Digital BW, The Print

There has been a lot of information on the list lately about a couple 
of topics.  I wonder if there is any interest in doing two collective 
practical tests.  The two questions that are of interest to me are:

1. How closely can you make a digital monochrome print from silver film 
match a digital monochrome print created from colour film.

2. What is the practical impact of the scanner hardware (ND filter, RGB 
scan, drum scan) on the quality of the scan and the quality of the 
resultant print.

For question one we could proceed as follows:

I would make two images from the same scene.  One on Provia 400 and the 
other on Tri-x.  I will have them both developed and drum scanned at a 
local pro lab.  I'll put the scans (have to think about what size is 
best) on an ftp server ( or the files section if that is practical ) 
for anyone to download.  Anyone who wants to can create their best 
match to the B&W image from the colour image and upload the result for 
the rest of us to review.  Anyone who is interested can then see the 
difference in the image files and also, by  downloading and printing 
the two files, can see for themselves what the difference in the print 
is.

For the second question we could do this:

I will circulate some CD-R's and the tri-x negative from the first test 
to anyone who is willing to use their scanner to produce the best full 
range 16 bit greyscale scan that they can.  They send the file back to 
me or upload the file to an ftp server.  Anyone who is interested can 
download the results and make their own comparisons on screen and from 
their own printer.

There are lots of variables in making the scan but if we set people the 
task of making what they felt was the best scan they could make with 
some agreed level of white and black point clipping I think the results 
would be meaningful.

To serve my own interests I'd like to circulate a 4x5 negative (this 
will help me decide whether to upgrade my scanner).  Ideally we would 
have someone volunteer a Leaf 45 ( I think there is at least two of 
these on the list), an Epson 2450 and or a 3200, and perhaps a drum 
scan although we should have one from the first test.  Anyone 
interested in directly comparing their scanner could, of course, 
volunteer as well.

I don't have any digital cameras so I can't offer to add that to the 
comparisons in the first test.  However if there was someone in the 
Pacific Northwest (Vancouver or Seattle) who was will to bring their 
good quality digital capture device along we could really make things 
interesting.

Is this of interest to anyone else?

--
Kevin Gulstene