Caffenol anyone?

BTW, get a bunch of small brown glass bottles to spread out the HC110. That way most of it is kept away from oxygen and you just are using from a small bottle as needed. The sealed bottles will last years. You will also need a small medicine syringe as the amount of HC110 you will need is tiny. It is about 2.2ml per roll at 1:125 to make 275ml for a stainless tank. You will need slightly more for plastic reels.
Click to expand...

Um.... I thought HC-110 was one of the Developers that kept well for years and years? I'd also tend to think that rebottling it would possibly oxydate it more than leaving it in the original bottle. Otherwise... it sounds more of a problem than I expected.
 
Takes minutes to rebottle it. The reason you do is so most of the developer isn't exposed to oxygen. Just the bottle you are using will have a little oxygen in it. The others are filled to the top.

Shawn
 
Having read about Caffenol, I'm going to try it. I have the instant coffee, washing soda, and potassium bromide. For now I only have some Vitamin C tablets, the effervescent orange-flavoured type. I'll order some pure ascorbic acid powder. There are various films I might try it on: Adox CHS 25, Agfa APX 400, Fuji Acros.

I wonder by how much, if at all, I should increase the amount of washing soda in the mix if I use some of these 'Redoxon' vitamin C tablets instead of pure ascorbic acid, to counteract the citric acid etc..

The coffee is Nescafe -- the cheapest they had in the shop I went into. I hope it will work OK.


Having spent some time reading about Caffenol, investigating where to buy the ingredients, and actually buying them, it seems to me that it is probably a lot less bother and probably cheaper just to buy some standard developer! And the results will be more predictable. I hope this will be fun and interesting -- just to see what emerges.
 
It will be fun and interesting. Some of the results I've seen look quite good to me though I'm not looking for technical perfection. If that were the case I'd just get a Phase IQ3-100 digital back. They are quite comparable to what I'm getting with my usual Acros 100 in D-76.
Wait and get the pure ascorbic acid. Should be available at something like a health food store. Let us know how it goes...
 
Don't forget that ascorbic-acid is often used as a conserving-additive in home-made jam, so you can actually find bags of it in the spice-rack in general food stores. (I buy them in Sweden, since vitamins-additives are regulated here).

Cost next to nothing and is pure enough.
 
Just remember orange flavoring and effervescent stuff is other chemistry. Sorta like maple syrup and gasoline are both useful liquid stuff in containers but only one goes on pancakes. What you are hoping to do is introduce highly reactive alternate chemicals into your brew. Expect alternate results.

But who knows, it may work....
 
Lately I've been testing Caffenol on HP5+. So far result are mixed. I mostly stick with D-76, my all time favorite and feel really comfortable with results. I developed a roll of HP5+ yesterday on caffenol and here are some results:

med_U47399I1487976656.SEQ.0.jpg

Rolleiflex SL35e, Distagon 16mm f/1.4

med_U47399I1487976931.SEQ.0.jpg

Rolleiflex SL35e, Tamron 90mm with QBM Adaptall

On this 2 photos, I find the grain a little bit softer than on D-76. Still not sure if I like the results. Also, as I dont really have ready access to KBr, I've been using salt, which create a bit of base fog. Nothing to be worry about, but I get less base fog on D-76.

This next photo was taken with the same camera, but difference lens. On my first post I put wrongly that it was the same lens,but on checking my data I realize it was a difference lens. Still, same film but on D-76:

med_U47399I1478712306.SEQ.0.jpg


Rolleiflex SL35e, Planar 85mm f/1.4

As they say your milleage may vary. If you want consistent result, stick with proven developers. If you want something creative and the photos arent that critical, give Caffenol a try. Probably you will like.

Regards


Marcelo.
 
Last edited:
znapper said:
Don't forget that ascorbic-acid is often used as a conserving-additive in home-made jam, so you can actually find bags of it in the spice-rack in general food stores. (I buy them in Sweden, since vitamins-additives are regulated here).

Cost next to nothing and is pure enough.
Click to expand...
I'm in Sweden, but ordered from Poland, much cheaper in bulk than the general store! You can get one kilo for only 200 SEK on the eBay.

If you ever swing by Stockholm, I could order a big bag here and you could pick it up.


Almost like Scarface, but much better wares :angel:
 
Thanks!

I did pick up a whole bunch of these 25g Santa Maria ones, so I actually have a good supply still ^^ (thinking back, I am not sure what would have happened in the customs, had I been checked, luckily I wasn't).

Imagine that, 200 SEK for 1 kg, sure beats the 350 NOK/SEK I paid for my 150g "burk" on the pharmacy when I started out =D
 
Very nice Marcelo.
I just developed a role of 6x9 Copex Rapid and it looks nice so far (still hanging). I did up my (Fernando's) recipe 20% and reduced time to 15 mins from 16:30. I'll post one when I get it scanned (scanned is a bit of an overstatement given my current method...)
 
roscoetuff said:
Um.... I thought HC-110 was one of the Developers that kept well for years and years? I'd also tend to think that rebottling it would possibly oxydate it more than leaving it in the original bottle. Otherwise... it sounds more of a problem than I expected.
Click to expand...

I've been using HC-110 for two decades at least. The bottle of concentrate I'm using now is still in the original bottle, is about 1/3 gone, and is rather dark in color ... I bought it 6 years ago. (That's testimony to how little film I run nowadays ... at 4ml per roll, it doesn't get consumed very quickly. I don't worry about it getting brown; it continues to work perfectly.

I've been interested to try Caffenol for a long time. Maybe this Spring.

G
 
I think the keeping-properties of HC-110 is because it doesn't contain any water.
I don't bother to pour out in smaller bottles really, the main-bottle is normally used up within a year, or so. ^^
 
Last edited:
Thanks Xavyr!
..And thanks for posting Murray and Joao, clearly the stuff works. I don't expect perfection after three roles (would have been nice though), I'm going to keep working at it though when I'm back in Oregon in the spring.

I just noticed the first role of Copex rapid I developed in Rodinal also has some banding so my issues seem to be more of a film, tank, or agitation issue.
 
After being used to Rodinal, I've been using Caffenol for several months, and started making densitometry test a few weeks ago.

Although I like the results, I got some extreme constrast on a Ilford FP4, that made me start experimenting deeper.

The density curve isn't as nice as with Rodinal. Highlights tend to grow too much. Toe speed is lower, and contrast is excesive, if you want to get midtones to a reasonable density (around 0.7).

Of course, this are just synthetic results, not from an artistic viewpoint. But I think that a basic density and base knowledge of the undergoing process helps.

I can share some density data test if someone is interested on them. I use Caffenol C-H.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom