JP:

Yeah, I was into B&W bigtime back in my youth when I had a darkroom. Went so far as to own a 4X5 view camera with a couple of Schneider lenses (and used Tri-X in the film plates.) Took it on one hike (Richardsons Grove in Mendocino Cty, CA.) Carried it in a trunk strapped to a cheapo external frame pack. Wish I had a pic of the set-up, everyone would get a BIG laugh. After that one trip I said ENUF of that and went back to 35mm while still trying to take B&W.

I was truly enraptured as have been so many others, of Ansel Adam's pix. With the new digital cameras (like the D40x), can't see why you can't take something as crisp, as contrasty and as gorgeous as one of his landscapes. Not sure, though, how Adams' "Zone System" works with digital (and I honestly can say I never understood it enough to master it with film, although the concept made sense.)

I'd say a circular polarizer is needed to get the contrast and dark sky to emulate an AA photo. And stopping down to the closest we can get to f64 might require a good tripod. A couple years ago there was a longgg thread here about the best tripod, and the consensus was that what was needed was quite contrarian to UL. So prepare to lug something heavy around if you're going to shoot at a tiny aperature and slow shutter speed (unless Image Stabilization solves this problem?)

Thing I've always wondered is: Does a red filter work the same for digital as it did when you were shooting with those slow, fine-grained B&W films like Plus X or that old film-speed-turtle, Panatomic-X, with an ASA (now called ISO) of 25 or 64 -- can't remember which? Does it kick up the contrast and turn the blue sky black (besides giving the image a red hue that's removed with Photoshop?)

We've got some pro's here, such as KenB and several others out West who can give you (and me) much better advice on the subject. I'll end with a couple of recent B&W digital images I've attempted this past year:


Mendocino headlands, 10/08.


Elk, RMNP, 6/08.


Castle near Doolin, 11/08.


London Mine, Mosquito Pass, CO, 9/08.

Hope some others get involved here with advice and pix, we could really learn something I'm sure.