Mythbusters did a bit on developing film

[ItsReallyDarren]

Anybody see tonights episode of Mythbusters? They were doing a bit on McGyver myths and there was a section on developing film.

The premise was to find plans taken on film by developing film with chemicals found in the kitchen. I remember seeing milk, orange juice, ammonia, water, baking soda, plus some other basic liquids I cant remember.

They use black plastic bags to try to develop the film and had the right ingredients ie orange juice, baking soda, and ammonia. But the one fault I found was that the film they tried to develop was kodak color film, not regular black and white film. I've heard its possible to develop c-41 film with b/w chemicals but proboably not with the basic liquids they were supplied with.

 

[lZr]

Better with coffee and lemon for fixing. Juisy results.
Search RFF for developing C41 in b&w chemistry

 

[Spyderman]

They have probably never heard of caffenol...

 

[Roger Hicks]

My understanding (though I have never seen the program) is that Mythbusters is a bit like Consumer Reports (or Which? magazine in the UK): if you've actually studied the subject yourself, you can quite often see glaring holes in their methodology, background knowledge and conclusions.

Cheers,

R.

 

[RML]

I love _caffenol_. 🙂

 

[Pablito]

My understanding (though I have never seen the program) is that Mythbusters is a bit like Consumer Reports (or Which? magazine in the UK): if you've actually studied the subject yourself, you can quite often see glaring holes in their methodology, background knowledge and conclusions.

Cheers,

R.

Yes you are right on both counts IMO.

 

[goo0h]

My understanding (though I have never seen the program) is that Mythbusters is a bit like Consumer Reports (or Which? magazine in the UK): if you've actually studied the subject yourself, you can quite often see glaring holes in their methodology, background knowledge and conclusions.

Fans will quickly call them on the carpet if they screw-up, so I think they exercise some care.

Some students at MIT tried to challenge one of their conclusions, and if I remember correctly, the MIT scenario was somewhat bogus. So Mythbusters reviewed the issue, basically to the same result.

Besides, the shows are humorous if nothing else. I haven't watched this episode yet, but it's on the DVR.

 

[pesphoto]

My understanding (though I have never seen the program) is that Mythbusters is a bit like Consumer Reports (or Which? magazine in the UK): if you've actually studied the subject yourself, you can quite often see glaring holes in their methodology, background knowledge and conclusions.

Cheers,

R.

aw come on......they are fun to watch.

 

[sienarot]

I do not miss Mythbusters. The thing I like about the show is that something almost always blows up! 😉

Blowing things up is the second reason I watch it. The first is Kari Byron 😀

 

[goo0h]

Blowing things up is the second reason I watch it. The first is Kari Byron 😀

She was pretty hot with that gatling gun, huh? 🙄

 

[Paul Fierberg]

aw come on......they are fun to watch.

You bet what a chuckle when something blows up ....Love them

 

[bmattock]

I do not miss Mythbusters. The thing I like about the show is that something almost always blows up! 😉

If I am not mistaken, someone has taken that concept and made a new TV show in which they pretty much just blow stuff up. Works for me.

Of course I don't watch much TV anymore. Bits and pieces, here and there. Didn't even notice during the writer's strike - the only time the tube was on was on Super Tuesday. That was it, the entire strike.

 

[Dogman]

I particularly liked the episode on farting.

 

[bmattock]

The question that must be asked, of course, is 'does it work'? Can one really process film in orange juice?

My experience (and Google) has not turned up any evidence that it can work - other than a reference to a book in which an author asserts that it would have worked as a 'real world' example of MacGuyering. However, I can find no other references to this, and so I tend to doubt it.

Many have heard of processing B&W film in coffee - it is well known, tested, and it does indeed work. Some even prefer the look it gives.

However, I did find a public-domain (the copyright having long since passed) book on photography online that makes reference to making one's own ascorbic acid (vitamin C) from lemon, lime, or orange juice (or whortleberry, whatever that is). Citric acid can indeed be used to process film, although I believe it must be used with other agents. My own memory makes me think it is used in combination with phenidone as a substitute for metol, making a less-toxic developer that renders a very fine grain some people quite like. However, the ancient author of this book refers to the ascorbic acid as a restrainer to slow down development action by pyrogallol.

http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/sunbeam/chap14.html

You be the judge. Me, I doubt I'll be soaking my film in any orange juice any time soon.

Oh, and yes, I suppose *if* you could process film in orange juice, you could process C-41 film in it as well - you'd have a bloody mess, but you can get an image from C-41 film processed in B&W chemistry (a mono image, of course). The reverse does not work - B&W film processed in C-41 chemistry is destroyed).

 

[tripod]

I like it too when they blow stuff up. Did they blow up the film? Did they enlarge it really big?