No more b&w paper?

[Daneinbalto]

I recently shot a few rolls of B&W, which I hadn't done for ages. Some were C-41 process, some were true B&W. I had them developed at a local semi-pro photo lab. When I got the prints, I noticed color effects next to certain elements, such as the stripes in a shirt. This applied whether the film was C-41 or true B&W. I asked the lab and they told me it was because they used color paper (as I suspected). I called another lab, which appeared to be a professional lab according to their phone book listing. They told me "there is no more b&w paper".

I suspect I would get better results if my b&w prints were made on b&w paper. Am I correct? Is it true that b&w paper is discontinued? If not, are there any labs (preferably on the US East Coast) still using it? (I never did my own processing and am not in a situation where I can have a darkroom).

 

[bobbyrab]

I don't know about Fuji, but Kodak did have a dedicated B&W paper that processed in colour chemicals which they have now discontinued, in theory you should be able to get neutral B&W's on colour paper, but the machine has to be well calibrated and maintained, colour effects in the stripes however is not acceptable and should be rectified by the lab, it has nothing to do with B&W paper not being available, [I had a similar result from one of the UK's larger professional labs, but they reprinted everything correctly]. Non of this is to be confused with with conventional B&W paper that uses B&W chemicals, which is still available.

 

[f16sunshine]

There is B+W paper. Lots of it. What there is not are labs that print in the traditional chemistry for public consumption. 100% of photo labs whether they refer to themselves as pro or not are scanning and printing via ink jets or laser. In particular for small "proof" size prints. Surely you can find someone willing to do traditional wet silver prints. Better still. Find a local school darkroom that has a club you can join and do your own. 🙂 One does not need to own their own gear to have darkroom access.