caffenol

[Mauro]

does anybody know this developer?
I have just read about it and I have got its formula, so now I wonder if it works. I would like to read your comments, advices and tips: any information will be welcome!
Ciao,
Mauro

 

[nmdgr]

I've tried caffenol-C once with T-MAX 100, which is coffee + washing soda + ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder.

I've given 1 or 1.5 stops more exposure AFAIR, and the resulting negatives were very thin (but without any stain). Reportedly people have better results with other films.

What I can advise you is to "over"-expose (which is not a very solid by the way considering by limited experience).

Good luck.

PS: this stuff really stinks, use a spare tank if you have one.

 

[kbg32]

Mauro, I have never used it, but from what I have read, it will stain your negatives brown, thus lowering the contrast.

 

[titrisol]

I have used it just for the fun of it. IMHO caffenol is a fun developer, can produce very very good results but it is not good for scanning. The graininess is very small and the shadow detail is very nice.

Caffenol works great with Tri-X, FP4, Efke, Foma and J&C pro 100. I have tried it extensively in the latter one (at $1/roll it allowed for experiments) and it worked very well with development times in the order of 30 minutes agitating every 3 or 4.

But got bad results with APX100/400 and DELTA, so I assume it is not good for TMAX

f you add 4 g/l of sodium ascorbate (or vitamin C+ extra carbonate) the stain is minimized when compared to the un-ascorbic version.
The ascorbic version increases the contrast, so times around 20 minutes are in order.

Use a test roll first, and have fun.
Rememeber to first dissolve the carbonate, then the ascorbate (you can dissolve the ascorbate separateky) and finally the instant coffee.

Mauro, I have never used it, but from what I have read, it will stain your negatives brown, thus lowering the contrast.

 

[jano]

I did some searching just now (procrastinating at work 😀), and found titrisol here has a variety of postings on the topic 🙂 However.. I haven't found too many examples of results 🙁 I'm certainly curious, based on your description here, it should be a fun experiment.

 

[kaiyen]

Jano,
Pablo (titrisol) is indeed a great resource for DIY developers here. RayPA, too, though I don't think he's tried Caffenol or Folgerol. Do a search on PN for either and you'll get some. There is one shot with Efke 25 that is GORGEOUS. It's of a cow's skull or something, and it glows.

Folgernol is a bit different, by the way.

edit - here it is: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Faxk

allan

 

[Wimpler]

I printed with coffee. I have also developed prints using chicory and cocoa (as far as I know I'm the only one who did that...). Chicory works fine, cocoa is a mess.

Here is a print:

Just took 300mL of strong coffee and added 2 teaspoons of washing soda. Processed for 30 minutes.

Haven't tried film.

Oh and here is a print from a color slide with coffee, inverted after scanning:

 

[titrisol]

Look for Donald Qualls, he has a scanner for MF and has scanned his tests.

I do have a bunch of negs (6x6 and 6x4.5) but they are all in storage now (till I find a house)
I think I had a few examples in PN but I erased most of my pics there

I found only 2 pics in my hard disk... I uploaded them in my gallery under the Experimental folder

 

[titrisol]

Thanks Allan, just a chemical engineer with too much time in my hands here 😉
RayPA, Donald Qualls (Image Maker) and a few others can really help as well.

Jano,
Pablo (titrisol) is indeed a great resource for DIY developers here. RayPA, too, though I don't think he's tried Caffenol or Folgerol. Do a search on PN for either and you'll get some. There is one shot with Efke 25 that is GORGEOUS. It's of a cow's skull or something, and it glows.

Folgernol is a bit different, by the way.

edit - here it is: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Faxk

allan

 

[planetjoe]

Wimpler, I like that color slide result. Did you do anything special (outside of the "normal" use of Folgernol/Caffenol) for the e6 dev?

I recently tried this witha B&W test roll, but unfortunately tried an "alternative" fixer as well (i.e., saltwater, which as we now know does NOT work). Oh, well, so much for kitchen chemistry. My next experiment, it goes without saying, will be with real fixer.


Cheers,
--joe.