Here is the same image, modified by using a 0 +/- 1 stop photomerge in CS5.
I upped the contrast a bit with levels after converting to B&W as it looked a little flat before that.
As can be seen there is a more distinct line between the table and the back wall, and the top of the pear looks like it has a little less texture (I like the way the hilight on the stalk in the first image stops the eye from being drawn fully to the Banana's).
Is this a better conversion technically?
Phil