A lot of good advice here. :thumbup:
I personally favor LR for processing because the work flow is faster. However, I do have C1-Pro on my Mac for use with some specific M8 or M9 files. LightRoom 3 is now available for download on the Adobe web site, and it looks promising. Since it is a beta version it hasn't been optimized yet, so it's a slow-poke compared to the current full version of LR2.
Here is a few reasons I favor LR2, especially since I do a LOT of B&W conversions (
like 500 or so a week) ...
First off,
there are a number of LR presets written for the M8, these are one button selections which you can then tweak with the LR controls. I have a couple of LR B&W Presets for the M8 ... which you can select when importing M8 files into LR so they all load into the LR library as B&Ws (
but can be reverted to the original color when desired). Once you get a preferred general B&W conversion, you can make that the User Preset of your own.
Perhaps more importantly, once a set of images is loaded into the Library,
LR allows you to open any RAW, Tiff or Jpg file directly in Photoshop ... select any LR file and just key in command E (for edit), and the file
immediately opens in PS without leaving LR.
Why is this important (to me)?
Because
Photoshop is the most ubiquitous and deepest processing program there is. As such there are an amazing amount of actions and plug-ins available for it ... including a bunch written specifically for the M8. My current favorites are the set of PS actions offered by Jeff Ascough ...
http://jeffascough.typepad.com/ascough_silver_actions/
This set of actions includes some amazing B&W conversions with all sorts of subtile enhancements (like diffusion or condenser grain enhancement which is the closest thing to an analog film look I've found to date).
Once you make PS enhancements, and close/save the file, it automatically goes back into the LR Library. No need to then open everything in Adobe Bridge or ACR to do PS work.
Finally, LR directly offers tools not available on any other RAW processing program. In effect, you have darkroom type dodge and burn, selective enhancement, as well as isolated color controls, sharpening, contrast, cloning, etc., etc., ... that unlike PS are all non-destructive, and reversible. Currently, I now process 75% of my images without ever using anything other than LR.
The M8 is a GREAT B&W camera ... the IR issue actually helps in many cases to make it an excellent B&W tool.
Personally, I never used the B&W jpg option on LCD of the M8 ... IMO, and experience, LCDs aren't the best evaluative tools anyway. Good for avoiding gross errors, checking framing/composition and obvious exposure mistakes ... but a poor indicator of what the B&W image will really look like.
-Marc