Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

I continue to learn things about my new Canon Pro-1 (8mp) and I made a
nice discovery over the weekend that may interest forum readers.  The
Pro-1 has a BW mode and it's great to visualize and shoot in BW, but
I've been shooting in color because I wanted the flexibility to do my
own BW conversion.  I didn't want the camera making those decisions
for me.

I shoot everything in RAW mode, and I discovered that all the color
info is still there in the RAW file.  The BW is only an interpretation
and is still in RGB mode.  It hasn't really been converted.  This
means I can use the camera in BW mode and still do my own BW
conversion using the Hue/Sat + Channel Mixer tools that offer so much
control.  I can even go back to color during the convert from RAW to
TIF if I want a color version, and then do the usual BW conversion I'm
used to.  And there's even more good news.

I've found that in BW mode, yellow/orange/red filters have the same
effect as we expect with BW film (blue skys get darker, etc), and you
can see the effect in the electronic viewfinder or screen just by
holding the filter over the lens.  You can immediately determine which
filter to use.  Talk about pre-visualization!  

Because of its tilt/twist view screen the Pro-1 is like using a
miniature view camera, and I am finding it very pleasing to work with.
 Now I'm delighted to be able to see the image and conceptualize in BW
as I work, including the use of filters, and not lose any creative
control.  

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm