Do you get better black and white photographs with the b&w setting on my camera?

If you're shooting RAW (which I recommend you do) your camera is going to record the data in color anyway, whether you select black and white or not. You will see b&w images on the preview screen on the camera itself, but the RAW file will show up in color in Photoshop. The b&w setting is simply adjusting the in-camera settings for contrast, brightness, etc and (in some cameras, such as Canon EOS DSLRs) applying a digital 'filter' such as would be used in film photography (like a red filter for increased contrast in landscapes.)

Whether you use the b&w function is a matter of preference, but if you are shooting in RAW you should be able to manipulate any of the image settings in post-production anyway.

Personally, I would shoot in color then use Photoshop to get the black and white look that I want (there are some very interesting b&w presets in photoshop CS3 and newer, like Infrared)

I think you will get far better quality photos if you take the pictures in color and then use photoshop to change it. What I have discovered is that this way you can enhance the individual colors and then when you change the pictures to black & white you get great contrasts. You can do this by going to Image --> Adjustments --> Selective Color. Pick the color you want to enhance, and adjust it until the photo looks best. Save this as a copy, after that change it to black & white. You will have some stunning photos.

It depends on the way you eventually wish the photo to end up looking like. You should test both by taking the same pictures and taking pictures in different lighting, then see what type of artistic quality you obtain.

I do B&W conversions in post. The camera setting will discard too much information. Also, you can easily change a color image to a B&W. Doing it the other direction ain't so easy.

I prefer using photo shop to digital settings. It gives you more control. Over all I prefer film for B&W but that's a personal preference.

i prefer to use photoshop than to use the cameras image processor for all tasks.........

using photoshop gives far better control over contrast and tone, i prefer to use the chanels to desaturate, all the serious shooters i know that use digi for b+w use PS to do the conversion

Don't do that. You might as well use a cheapo point and shoot if you want the camera to do it for you.

Shoot in RAW like he said, and do it in software. See two different settings here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pooky/30719502...