Does a book qualify as a classic manual camera?

<p>I was lost in our local very used book store and found a 1946 edition of Chemistry for Photographers, by Allen R. Greenleaf. Chapters include Emulsions, Reducing Agents and Developers, hardening, fixing, fog and stain, intensification and reduction, etc.</p>

<p>The coolest part is at the end, where there is a formulary with recipies for several dozen developers, including several Pyro formulas, many kodak formulas (D-78, D-72, D-76, D-8, D-82, Eastman DK-15, and many more), several Agfa formulas, several two-bath rapid press developers, fine-grain developers. Then it gives formulas for hardening and non-hardening fixing baths, reducers and intensifiers,toners, and some things I've never heard of (dichromate processes, double bath carbro sensitizers, etching bath for gelatin reliefs.</p>

<p>I have gotten so comfortable in my HC-110 habit, but this sparked a curiosity about playing with some of the original tools. I have read that some of the European films (Efke, specificaly) use older types of emulsions than Ilford and Kodak; do you think they would respond better to older formulas?</p>

<p>This is really a topic for the B & W Film Processing Forum, BWTF. I process Efke in D76. They do recommend a stop bath of just plain water. My wife says the photos taken using Efke film have a different look. I haven't been able to pin it down yet, but I do like it.</p>

<p>I understand that the old-style Efke / Adox films can give very special results in Pyro developers, at least, but I've not tried this myself. Here's an earlier <a href="../black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/004ODa">thread about it</a>.</p>

<p>The old British Journal of Photography Almanacs are great for this sort of thing. I have a 1939 edition with an extensive selection of formulae, many of which are surely still relevant, but also including recipes and advice on some insanely dangerous chemicals like mercuric halides, hydrofluoric acid, and potassium cyanide. The dangers of 'developer poisoning and staining of the fingers' are recognised, apparently best avoided by frequent use of a diute hydrochloric acid finger bath. For those already afflicted, a recipe for an ointment ('rub well in before retiring for the night') is provided. And how about making your picures really glow with some uranium nitrate intensifier? (pre-war undepleted stock, of course, for that little bit of extra radiance).</p>

<p>Richard, thank you! You have identified the merriment I experienced while flipping through these pages. I guess I distracted the thread with my question about Efke (more of a musing than a question, but these nuances are usually lost when I write.) but I was really just experiencing merriment.</p>

<p>That uranium does sound lovely!</p>

<p>I read once that one could increase the speed of an emulsion by enclosing your film in a closed space with a beaker of cyanide cooking over a flame.</p>

<p>It's rather incredible that any early photographers survived long enough to take pictures at all.</p>