There's a multitude of emulsions available, even after a lot of them have been discontinued. Each one reacts a little differently to light, both in terms of requiring more or less light, but also in terms of reacting in various unique ways to light.
My exploration of black and white
One thing I've noticed that happens when you approach photography from an engineering background is that you tend to loathe black and white photography. I know that, starting out, I did. I was talking to another photographer and she said that one of her friends was an engineer like me and he also had a similar problem with black and white photography, always preferring color. It's throwing information out and we just don't like that.
San Francisco Sunset
The sun setting over San Francisco from Alameda
Ruby
Ruby with devil horns on a ladder.