RECIPE FOR DIGITAL BW USING THE CHANNEL MIXER

Hi,

here's a quick list i developed over the years with info i took around the web, from non scientific test i have

done, and from my scanman experience when i scanned negs with my Imacon. Im not stating that this is THE real

truth on how to get the same film dynamic range, but let see it as a staring point to get nice BW, when you also

use indeed after level, curve, mask and all the other Ps tool.

Since Ps CS3 now offer a BW tool, some people prefered to use it instead of the channel mixer for many reason..i

like to use channel mixer personnaly.

Your comment are always a pleasure : ) have fun. Use them with channel mixer red-green-blue. In monochrome mode.

*IN CASE OF* I know that those number are not taking care of the water temperature, the bacterie in the water,

the chemical, the plastic and the planet alignement..they are provide as a starter point to get pleasing BW, or i

must say to *simulate* a BW look on a digital file. I know before someone fanatic pop's in that digital BW is not

the same as tradional BW.

Those number are simple there to HELP achieve a starting look, you should forget about teh kind of film they

*mimic* just use them as a simple reference only.

For those of you that like the BW tool in CS3, i have developed some preset that worked well for me, feel free to

send me a email to get them.

Agfa 200X: 18,41,41

Agfapan 25: 25,39,36

Agfapan 100: 21,40,39

Agfapan 400: 20,41,39

Ilford Delta 100: 21,42,37

Ilford Delta 400: 22,42,36

Ilford Delta 400 Pro & 3200: 31,36,33

Ilford FP4: 28,41,31

Ilford HP5: 23,37,40

Ilford Pan F: 33,36,31

Ilford SFX: 36,31,33

Ilford XP2 Super: 21,42,37

Kodak Tmax 100: 24,37,39

Kodak Tmax 400: 27,36,37

Kodak Tri-X: 25,35,40

And these basic ones:

Normal Contrast: 43,33,30

High Contrast: 40,34,60

and at last a generic BW:

24,68,8.

50,50,0

25,75,0.

PATRICK LAVOIE

I still use channel mixer, too. It has enough control that I always go back to it after trying the new B&W tool.

That being said, I gave up on digital b&w and went back to film. ;-) I spent 4 hours in a rental darkroom last night and even with my absolutely crappy skills in traditional printing am thrilled with the results compared to my years of trying to get a nice digital b&w print.