Bsteph, I followed everything up to the last paragraph. I have a few questions, and please ignore my ignorance for I am new to all of this. #1. What is CMOS on a camera? #2. Is it your opinion that only your model of camera will give this extra 20% resolution on some settings, or do you think most models will do that? [I have a Canon Powershot A40 (2mp)...no snickering allowed ;) ] I am quite interested in b/w photography, so I'm just trying to figure out what mode is better to photograph in. Converting is not a problem for me as I enjoy having control over the different levels and achieving the results that best suite my tastes. If I could achieve a sharper more detailed picture by photographing in b/w mode then I may perfer to do it that way. Or do you most of you think the difference is too hard to detect for the average viewer?