Originally posted by CWyatt Yes I think you're right.
I've also read there's nothing you can do with Silver Efex you can't technically do just with photoshop. That may well be true but it's super easy, fast and gives very, very good results. The 'structure' and 'local contrast' sliders, two of the best tools around in my opinion, probably combine a lot of photoshop tools into one very effective control.
I am no master at it, but I found that the best way in PS is to convert from RGB to greyscale is by adjusting the RGB channels in Monochrome mode (check box) via the channel mixer (Adjustments), which also allows you to adjust the contrast and brightness for each channel, either before, after or during assigning the % level for each channel.
I have no idea for final end-user monitor viewing whether it matters at ALL if you convert the final file to greyscale, and my guess is no--especially since I've ran into some weird web situations where a site and/or program just explode trying to understand a JPEG that isn't RGB.
I understand people doing conversions like this via color saturation commands, but if they're not applied to the individual channels individually, I don't understand the theory behind that.