As I show off my black and white photography at various conventions, people sometimes ask me (with surprise and maybe admiration) if I use film, and I reply with a yes. If the customer wants to, we will talk about black and white film and making it as an art form. As a personal rule, I do not turn digital color photos into black and white photos. Why? The obvious change in quality. Furthermore, one can tell that a digital black and white photo had color before the change. On the down side, I fear that black and white film will go the way of the daguerreotype. In other words, expensive and hard to find. Hopefully, the digital black and white will increase in quality by the time that happens.
Until then, I say “Digital black and white photos are like breast implants, they’re still fake,”
Art History Ramblings 
I agree digital black and white prints look terrible. However there is now an alternative. My company makes REAL black and white gelatin silver prints on REAL black and white photo paper directly from a digital file! Our prints are made on Iford Galerie fiberbase or Ilford Ilfospeed paper. We are using a laser as the enlarger and then process the prints in traditional liquid chemistry. So if black & white film disappears there is already an alternative. Check out our website, we already have some big name photographers working with us.
Best,
Andrea
http://www.digitalsilverimaging.com
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I agree, black and white inkjet prints are a poor second to a traditional black and white photographic print. However there is an alternative. My company makes REAL black and white gelatin silver prints directly from a digital file. We use a special laser to take the digital image and expose it directly on either Ilford Galerie Fiberbase or Ilfospeed RC photo paper then wet process the prints (developer, stop, fixer). So now YOU CAN make a real black and white print directly from your digital camera. Check out our website for more details and see the images of the famous photographers using our service.
Great Blog,
Andrea
http://www.digitalsilverimaging.com