access to all the 
> info on some or all negs. This would be another reason to use an
alternative procedure- 
> scan as a transperency to open up the capture range, and invert in
PS later. Or, with 
> Vuescan use the raw file, or Silverfast's HDR.
> Tyler
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Peter De Smidt
<pdesmidt@> 
> wrote:
> >
> > >  There is no advantage to scanning a b&w neg in RGB as the three
> > > channels (and hence the three times larger file) will be identical.
> > Vuescan allows you to make a greyscale file from any of the color 
> > channels.  I tried the default way, and then each of the various
color 
> > channels.  The green channel with my Canon 9950F gave the most detail 
> > with the least noise for scanning BW silver negatives.  As such, I
set 
> > Vuescan to make the grey 16 bit image from the green channel. This
does 
> > not require having an RGB image, with the resultant huge file
size. It's 
> > easy to test these things. Try each way. Make sure to label the file 
> > with an appropriate name.  Open them in Photoshop and compare.
> >
>