You need decent software (photoshop is great, but the "light" editions
marketed of various programs with the scanners usually suffice) that will let
you adjust contrast and brightness levels to get decent b&w from color. A
typical well exposed color shot with strong contrasts (red or dark car, good
clear sky, green grass) will need to be lightened overall a fair amount and
have the midrange lightened up some to reproduce will. Any shots less
contrasty will need more considerable tinkering before they will look
anything But muddy printed b&w.
Seattle FW is not the best lab I have ever seen...I used them a few times
several years ago and quit because nothing I sent them ever came back looking
quite right. (not to say that they might not have improved, etc etc, I'm just
saying that that was my own experience)
The finest results come from Photo-CD, but you need access to a Good lab
(they most all do good work at this level, good in this context means
decently cheap, like 50cents per image. This takes prep time and costs money,
and the resolution is total overkill.
BTW, if Egghead has something for $250, IMHO you can probably find it at
another store for 10-30% less. Try NCA (fremont, south bay) Central Computer
(Santa Clara, SF) or browse the ads in computer currents or microtimes.
(don't bother with Frys, NCA will beat them hands down) You live close to the
best prices in the US on hardware and software, no reason to buy it from some
company that buys it here, ships it to seattle, and then redistributes back
to their high profile/high price retail outlets....
Usual disclaimer,,, no interest in above companies bla bla bla
(Although I do make my living as a computer builder/tech/reseller and have
done business with all of the above)
Hope it helps
John
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