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A natural developer (maybe)


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For the first time in my life yesterday, I came across a walnut tree in fruit. I picked a green walnut and peeled back a little of the husk, at which point my friend warned me that it would stain my fingers badly. She was right! The oxidised 'juice' quickly turned brown and then black overnight. The husk also smelled quite strongly of phenolic acid.

 

Now most developing agents are phenolic compounds, and some, like pyro and paraphenylene diamine, will darken considerably with oxidation and stain. (PPD is used in hair dyes)

 

So there's a similarity of characteristics between whatever chemical(s) are in walnut husk and two known developing compounds. The major chemical in walnut husk is juglone I believe, but this may not be the staining component.

 

Anyway, I intend to extract whatever's water soluble in the walnut husk, activate it with washing soda and attempt to develop a piece of film with it.

 

Has anyone else attempted this, or is it known already if walnut husk can be used as a source of developer?

 

FWIW, Pyrogallic acid was apparently first isolated from oak galls.

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Don’t know about developer but I as a kid in Mississippi we always heard that yellow stuff was a cure for ringworm.

 

- Yes, been reading up on juglone, and it's being hailed as everything from a natural herbicide to a cancer cure! Don't know about that, but I'll give it a try as a developer.... if I can find that scrap FP4 I have lying about somewhere.

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A more popular natural developer would be caffenol.

 

Recipes

 

There should be many plants that have reducing chemicals in them, though.

 

Caffenol isn't a proportionally staining developer though. And where's the satisfaction of curiosity in following that well-trodden path?

 

Also, the active ingredient in caffenol appears to be caffeic acid, and coffee isn't even the best source of that chemical.

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(snip)

Also, the active ingredient in caffenol appears to be caffeic acid, and coffee isn't even the best source of that chemical.

 

Caffeic acid - Wikipedia

 

says 0.03mg/100ml, which sounds kind of small for a developing agent.

 

Caffenol might be somewhat stronger than ordinary coffee, but it still seems small.

 

For comparison, D-76 has 5g/L of hydroquinone.

 

Having never tried caffenol, does it also work with decaffeinated coffee?

-- glen

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Caffeic acid - Wikipedia

 

says 0.03mg/100ml, which sounds kind of small for a developing agent.

 

Caffenol might be somewhat stronger than ordinary coffee, but it still seems small.

 

For comparison, D-76 has 5g/L of hydroquinone.

 

Having never tried caffenol, does it also work with decaffeinated coffee?

 

- Apparently caffenol does work with decaf instant coffee. I tried developing in some left over strong filter coffee + alkali activator, and got nothing. I suspect there's some other byproduct of the 'instant' process that makes it a better developer (and a far worse tasting beverage!).

 

FWIW, Phenidone is only needed at a level of 0.1 g/l or thereabouts, but needs a superadditive fellow developer like hydroquinone or sodium ascorbate to give a usefully dense image in any sensible time.

 

Neither phenidone alone, nor sodium ascorbate, will give a useful image, but together they form a great team.

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I recall reading accounts of developing film in beer, and in urine (I *think* this was on the now-defunct NelsonFoto forum).

With any natural material, the strength is likely to vary from batch to batch, and you'll need to filter out fine solids before using it.

I've never tried coffee as a developer. The attraction of instant coffee is just that you can get it anywhere, and the same brand should always give you the same strength. Alkali to make it with is somewhat less easy to get.

I don't know of a similar corner-shop fixer. If someone were to show that you can clear film with diluted toothpaste or something, we could turn up and photograph in any little town, and process our film at the motel; but Joe will be laughing at us, as he does his film in a tree-house in the walnut jungle.

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I did a 4 year trip with Caffenol & once the "kinks" are worked out, the negatives were very good. I found the stain was proportional if the chemistry bits n pieces were worked out for one brand of instant coffee & that brand followed. My "pick" was Folgers Dark Roast. YMMV. For those interested in a good, scientific bent, site, see CaffenolBlogPost by Rheinhold, a German fellow who has two blogs, the original in English, and now a more up-dated site, in German.

I can remember picking walnuts as a kid, and believe the staining of a negative, should your "expieriment" work, should be very intense. Let us know. Bill

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It seems that AgCl is soluble in chloride solutions. (Like NaCl). I don't know about AgBr, though.

 

I think I remember stories about navy photographers using sea water.

 

It might take longer, and need higher concentration, though.

-- glen

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