So you're stuck on the side of a mountain in a cabin with no access to chemicals...

[welly]

...but you do have a wide array of household products (cleaner, bleach, coffee, oil, vinegar etc. etc.) in this cabin. There is no escape from the cabin and you've just captured a number of fantastic shots that you really want to develop. What could you use to develop those negatives?

I ask the question because I'm genuinely interested in what, if anything, you can use to develop negatives without using traditional developers.

Cheers!

Welly

[karl french]

http://caffenol.blogspot.com

[Barrie B.]

...but you do have a wide array of household products (cleaner, bleach, coffee, oil, vinegar etc. etc.) in this cabin. There is no escape from the cabin and you've just captured a number of fantastic shots that you really want to develop. What could you use to develop those negatives?

I ask the question because I'm genuinely interested in what, if anything, you can use to develop negatives without using traditional developers. Cheers! Welly

Greetings Welly, What are you going to process said negatives with when printing ? ..Cheers Barrie B
Wisner 4 X 5 Tech Field owner , too .

[Maris Rusis]

Development isn't the big problem. A variety of mild reducing agents at the right pH with a bit of accelerator, restrainer, and preservative will do the job. Caffenol is a striking example. Fixing the image is the challenge. The invention of Photography was held back because no commonly available chemical acts as a selective silver halide solvent. It was Sir John Herschel's discovery of hyposulphite of soda (sodium thiosulphate) in 1819 and its photographic fixing properties that constituted the critical breakthrough. That Herschel didn't tell W.H. Fox Talbot about this discovery until 1839 was essentially a case of twenty years wasted!

If your cabin has a swimming pool and if there is chlorine reducer in the pool chemicals store then you are in business. Chlorine reducer is sodium thiosulphate. And it's a lot cheaper from the pool shop than the photographic shop.

[mdm]

Sodium thiosulphate and sodium sulfite are actually quite easy to come by if you know where to look. I got a 25 kg bag of each some time ago for not much, then all you need is some metol for D23. Though hypo may not fix t grain films very well for the long term.

[Tim Meisburger]

That's what I use. D23 and plain hypo. Cheap as dirt.

Coffee I drink...

[SpeedGraphicMan]

I would add all the ingredients together and then drink the mix.
I would leave a note giving explicit instructions for how my shots should be developed!
This would make me instantly famous and millions would buy prints!

[bobwysiwyg]

+1 I've had some fun with it with very good results.

[jnantz]

make a big pot of instant coffee ( if it is "good coffee" you're screwed )
soak your film in it for a few hours

take your household table salt
and saturate a gallon of water with it.

after you get an image on your film
you will rinse it off and then soak it in your super saturated salt solution
to stabilize/fix it ...
when youget back to captivity
you will rewash and refix in normal fixer ...

enjoy !
john

[Roger Cole]

Sodium thiosulphate and sodium sulfite are actually quite easy to come by if you know where to look. I got a 25 kg bag of each some time ago for not much, then all you need is some metol for D23. Though hypo may not fix t grain films very well for the long term.

Really? I have not heard that, just that it takes longer.

[mike rosenlof]

Haven't I heard something somewhere about urine as a film developer? I have some recollection, but didn't really want to pay much attention. I guess the coffee could play two roles. Google gives a few hits. I really don't want to know the details.

Nice info on the chlorine reducer. I've heard sodium thiosulfate has uses in food processing, but I may look into this source.

[Brian C. Miller]

make a big pot of instant coffee ( if it is "good coffee" you're screwed )
soak your film in it for a few hours

Oh, gross! :p What is that instant coffee doing to people??

(I am so glad that I roast my own coffee at home!)

[Bill_1856]

Put 'em back in the "exposed" box, and wait 'til you get home.

[gliderbee]

Maybe you are referring to a scene out of the movie "the killing fields" ? That is tried there to fix a picture for a passeport, but it didn't hold for long.

Stefan


Haven't I heard something somewhere about urine as a film

[Eric James]

Coffee I drink...

Caffenol, then your morning cup - where's the harm in a mild case of argyria if you're all alone on the side of a mountain.

[Steve Smith]

You don't want to drink coffee, it's horrible. Just develop film in it and drink tea!


Steve.

[jnantz]

Caffenol, then your morning cup - where's the harm in a mild case of argyria if you're all alone on the side of a mountain.

yep,
then when you return from your mountain trip
you just need to shave your head
buy some drum-mallots ... and join blue man group
they are always looking for talent . ;)

[Jody_S]

yep,
then when you return from your mountain trip
you just need to shave your head
buy some drum-mallots ... and join blue man group
they are always looking for talent . ;)

Yes, but they were looking for smallish, acrobatic female performers. Without beards.

[jnantz]

i am sure as long as the blue people
got the stare down, that's really what counts ...

[Roger Cole]

You don't want to drink coffee, it's horrible. Just develop film in it and drink tea!


Steve.

"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it." - Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager

[Jim Noel]

There is no need to put anything in the coffee. Make a pot of coffee and let it sit warm for a few hours. then take it off the heat and when cool enough, develop the film in it for 25-30 minutes. The film will look too thin, but print beautifully. I have done this several times. AS for fixing, salt will work for long enough to get home where it can be properly fixed in thiosulfate.

[sanking]

Haven't I heard something somewhere about urine as a film developer? I have some recollection, but didn't really want to pay much attention. I guess the coffee could play two roles. Google gives a few hits. I really don't want to know the details.

Nice info on the chlorine reducer. I've heard sodium thiosulfate has uses in food processing, but I may look into this source.

Human urine contains the toxic benzene Pyrocatechin (catechol, pyrocatechol). The following comment can be found in Anchell and Troop's The Film Developing Cookbook.

"One interesting attribute of pyrocatechin is that this toxic benzene chemical is a constituent of human urine. How or why the human body manufacturers pyrocatechin is something we will leave to future generations of scientists - or theologian. Perhaps the Creator foresaw a time when developing agents would be in short supply but film would be plentiful?"

Unlike caffenol, however, I don't believe many of us will anticipate dual use (i.e. develop film and drink) of this form of pyrocatechin, even for therapeutic use.

Sandy

[gliderbee]

[... ]
Unlike caffenol, however, I don't believe many of us will anticipate dual use (i.e. develop film and drink) of this form of pyrocatechin, even for therapeutic use.


Not me anyway, but there are others ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/urine-the-bodys-own-health-drink-467303.html

... but we're disgressing. Question is: can you develop with it ? If so, why does the movie "The Killing Fields" shows it as a (failed) way of fixing (if I remember correctly) ?

Stefan.