Russ,
I'm one of the happy "color-to-b/w-converters". I used to use all sorts of b/w film, but when available time to do the full b/w workflow got less and less, I started to explore the digital route. Where I ended up is here: I'm using color slide films exclusively (Sensia 100 and 400), scan at 2700 dpi (sometimes 5400) to TIFF, and do the standard correction work on the color file in PS Elements. B/w conversion I do with "Powerretouche Black & White Studio", a PS filter. Some may argue that using a PS filter to do the thing is not the pure school. They may have a point here, but on the other hand, if you don't have the time to really getting deeply into PS, then the Powerretouche filter is an efficient way of getting to fine conversions. Powerretouche Black & White Studio is actually an interface which does the tweaks you would otherwise do in Channel Mixer and Curves (amongst others). For me, the beauty of this tool is in that it does the job by means of controls which are largely those we all know from our photographic practice - that is to say: You do the things you would do in the darkroom: Filter, choose paper grade, expose, get the contrast right - very nice indeed, and the learning curve is much less steep than in actual PS. It does have B/W filter emulation (also those I didn't have in my bag at the time - magenta, e.g.), and it even has film characteristics emulation covering the major emulsions - e.g. grainy Tri-X, or tack-sharp TC-N. There are other conversion tools available too - I've tried them, and have come to like the Powerretouche thing best. As far as the printing end of my workflow is concerned, I don't do my own printing (also for time constraints), but have digital files printed sometimes by a pro lab in Switzerland. Sometimes, the output is very good - but not consistently. I'd think the issue is on my end, and has to do with calibration and color management. That's a field offering some really involved problems ... What I can say for sure: Don't send b/w converted images to amateur labs. The correction algorhythms routinely applied there have always created color casts (normally towards magenta). The advantage of a pro lab is that you can have the job done without any corrections - but as I said, it takes you some trial and error to find out the necessary tweaks before you get back consistent quality prints. It's great fun!
All but one of the b/w photos in my gallery are converted from color positive. Could you say which one isn't? Here's the link:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/176
The Powerretouche filter is described in more detail here:
http://www.powerretouche.com/Black-white_plugin_introduction.htm
(This guy should pay me back the license fee for all the free promotion I'm doing here for him - honestly, I think it's top product!)
Oh, and I wanted to mention this: Using color slide film exclusively can drastically reduce bag load. And I couldn't say that something got lost since I hardly use b/w film anymore. When a photo opportunity comes across, I normally know immediately whether it's going to be a color or a b/w one, and organize the shot accordingly. So it's really easy to change from a color to a b/w state of mind, without changing films or cameras - provided one is familiar with the abc of b/w.
Happy converting!
Gerold
