Traveling with chemicals on a long trip? Can I get some advice on what to bring?

Hi Everyone,

I am gearing up for a 6 month long photographic trip in the Andes. I will be taking an 8x10 camera. I want to develop the film as I travel. Any ideas? I think I will take a highly concentrated developer like 510 pyro (I will be careful) or HC-110 but what should I do about fixer? I could just bring the components and make it as I go. I am sure I can get distilled water as I travel. Not sure what I should do. Has anyone done this before. I would love to get some advice. I am not sure I even know how to calculate the amount I need to bring.

-Andrew

what are you planning to do with your photographic waste ?

Hi Jantz,

Definitely a good question. Chemicals can be nasty stuff so I plan on doing the same thing with the chemicals while traveling as I do while I am at home in the United States. At times I will be using other peoples darkrooms so I will follow their procedures. It gets complicated because not all the chemicals are the same so I kind of think that is a different thread. I am really interested in what other people would do and what pitfalls I should lookout for. For example. I know I can't pack liquid as a carry on. I assume I can pack it in my suitcase. Also, wasn't the original fixer simple table salt?

At this point I am kind of interested in what other people would do or what they have done in the past to make things work.

-Andrew

I would probably stick to just developing in other people's darkrooms - as others have said the logistics of disposal, etc are going to add another dimension of hassle to your trip. If I was driving the whole time I'd consider it, but not if I had to deal with flying.

If you were in one place long enough, could use a baking tray in the sun to evaporate the spent fix and then bag the solid remnants (lining it with cling film helps), collect that in a plastic jar and dispose it at the end of the trip. I did this to reduce the amount of collodion I had to dispose of when I left Australia. Or buy a cookpot and do it over a stove - not sure how safe this is from a fumes standpoint, but probably OK with just regular fix, especially if there's a vent hood.

As far as finding darkrooms, might try FB groups for photography in those countries as a good starting point for making contacts. Universities might be another place to check.

Sounds like a great trip! Definitely do a writeup and post pics!

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Originally Posted by Andy F

... Also, wasn't the original fixer simple table salt?...

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Daguerre used concentrated (and maybe heated?) sea water initally, but it was slow and problematic, even with the easy-to-clear Daguerreotype plates. It would likely take hours with modern film and wouldn't clear all of the complex silver salts.

In the past I have traveled with bags of D-76 and Kodak fixer, but check out Tetenal Parvofin Film Developer Tabs and Superfix Tabs.

saw this at a local camera store and was intrigued, but not enough to buy some.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...r_tablets.html

You could just bring everything in powder form. D-76 or XTOL, and Kodak (and others) sell fixer in powder form too (e.g. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...xoCgBEQAvD_BwE).

Bring some empty accordion bottles which pack nicely and maybe the SP-810 or at least a tray and a foam core board.

Not sure where you’re going to spend the night but assuming you are staying in a motel or somewhere with a bathroom, you could also bring black cloth and tape, to seal around a bathroom window… and develop at night.

I can understand the yearning to see what your negatives looked like before you go home, but you probably won't have trouble with the airport, if you have to, it might be easier all around to off load your film into boxes and bring back with you on the plane and develop everything when you get home. when I travelled ( not 6 months in the Andes but .. ) most of the time I brought-back 100s of exposures. everything from iso 100 t0 3200 without issue ( before during and after 911 and the time of the London Subway Bomber so there were scanning checkpoints every 50 feet at Heathrow ) maybe I was lucky ... Talbot also used salt, he used a super saturated salt solution, sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't .. from what I understand salt ( in his case ) reinvigorated the silver so it wasn't the best "solution" .

good luck, sounds like a fun trip !

I do develop when I travel, ever since a month in Indonesia and all negatives ruined at the airport. I would carry powder developer and fixer, and a Paterson Orbital. I'm going to Africa for a month next August, and will develop all my black and white while I'm there, and have my color developed locally if I can. I'm too paranoid now.

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Originally Posted by Jason Greenberg Motamedi

Daguerre used concentrated (and maybe heated?) sea water initally, but it was slow and problematic, even with the easy-to-clear Daguerreotype plates. It would likely take hours with modern film and wouldn't clear all of the complex silver salts.

In the past I have traveled with bags of D-76 and Kodak fixer, but check out Tetenal Parvofin Film Developer Tabs and Superfix Tabs.

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I'm reading Mike Robinson's PhD dissertation on daguerreotypes right now and an interesting factoid I just learned is that the galvanic reaction of silver-coated copper plates is what enabled the original salt fix to work - basically it turned the plate into a very weak battery that enabled the reaction to fix the plate (a pure silver plate didn't work very well).