What is the advantage of making true black and white gelatin prints rather than color prints, from black and white film?

Question

I recently had a few rolls of black and white film developed. When choosing options for 4-inch prints, I could either opt to have color prints or, for an extra cost, true black and white prints. I opted to have one of my rolls printed on true black and white gelatin paper, and the other on color paper.

In the end, I couldn't see a difference between the true gelatin black and white prints and the black and white roll printed on color paper.

Is there a concrete, conceivable reason why I would want to have my black and white rolls printed on true black and white gelatin paper if I just intend to use them for personal use, or is it just a marketing gimmick?

Answer 1

The images on gelatin-silver film and prints are formed by silver particles. The images on color (chromogenic) film and prints are formed by color dyes. There are also chromogenic black and white films that are developed using the standard C41 color process, but use black and white dyes to form the image.

Modern commercial chromogenic and silver-gelatin prints are both produced by scanning the negative and shining lasers at the appropriate papers, which are then developed using the appropriate chemicals. When printing black and white images on color paper, the image is formed by a mixture of colored dyes.

• "Black" won't really be black (Alan Marcus explains).
• There may be a color cast.
• Image resolution may be affected (guessing).
• There may be longevity concerns.

If you just want an image that will look good in a frame for several decades, normal chromogenic prints are likely good enough, as long as the aforementioned issues are not significant (as in your case, where you cannot tell the difference between the two processes). I don't know what other scenarios would lead someone to want "real" silver prints, except to try it out, as you did.