Is it normal for RC paper to go black in the developer in Caffinol C, or any dev?

Is it normal for RC paper to go black in the developer in Caffinol C, or any developer, before looking normal? I don't know if I'm not exposing long enough, not getting it out of the developer quick enough, or not letting them sit in it long enough, but most of the prints I made, have a black "cast" over them. You can see an image on them, but it's black all over.

No paper caffinol experience here.

A black cast could be the result of overstored no longer fresh paper.

I would try to get to know my paper and developer combo, especially if I am using a weird soup like caffinol. Extremely overexpose a test strip and use a stop watch to figure out how long your developer takes. - An unexposed test strip should remain white BTW.

I don't recommend compensating exposure via developing time with RC paper. - AFAIK that stuff was made for a controlled routine processing? And if you pull it out of your developer early, your blacks won't be deep enough. Expose short enough that whites remain white. - Do lots of test strips before you risk a sheet.

Good luck!

I'll be honest and say that IF you're learning how to print, you're going to be much better off getting the process down with a standard print developer like Dektol before you experiment with home-brew developers.

 

Dektol has been the go-to print developer for probably about as long as anyone here has been alive, and its characteristics are well understood and repeatable. It's quite fast, but I've found it difficult to overdevelop a print as long as I don't just let it sit in the tray.

Is your darkroom dark, and your safelight safe? Try the coin test.

 

+1 to using a reliable branded developer before mucking about with homebrew recipes.

+ 1 more for using a standard developer. Ilford multigrade developer comes as a liquid, which makes it very easy to mix.

 

A print is not going to look black then clear up to show an image. If you're getting black, then either it's been exposed too much or the developer is too concentrated or one of several other things that are tough to diagnose without knowing every detail of how you mixed the chemicals, exposed the print, etc...