Caffenol...What Went Wrong?

A mkI dImage 5400, my last negs were pretty bullet-proof however, the first one was too thin so I overdid it the second time.

I’m seriously thinking about Caféchrome ™ now; I should have paid more attention in chemistry classes at school
 
Keith said:
I've just finished scanning the film I developed in natural coffee cafenol. These are exactly as they came off the scanner with no adjustments at all. There is definitely colour shifts but not as dramatic as previously! Lightening only strikes once or so it seems! 😛

This is the whole roll of about twenty exposures ... so some are just repeats with different depth of field and exposure etc! The film was HP5+ and they were taken with my R3A and 90mm Summicron. As I said before it was just the coffee that collects in the expresso machine's drip tray with two teaspoons of soda per 8oz of coffee solution (I actually used 16oz in the paterson tank) stand developed for an hour!

http://wheelie52.zenfolio.com/p669307652/slideshow
Click to expand...

Looking good, and they seem to have retained that 19th century look that attracted me in the first place.

Did you do a test piece of film in daylight? That’s what I’ve been doing; but with little success, the film in the tank seems to react faster than the test strip.

I may try a c41 colour film, see if that will colour shift, what do you think?

PS
Love the vesper, how old is she?
 
Keith said:
This is the whole roll of about twenty exposures ... so some are just repeats with different depth of field and exposure etc! The film was HP5+ and they were taken with my R3A and 90mm Summicron. As I said before it was just the coffee that collects in the expresso machine's drip tray with two teaspoons of soda per 8oz of coffee solution (I actually used 16oz in the paterson tank) stand developed for an hour!
Click to expand...

Hi Keith,

Great results with the brewed coffee! One question though, is it 2 teaspoons per 8oz or 2 tablespoons?

Ash
 
2810112533_fe36abef35.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2810112533_fe36abef35.jpg
 
Nice!

Nice!

This batch looks great, but the color cast is definitely more subtle than your previous roll. I wonder what would happen if you splashed a few drops of D76 in there, and reduced the developing time?

Keith said:
I've just finished scanning the film I developed in natural coffee cafenol. These are exactly as they came off the scanner with no adjustments at all. There is definitely colour shifts but not as dramatic as previously! Lightening only strikes once or so it seems! 😛

This is the whole roll of about twenty exposures ... so some are just repeats with different depth of field and exposure etc! The film was HP5+ and they were taken with my R3A and 90mm Summicron. As I said before it was just the coffee that collects in the expresso machine's drip tray with two teaspoons of soda per 8oz of coffee solution (I actually used 16oz in the paterson tank) stand developed for an hour!

http://wheelie52.zenfolio.com/p669307652/slideshow
Click to expand...
 
My guess

My guess

is that a "heaping teaspoon" like the ones we used to use for hot cocoa is probably roughly equivalent to a tablespoon?

AshenLight said:
Hi Keith,

Great results with the brewed coffee! One question though, is it 2 teaspoons per 8oz or 2 tablespoons?

Ash
Click to expand...
 
ampguy said:
is that a "heaping teaspoon" like the ones we used to use for hot cocoa is probably roughly equivalent to a tablespoon?
Click to expand...

My first attempt with Cafenol used 2 level tablespoons of Na2CO3 and 4 slightly rounded tablespoons of coffee to 8 oz. of water... the standard non-citric acid formula. I used a measuring tablespoon from the kitchen gadget aisle in the market. I suppose I could just try measuring the weight of both a level tablespoon and a heaping teaspoon and see how they compare.
 
I gave caffenol a try at my house

-2.5 tablespoons of instant coffee
-2.5 tablespoons of washing soda
-20oz of water @29 degrees celsius

Mixed in washing soda until dissolved. Added in coffee and stirred until dissolved. Poured into tank with one reel of tmax 400 and one reel fuji c41 colour 400.

Developed for 30 minutes, agitating every 5 minutes.

Fixed for 4 minutes in ilfosol fixer.

http://foggie.org/pix/random/400tmax_a_01.jpg
http://foggie.org/pix/random/400tmax_a_02.jpg

Those are two of the tmax strips. Very very low contrast with lots of holes on the emulsion. Anyone know why dots are there?

I don't have the colour scanned in but it looks very similar.

End Notes:
- smelled like, as someone else described, burnt steak
- didn't stain my bathtub brown, as i thought it might.
- lack of contrast bothers me more than the presence of holes
 
foggie said:
I gave caffenol a try at my house

-2.5 tablespoons of instant coffee
-2.5 tablespoons of washing soda
-20oz of water @29 degrees celsius

Mixed in washing soda until dissolved. Added in coffee and stirred until dissolved. Poured into tank with one reel of tmax 400 and one reel fuji c41 colour 400.

Developed for 30 minutes, agitating every 5 minutes.

Fixed for 4 minutes in ilfosol fixer.

http://foggie.org/pix/random/400tmax_a_01.jpg
http://foggie.org/pix/random/400tmax_a_02.jpg

Those are two of the tmax strips. Very very low contrast with lots of holes on the emulsion. Anyone know why dots are there?

I don't have the colour scanned in but it looks very similar.

End Notes:
- smelled like, as someone else described, burnt steak
- didn't stain my bathtub brown, as i thought it might.
- lack of contrast bothers me more than the presence of holes
Click to expand...


the mix looks a bit light perhaps, a bit more coffee could help the contrast. I tried Keith's drip tray method and got very thin low contrast negs (see attached)

I've not had the spots, air or other gas bubbles maybe?

2936071400_aa75d13021.jpg


the white marks are calcium deposits i think
 
I did a "blend" this week with 2 rolls of max800 C41 film, negatives look OK, will take a while to see the scans. The blend was about 2 espressos (fresh ground, not used), through a coffee filter, 2 teaspoons of baking soda, and a dash of D76. About 13 minutes dev. time. water stop, kodak (standard not rapid) fixer for 15 min.

I wonder if those holes above are from unfiltered coffee?
 
Well, the tragic looking things are drying.

Not sure what I did wrong this time. The entire film looks dark. I can just make out weak images holding them up to the light.

I'll scan when dry.
 
1. Your water was too hot, the activity of the carbonate int he gealtin may have been too harsh. Use it cold (20 C)
2. The ratio instant coffee to washing soda is not 1:1 but more 2:1
The way you made it results in the low contrast version (Caffenol LC) used for microfilms, techpan and such.
3. The pictures of the girl are outstanding.
I would print them at 40x60cm or so and hang them in the wall, even with the emulsion mauling

So Tmax is another film not suitable for caffenol 😉

foggie said:
I gave caffenol a try at my house

-2.5 tablespoons of instant coffee
-2.5 tablespoons of washing soda
-20oz of water @29 degrees celsius

Mixed in washing soda until dissolved. Added in coffee and stirred until dissolved. Poured into tank with one reel of tmax 400 and one reel fuji c41 colour 400.

Developed for 30 minutes, agitating every 5 minutes.

Fixed for 4 minutes in ilfosol fixer.

http://foggie.org/pix/random/400tmax_a_01.jpg
http://foggie.org/pix/random/400tmax_a_02.jpg

Those are two of the tmax strips. Very very low contrast with lots of holes on the emulsion. Anyone know why dots are there?

I don't have the colour scanned in but it looks very similar.

End Notes:
- smelled like, as someone else described, burnt steak
- didn't stain my bathtub brown, as i thought it might.
- lack of contrast bothers me more than the presence of holes
Click to expand...
 
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