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Flammable developer?

Photo Engineer

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On Warehouse 13 last night, they described an old Man Ray camera which, if you took double exposures of an old person and a young person, the old person became young and the young person became old. (I need one of those cameras!)

Anyhow, it was an old folding bellows camera and was a delight to see.

OTOH, the bad guy escaped at one point by throwing a match into one of his processing solutions which promptly burst into flame and nearly consumed the lab. The good guys were thus occupied by putting out the flames.

I've been trying to figure out whether this is a subtle boost for analog or a total slam. It is obvious that the writer(s) know nothing about analog. No processing solution is flammable! That does give a bad impression of both chemistry and darkroom work.

PE
 

Well, elements of the popular media seem to be frightened of "chemicals", even though over here we have the 'STEM' (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) buzzword which school pupils are supposed to get excited about in an attempt to secure the future of the UK as a developed nation... Although I'm skeptical as I tend to think people will go into certain areas anyway and I'm not sure how helpful these kinds of interventions are.

Tom
 
Well, I add some ethanol to my print developer when processing very old paper, I heard it is supposed to aid the uniform wetting of the paper, which otherwise comes out in blotches. Anyhow, that won't be enough to set it on fire, I presume.
Nikola
 
it was just hollywood ron ---
flames and explosions sell commercials
 
Whew, from the title I thought you were trying out a new exotic recipe.
I guess flaming developer might tend to burn out your highlights, use with great caution.
 
I used to pre-wet my silver gelatin prints with isopropanol to dry the genlatin before insulation and thus slow the developpement process.

I saw the series (yep I'm a damn addict even here in france I thank torrent gods for providing me that fantastic mind blowing crap..)

And I think I have the camera you're looking for : Agfa Billy Clack with the multiple anti-aging exposure option... 500$+shipping no refund.

I did a lot of things with this camera it's a really nice little 6X9 (metric) 120 eater

I'm not responsible for unsatisfied clients that believed this could really work...
 
I saw a motion picture in the mid-to-late 1980s with a scene of flaming debris falling into trays of chemical processing solutions in a large commercial darkroom and bursting into flames. The trays of solutions burned like gasoline. I think it was the scene in which the bad guy gets barbecued by the heroine, a blind darkroom technician who doesn’t need safelights to turn the tables on the bad guy in the dark.

I’m not certain, but I think it may have been in the 1986 film Manhunter, based on Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon from the Hannibal Lector series of stories. Apparently the idea of horrifically-flammable photographic solutions is not new to Hollywood.

I could never get Dektol or Kodak Fixer to behave that way.

I think I just figured it out—that was PYRO developer.
 
Nikola Dulgiarov said:
Well, I add some ethanol to my print developer when processing very old paper, I heard it is supposed to aid the uniform wetting of the paper, which otherwise comes out in blotches. Anyhow, that won't be enough to set it on fire, I presume.
Nikola
Click to expand...

I have occasionally added ethanol to my photography routine but I have never added it to the chemistry.

I usually just add it to myself but I have yet to burst into flames!
 
Somebody trying a new inorganic metallic developer that proved to be highly flammable?
 
It mught have been an old formula intended for processing cellulose nitrate film. ;<)
 
Maybe we need a new forum on APUG for... wait for it...

Hot Topics?

Yes, let the flame wars begin!
 
Tom Kershaw said:
Well, elements of the popular media seem to be frightened of "chemicals", ...
Click to expand...

There is a homeopathic [homeopathetic?] drug store on the Santa Monica Mall that has a big sign in the window "Our products contain absolutely no chemicals!"

I go in there every once in while and ask how they package a vacuum and sell to nothing to the unsuspecting public. The "pharmacist" does not understand that I am jerking him around.

Steve
 
There are old formulas with acetone. Are they volatile in solution?

I know Merg Ross uses an acetone formula. I don't think I could stand to print in a darkroom with acetone unless I had much better ventilation.
 

Considering that advertising products is relatively regulated I'm often surprised that homeopathic "remedies" aren't dealt with under some kind of trade descriptions legislation.

Tom
 
Couldn't be any worse then the bad motorsports movie "Driven" by Sly Stalone (or should that be "Drivvle"), where a Champ car (fuelled by Methonal) flips, lands in a lake, which causes the top of the water to catch on fire.....(I better explain. Methonal is soluble in Water)

Good 'ol Hollywood at it again. I'm pretty sure that the way some of these special effects guys light fires to everything, that when they were youg they were bed....oh no, I better not say or I'll offend someone...
 
Sounds like someone needs to call the Discovery Channel Mythbusters. Knowing those guys they'll first bust the myth, then fill some developing trays with plastic explosives just for fun. Remember what Jamie Hyneman said...

Ken
 
David A. Goldfarb said:
There are old formulas with acetone. Are they volatile in solution?

I know Merg Ross uses an acetone formula. I don't think I could stand to print in a darkroom with acetone unless I had much better ventilation.
Click to expand...

Well, you couldn't stand for long!
 
It reminds me of:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADINMjjtHvc[/YOUTUBE]
 
David A. Goldfarb said:
There are old formulas with acetone. Are they volatile in solution?

I know Merg Ross uses an acetone formula. I don't think I could stand to print in a darkroom with acetone unless I had much better ventilation.
Click to expand...
Acetone's nasty - I use it when spirit sensitizing pigment tissue and after the fifth piece I get dizzy and sick. Also, once a tissue burst in flames from a static discharge - I freaked out, dropped it on the ground and stamped it until I had black gelatin all over my shoes.
 
H2O: Dangerous Chemical!

A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide."

And for plenty of good reasons, since:

it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
it is a major component in acid rain
it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
accidental inhalation can kill you
it contributes to erosion
it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients

He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.

Forty-three (43) said yes,
six (6) were undecided,
and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.
The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?"
He feels the conclusion is obvious.

From http://www.math.psu.edu/tseng/H2Ojoke.html
 

I don't disagree about the junk science part but to be accurate I'd say he was testing ignorance and lack of critical thinking rather than mind washing by alarmists.
 
Well, there are totally uninformed people writing about the hazards of chemicals. Here are some writings and facts.

1. EDTA is a poison - FACT: It is not. It is used intravenously to treat heavy metal poisoning.
2. Ethanolamine is a poison - FACT: It is present in soybeans as a salt.
3. Triethanolamine is a poison - FACT: It is used in most skin creams and is rather harmless unless you OD.
4. HQ is a poison - FACT: It is if you eat it, but the body produces a variety of HQs as waste.
5. Hypo is a poison - FACT: It is one treatment for Cyanide poisoning.
6. Silver metal is a poison - FACT: It is so difficult to dissolve it is not harmful. It is used for burn victims applied in a cream.
7. Silver Nitrate is a poison - FACT: It was used as an antiseptic dropped into the eyes of newborn children. Silver Nitrate is a poison if taken internally. It can stain the skin.
8. Mercury and its salts are poisons - FACT: They are! One thing here is true out of 8.

I have found all of the above in various textbooks or articles. So what causes this overreaction?

Etc.......

PE
 
PE - everything is a poison when you "OD" on it. For some things, it's only takes a little, for others, it takes a lot!
 
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