Are grayscale TIFFs save to archive? Or keep RGB?

[sveto]

[Sorry, if this is the wrong forum - i didn't quite know where it belongs in. It's about long term compatibility of the archived files.]

I hope the experts on this board have a quick answer to this. Grayscale for B&W images produces smaller TIFF files than RGB. But are this TIFFs troublefree in the long term? I'm concerned about bad compatibility, because it's seems not as widespread as normal RGB TIFFs.

I know it's a standardized format, but wanted to make sure there's no hidden problem lurking, before i give it a go.

Yay or nay? 
Sveto

PS: Before Peter asks about my DNG solution - it's not as troublefree as i thought. DNGs from TIFFs, as described in my previous thread, allow no WB adjusting in LR3 beta. I get the red lights here, so i'm keeping the TIFF format for non-RAW files.

[johnbeardy]

Do these files have layers too? If the B&W image includes adjustment layers (eg channel mixer) then might you not want to fine tune the conversion in future, or revise whatever other work you may have done?

John

[sveto]

No layers, John. Just archived B&W photos. They have to be postprocessed yet. And Lightroom seems the perfect editor for this, because of it's very practical workflow and controls. It's a long term project, to be done in freetime.

[johnbeardy]

Then I don't see a problem archiving them in Grayscale mode.

John

[sveto]

Good to know, thanks!
sv

[peterkrogh]

Sveto,
Or in DNG if you are going to edit exclusively in Lightroom.
Check how sizes behave.
Peter