Chapter 23 Question ○18

Why is color film cheaper than black and white film? (Ozon Reuter accepted) In the teens of baby boomers, color film was generally two or three times more expensive than standard black and white film.But now, the most expensive thing is black and white film.For example, at a photo-finishing shop in Ithaca, New York, a roll of thirty-six black-and-white film was developed and the asking price was fourteen.Ninety-nine dollars, but color film of the same specification, as long as six.Ninety-nine dollars.Why does this happen? In the 1950s, the consumer market for color photographs was in its infancy.The process of developing color film is much more complicated and expensive than black and white film.Because of this difference in initial cost, most people shoot in black and white, making photo labs specialize in it.Efficiencies brought about by specialization further lowered the cost of processing black and white film as volumes grew.

Black and white film continued to dominate the market, and the process of processing color film remained complex.However, with the improvement of consumer income, more and more people choose color film, so manufacturers have developed optical machines that can automatically develop color film.This kind of machine costs 150,000 US dollars each, and it is only cost-effective if the printing shop processes a large number of photos every day.Their biggest advantage is that they can process huge amounts of photos with negligible labor costs.Since the cost of labor is the largest component of the cost of photo printing, photo shops using the new machines can produce and sell color prints at a much lower price than black and white prints.

So why can't this automatic machine handle black and white photos?Actually, it is possible, but doing so requires expensive photo paper, and the resulting photos are of lower quality than traditional manual methods.So over the years, black-and-white photography has increasingly become a niche market for professionals and amateurs alike. Now people are gradually turning from optical processors to digital machines.The latter could print black-and-white prints on color paper, and the processing costs of the two films would soon converge, and the price difference between black-and-white and color prints would disappear.