Tray Processing, Roll film, black and white

There was a story not so many years ago, about someone who bought 1kg of caffeine, ate some, and died.

That's caffeine, not caffeic acid. Totally different chemicals, and it's caffeic acid that's the active ingredient in Caffenol, not caffeine.

In fact you can use de-caffeinated coffee to make Caffenol.

That's caffeine, not caffeic acid. Totally different chemicals, and it's caffeic acid that's the active ingredient in Caffenol, not caffeine.

In fact you can use de-caffeinated coffee to make Caffenol.

Oh, sorry. Maybe that is harder to get, but I suspect that if someone in China makes it, they will sell it to you by the kg.

Hot Sale 99%caffeic Acid Cas331-39-5 With Competitive Price - Buy Caffeic Acid Cas331-39-5,Caffeic Acid,331-39-5 Product on Alibaba.com

$10/kg

I just found that from Alibaba you can get sodium thiosulfate for $225/ton that should do a lot of film.

hydroquinone for $10/kg

many other chemicals for $10/kg

I have a saved search on, but haven't seen it come up. About how much do they go for?

Would it not be easier to file an extra slot in an adjustable reel to get the right spacing?

OK. Just seen that 122 is wider than 120, which is usually the widest a plastic spiral will go.

Then it's even easier: Cut the central post of a plastic reel in half, and insert a spacer. A bit of wooden dowel should do the job.

Yes, I am not against new notches in reels.

I could probably figure out how to extend a reel, but maybe it was an excuse to do tray developing.

I do have two more rolls of VP122 and a camera to use it in.

I have lots of rolls of VP116, with both plastic and SS reels.

I could probably figure out how to extend a reel, but maybe it was an excuse to do tray developing.

I found some PVC pipe (DN 32 Pressure Pipe 37mm internal diameter) in the hardware store and it's a beautiful push fit over one half of the Paterson plastic reel. The other half of the reel requires a thin plastic sleeve to fit neatly on it and into the PVC pipe. I haven't cut the pipe to length yet ...

PVC pipe neat firm fit on reel. Inner sleeve can be seen for smaller reel half. It's a firm fit and adjustable for length.

122 film is very flimsy and it will require a thin plastic stiffener somehow attached across the end of the film strip so that it will start and feed easier into the reel. I've yet to experiment with that. The stiffener must be thin enough to readily slide in the reel groove and must be attached to the film strong enough so it stays put on the film.

If one is going to go the tray route for roll film, a wallpaper tray comes to mind as maybe useable. You'd need a lot of chemistry to fill one, but the ones I'm familiar with are wide enough for most MF roll film sizes, and also should be long enough to stretch the film out well.

Granted wallpaper doesn't seem particularly popular anymore, and I suspect that consequently the trays aren't overly easy to find. Growing up, I saw my mom hang her fair share of wallpaper, and there's probably still one or two of those trays kicking around out in their garage.

If one is going to go the tray route for roll film, a wallpaper tray comes to mind as maybe useable. You'd need a lot of chemistry to fill one, but the ones I'm familiar with are wide enough for most MF roll film sizes, and also should be long enough to stretch the film out well.

 

Granted wallpaper doesn't seem particularly popular anymore, and I suspect that consequently the trays aren't overly easy to find. Growing up, I saw my mom hang her fair share of wallpaper, and there's probably still one or two of those trays kicking around out in their garage.

I have print trays in 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14. I think I used 5x7, which means I have to aim at least a little carefully.

The first one I did with Diafine, which means four trays. But since the time doesn't matter, it wasn't a problem if it didn't wet the first time though.

The film wants to curl until it gets wet.

The appeal of Caffenol to newbies

I'll leave the tray processing aside for the moment.

Back when I first started developing film, - maybe it was 3 or 4 years ago, I was also very intrigued by caffenol. I think a lot of people on this forum have been processing film since long before digital was a thing. And even if that's not true, most of you are concerned about getting high quality results. Film processing has been around a long time and there are a wide variety of commercial developers still around to suit most everyone's needs. You also probably shoot more than just the occasional roll so mixing up a liter or gallon of developer is not a big deal.

Someone new to film and film processing looks at it differently. All of them know that if they want high quality, idiot proof results, a digital camera is readily available for them to use.

Using a film camera at all to the newbie entails some risk. They've probably started with commercial processing so they know that their camera at least works. But they probably aren't as experienced with film and film cameras as all of you.

For me the risk was part of the fun of film. And processing film makes me feel a bit like a mad scientist. Using Caffenol only enhances that feeling. So while I don't think telling people to start with D76 is bad advice, I think starting with Caffenol is just fine. It's 3 ingredients, - 4 if you include water. If you can measure and mix things, you will get images from Caffenol. You can also mix at room temperature which is not true of D76, not with the typical instructions anyway. Using Caffenol for the first time is far easier than making chocolate chip cookies.

Another plus with Caffenol is that you can mix as much or as little as you need.

I was happy with results I got but I've since moved on. I don't want to spend as much time mixing and would prefer less grain.