Originally posted by abruzzi printing in a darkroom would be the primary benefit. Maybe also cheap black and white film for home development--the cheapest roll of B&W film on B&H is $3.49 (Kentmere 400, 24exp), the cheapest color is $2.79 (Fuji Superia 400, 24exp)....
Just FYI, doing a B&W print from a color negative developed as B&W is not easy. I did this a while back in my old film club. Very time consuming overall.
The color film base is a darkish brown or red-brown (not nearly clear like B&W) that makes for very long exposure times and getting "good" contrast is (was then) a challenge. Not that it's impossible, just more of a pain.
I scanned those last UltraMax images with my Epson V600 as "color negatives" because they come out better as opposed to scanning them as B&W negatives ... then just my tweaks in Lr4.4.
I have just started with a new, different photo club, and there are some photags that have done color development in the club's darkroom. I hope to convince one to show me how to do it ... that would be fun.
Cheers, J