Do duotones have to be converted to CMYK prior to PDF for publication?

Hi, we have a series of duotone images for publication, created in Photoshop CS4.
The duotones are saved as EPS files, imported into InDesign and exported as PDF files.
We thought that would have been fine, but sight-unseen the printer is telling us he doesn't even know what duotones are (!) and that those duotones will have to be converted to CMYK and then exported again as PDF files.
Does this sound right? Do we have to do convert every image, or else it won't print?
It seemed to us that the duotone "mode" was designed for publication of b&w images, to increase tonality in the print. We figured that if they were saved as duotones and exported to PDF, that the PDF file would be sufficient. So, what then is the point of converting duotones if the printer is then going to turn around and say, nope, can't do it that way?
I checked instructional tutorials and Adobe "help," but can't find the answer.
Help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Kelli & Dave
(*cross-posted at the PhotoShop forum.)

If you make use of spot colors n your duotones and your printer only accepts CMYK files some action may be needed somewhere.
Easiest approach: convert to CMYK using Acrobat Pro (Convert colors feature) or specialized Acrobat plug-ins/tools like pdfToolbox 4 from callas software.
Olaf
callas software

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Hi, we have a series of duotone images for publication, created in Photoshop CS4.
The duotones are saved as EPS files, imported into InDesign and exported as PDF files.
We thought that would have been fine, but sight-unseen the printer is telling us he doesn't even know what duotones are (!) and that those duotones will have to be converted to CMYK and then exported again as PDF files.
Does this sound right? Do we have to do convert every image, or else it won't print?
It seemed to us that the duotone "mode" was designed for publication of b&w images, to increase tonality in the print. I figured that if they were saved as duotones and exported to PDF, that the PDF file would be sufficient. So, what then is the point of converting duotones if the printer is then going to turn around and say, nope, can't do it that way?
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Help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Kelli & Dave

Revert back to the original four-color images in Indesign, or use a quick Image > Mode > CMYK action and the Image Processor script to convert the duotone images to CMYK.
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Do duotones have to be converted to CMYK prior to PDF for publication?

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