Black & White

[aduke]

Go to George Jardine’s blog and watch this video tutorial, its outstanding!

http://mulita.com/blog/?p=1244

A big +1.

I watched it yesterday, found it incredibly useful.

Alan

[schrodingerscat]

If I remember correctly, the image as captured by the sensor and saved as RAW is actually B&W, with software converting it to color. Probably too simplistic, but I think that's the general  idea. Not sure how much bearing that has on results. The cameras I've used in B&W mode have all saved the files as jpegs.

It seems that as far as B&W printing is concerned, the printer is the crux of the biscuit. While a regular inkjet can produce fairly decent results, a dedicated carbon black setup is more preferred. I've been fooling around with an R1900 with a CIS system using MS blacks, and while B&Ws are OK, they are just that, OK. If I had the room, I'd pick up a new printer for regular use and convert the 1900 to just B&W.

[Schewe]

If I remember correctly, the image as captured by the sensor and saved as RAW is actually B&W, with software converting it to color. Probably too simplistic, but I think that's the general  idea.

The raw file contains monochromatic photosite data based on the spectral properties of the color filters that is then converted into RGB upon demosiacing. Not really correct to call it "B&W".

[John MacLean]

I'm going to give a plug to a friend of mine who has a lab in Los Angeles that does real Ilford fiber base prints directly from digital files via his Lightjet imager. These prints are beautiful and he can go up to 48x120"!

Check it here: http://www.weldoncolorlab.com/fiberblackwhite.php

[neile]

I use and highly recommend Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.0. I used to use Lightroom's built-in B&W tools, but SEP's controls are just so intuitive and easy to use. I commented a bit about it over on Brooks Jensen's blog when someone there asked him about SEP vs. Lightroom: http://askbrooks.lenswork.com/2011/05/bw-conversions-using-lightroom-or-nik-silver-efex-2.html.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that SEP is just a bunch of fancy presets. That'd be like saying Lightroom's develop module is just a bunch of presets in the left pane!

Neil

[JohnBrew]

I tried SilverEfex (twice!) but found there wasn't anything I couldn't replicate with Adobe products. Everyone's approach can be different because many of us are pleasing ourselves (umm, that sounds like photo masterbation!) or what we perceive to be. I would recommend Advanced Digital Black & White Photography by John Beardsworth. Many approaches - many different tastes. Good luck.