Grayscale v. RGB

[mugsytodd]

Hi folks. I've looked around and can't find any sort of concrete answer to this question, so here goes:

Is there any benefit of saving black and white images in RGB color space? More specifically, for scanning negatives and printing digitally through a lab? Smugmug doesn't seem to mention it, sites like WHCC seem to like it, and I found different opinions on various forums. Any thoughts?

[rutt]

This is a question I'd like to know the real answer to as well. The issues I wonder about have to do with gamut and color profiles and management. These are areas where there are real deep holes in my knowledge.

[Shay Stephens]

Well, functionally, I don't see a difference between a 128 grayscale value and a 128,128,128 RGB value. But there is a difference in what you can do with some Photoshop filters and such. RGB is open to all the filters, while in grayscale, you have to switch to RGB for some things.

So for me anyway, RGB is less hassle and less time consuming.