I'm having a go at photography with good ol' 35mm film.

This is completely new to me. One day I will have a go at developing.


So, why is b&w film so much more expensive than color film?

If I take color shots, scan them into digital format, and make them black and white, am I "missing out" on anything that purely b&w film provides?

I guess it's more expensive because it's even less used than colour film.

The only thing you're missing is being aware of shooting a b&w roll while doing it. If you know that your shots will turn out b&w no matter what, you might shoot very differently, focusing closer on form than on colour.

Not sure about where you are, but here, B&W is a bit more expensive if you buy the C41 film (B&W that is developed the same way as color film) but if you buy traditional B&W film it is about the same or cheaper than it's equal quality color film.

Fuji and Ilford both make some tradition B&W that runs about 2.50$ a roll at 36 exp, while the similar films that are C41 B&W are between 3.50-4.00$ per roll for the same exposure. The low end Fuji film that you find at every drug store and wal-mart runs about 2.00-2.50$ a roll for 24exp.

The problem with traditional B&W (if you don't develop your own) is finding places to process it for you...they are becoming fewer and fewer.

thanks for your comments,

cheers,

Hey,
I've been working with b&w film rolls for some years now, and as you can read above, you shoot very differently if you know your pics are going to be b&w.. My colour pics (digital most of the time) aren't near half as good as the b&w ones.. (because it requires a different state of mind which is difficult to achieve if you keep thinking in b&w )..
And photography is never cheap so if you want to try it, have a go!

You definitely will shoot differently when using b&w film vs color. You know the color won't be there so you begin to look more at the subject matter; what kind of textures are there, how are the highlights and shadows in relation to each other. If you are really serious about using b&w, the best thing you could do is to find anything you can written by Ansel Adams. He was a master at using it. My suggestion would be to find "An Ansel Adams Guide--Basic Techniques of Photography". It is actually a three book collection that has been condensed and put into one volume by John Schaeffer; one of the lucky ones that was able to study under Ansel.

i love the way light draws your photograph in the black. i think b&w represent the philosofy of good photograph. at least in my world it is like that. the fact some information is some how missing in blackandwhite and as someone said we (tent) to work a lot with forms, makes it very iconic for me. thats how i see a good photograph. its a clear vision of a situation, which will be accomplished by using the right proportions and spaces between the components in the picture. by the way of making this you will give these object or whatever a greater importance then they have in reality. you create your own vision of this moment and thats when you can call it art. then you can start thinking about your abstraction of your photographs and subjects, and explore how thin, and in some point of view very useless, these thoughts of you are. everybody how seriously wants to get in photography should start with shooting b&w. the use of color and b&w are indeed very different, but i think working with b&w has helped making a nice composition now i seeing all these beautyful colors in the summer

prefiero el B/N por que la vicion de la foto es diferente al color por lacortagamade tono que tiene, en donde tiene que espresar la foto. mientra que el color so por tener colo la foto ya
bale.