C-41 Stabilizer usage

mtjade2007 · Dec 22, 2008

These rules or laws are killing the industry of photographic films in my opinion. Honestly if I can not legally process films myself I would abandon my hobby of photography all together. Processing is a significant part of the fun of photography to me. If I had to reply on a 3rd party person to control the creation of the images I can't imagine why I would enjoy it. I can understand the environmental protection these rules are for. But they should only apply to large quantity shipments but not to small packages for individual home use. It's funny that I can not mail a 1 lb box of C-41 developer to a friend 40 miles away. But I know for sure a chemical distributor in my town delivers hundreds and hundreds of lbs of photographic chemicals on a daily basis with a beat up van all over the city with no regulations. Why do we give so much of our tax money to feed so many government officials who set these rules to make our hobby so difficult to enjoy? I am sure Kodak's business in films and film chemicals have been severly damaged by these rules.

By the way while I agree that China is the country that is releasing the most toxic waste to the whole world I don't think Taiwan and Malaysia should be included. India is more likely the next in line. Just look at the number of factories built in China by all industrialized countries around the world. Taiwan and Malaysia are too small to build enough number of factories to pollute the world.

Photo Engineer · Dec 22, 2008

tiberiustibz said:
I heard concern that all the cool science kits that got many of today's scientists interested in science in the 70s have all been banned because you can make bombs from them. Without cool exploding things boys my age are much less likely to get interested in science.

Yes, those old kits contained most of the ingredients to make "GASP" gunpowder.

I can buy it by the pound at the local gun store, so I don't need no steenkin keet.

PE

wogster · Dec 22, 2008

mtjade2007 said:
These rules or laws are killing the industry of photographic films in my opinion. Honestly if I can not legally process films myself I would abandon my hobby of photography all together. Processing is a significant part of the fun of photography to me. If I had to reply on a 3rd party person to control the creation of the images I can't imagine why I would enjoy it. I can understand the environmental protection these rules are for. But they should only apply to large quantity shipments but not to small packages for individual home use. It's funny that I can not mail a 1 lb box of C-41 developer to a friend 40 miles away. But I know for sure a chemical distributor in my town delivers hundreds and hundreds of lbs of photographic chemicals on a daily basis with a beat up van all over the city with no regulations. Why do we give so much of our tax money to feed so many government officials who set these rules to make our hobby so difficult to enjoy? I am sure Kodak's business in films and film chemicals have been severly damaged by these rules.

By the way while I agree that China is the country that is releasing the most toxic waste to the whole world I don't think Taiwan and Malaysia should be included. India is more likely the next in line. Just look at the number of factories built in China by all industrialized countries around the world. Taiwan and Malaysia are too small to build enough number of factories to pollute the world.

Most of the laws regarding chemicals, apply not just to photographic chemicals, but chemicals in general. Mostly in regards to the safe handling of materials in a commercial atmosphere. It would be almost impossible to, in the western world to build love canal now, that's not a bad thing, What is, is that they build them every day in China, it's one of the reasons so many companies are moving factories to China, there are almost no environmental laws there, they can pollute as much as they want with government sanction.

I expect in the next few years analog photography will fall under the radar, and nobody will care if you dump a litre of spent fixer down the drain, because it's such a small amount overall.

nickandre · Dec 24, 2008

and despite all these regulations my friend claims you can still make a bomb at the hardware store.

John Shriver · Jan 1, 2011

The shipping restrictions on alkali chemicals are mostly due to the damage that they can do to the aluminum airframe of an airplane if they leak in shipment. A little spill can be very expensive for the airplane owner.

C-41 Stabilizer usage

mtjade2007

Photo Engineer

wogster

nickandre

John Shriver

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency