CRM,

Most of the higher-end and dSLR camera's menu controls provide the option of saving files as B&W, and Sepia, as well as many also provide the effect o shooting with a tradition K2. G and 25/29 filters as well, from my experience testing and using many models including Epson, Minolta, Olympus and Canon.

Let me try again.

I have a Nikon D70, PhotoShop CS, and the Convert to BW Pro plugin from the ImagingFactory (Reviewed in the latest Shutterbug issue)

The plugin comes with defaults for film types (TriX, TMax...) but does not come with default settings to mimic traditional print toning methods.

Has anybody used the plugin?
Do you have some settings to mimic printing processes?

Thanks CRM

I just downloaded the plugin today and it looks promising. Stay tuned......

OK, I've been playing with the Convert To BW plugin for about an hour now, and it looks pretty good. One of the features I like is being able to use color response presets from five different BW films (Agfa Pan APX, Ilford Delta, Ilford FP4, Kodak Tmax and Kodak Tri X). You can also apply photo filters in a continuous range from deep red to deep blue, and adjust both hue and saturation with sliders, plus see the result in monochrome, rather than as an added tint.

I attached an old barn shot from 2002 that I was never really happy with until I massaged it through this plug it. The only question is, will I still like it enough to pay the 90-some-odd bucks for it at the end of the trial period?

(I see I forgot to convert the image to grayscale before posting, and there's some red tinting in the post that's not there on my monitor. But, you get the idea...)

ConvertToBW, round 2:

I've played with the software enough to be comfortable with it. Regarding sepia toning, I think the process is pretty intuitive, but there are no presets. I'm not sure there should be, because I don't think everyone's conception of a "standard" sepia tone are the same. What you do have, with this software, is a slider that provides continuous control of tones through the gamut of those that could reasonably be called "sepia". Actually, make that two sliders - one for hue, and one for saturation. I don't believe you can get much more control than that.

I attached a sample....

You can also get some nice toning effects using color variations in PSE.

I read the article and this plug in could actually get me interested in digital photography