I'm familiar with some simple software tools (one from Ulead came with my Agfa scanner) that will convert a color scan into greyscale. The resulting image looks OK on my screen. I was wondering if it is possible now, or likely in the near future, to get high quality scans of color negatives, have them digitally/software converted to a B&W and get an archival quality B&W print.

I only have one camera body and would like to be able to keep just one type of film in it, ie. color. But know that in the future, if I want to, I can have some of the negs. manipulated and converted to B&W and end up with a B&W print that is equal to a fine B&W print from a true B&W negative.

-- Jay Johnson (jay_johnson@deneb.com), March 01, 2000

Answers

No doubt someone will disagree with me but desaturated colour pics look different from a traditional b&w neg, as do C-41 negs, as do many different types of 'normal' b&w film. Why do people use different films (I used several 100-125asa B&W films), it's because they like the different qualities for different subjects. So, if you like the end result, then yes you'll be able to get a digital B&W print from a colour neg (or slide). Whether that process is achival, I'm not sure but I imagine it is/will be shortly.

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@eisa.net.au), March 01, 2000.

A major reason desaturated color images don't often look much like B/W prints is that the desaturation is done by giving each of red, green, and blue values a certain "weight" that (depending on the software you use) is more optimized to simulate how the human eye responds to luminosity rather than how B/W film responds.

In Photoshop, at least, you can use the channel operations to do your own weighting of red, green, and blue, choosing to emphasize, say, the red channel over the green or vice versa, or blue over red, or whatever you like. By carefully manipulating these operations you can get results that rival excellent b/w prints.

-- Mark Wilkins (mark_wilkins@yahoo.com), March 17, 2000.