Caffinol-C with mods

<p>OK I ran my first roll in Coffee developer I used Vitamin C with it per the directions on Donald Qualls page. And I got an image but made 2 mistakes that I can see. I forgot my tank takes more than 8oz of fluid and I think I under developed but no problem I have plenty of time to get it right. I will just mix a larger batch next time and develop a little longer. I used Rollei 80S .<br>

I need to know something else can I mix the Sodium Carbonate and Coffee up in separate containers then mix them together and add the Ascorbic Acid also at that time? I was thinking this would make it easier. As I just mix X ML to X ML then stir in the Ascorbic acid. Does the coffee lose it's acidity as it sits or does it only start to break down after mixed with the Sodium Carbonate? Also would Adding the Ascorbic acid to the Coffee help keep it acidic longer and still give the same results. <br /><br /> The reason I am asking is I want to get constant results and after mixed it only last 40 minutes at most. If I can make and store it in concentrates that also may help. I would use distilled water for all this as we have lime in our tap water.<br /><br /> I may be over thinking this whole thing but then again I may not be...<br /><br /> P.S. That stuff smells worse than the Urine developer</p>

<p>I tried it once with very poor results. Has anyone mentioned how bad it stinks? Maybe I'll try again someday.</p>

<p>I think I mentioned that... :) I am scanning the first negatives now and I think it will give me more data but I am using Rollei 80s a better film than most. :) I think I can get this perfected if I try and then make it easy as I have nothing but time at the moment.</p>

<p>Was just checkin' the subject out again and I think I'm going to try a vitamin C developer tomorrow for kicks.</p>

<p>I just scanned part of the first screwed up roll and the results are promising.<br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5063612659_570930d355_b.jpg" alt="" /></p>

 

<p>Actually looks pretty good. My results weren't as good though i didn't use coffee; just Vit. C and washing Soda. And using trays for 4x5 negs. took alot of Vit. C (somewhat expensive). I did this along time ago, but remember i first mixed the 2 separately then combined them and processing about 30 minutes. But to save on cost i'll try next time using 120 film...and it may take several trials to get it right.</p>

<p>I tried coffee developers briefly, and was not impressed; they produce a lot of fog/ general stain, uneven development, low contrast, they're inconsistent in use, they smell horrible, and they're more expensive than better developers. Beyond the novelty, I don't understand their appeal.</p>

<p>There appeal? What if you can use a couple of ordinary products that are available almost everywhere - and more importantly that are non-hazardous - and get results (?). Maybe not the same as you would get from using say D76, but nevertheless printable, and perhaps a "different look" that might appeal to some people.</p>

<p>Richard,</p>

<p>The novelty of making a developer from household ingredients is what I referred to above. It was kind of fun....once. The non-hazardous part is a red herring, in my opinion; how hazardous is Xtol? I'd be more inclined to drink working strength Xtol than I would Caffenol. As for results, if flat, foggy and unevenly developed is a look worth pursuing, Caffenol might just be the answer! </p>

<p>I must not have mixed Caffenol properly when I tried various homebrews several years ago. I don't recall it stinking as badly as described by others. Didn't work very well for me but I didn't really try to refine it.</p>

<p>My most successful homebrewed developer from common household materials was a sort of hybrid using ascorbic acid and Red Devil Lye. It worked well enough on film and paper, but tended to be foggy and infiltrated the paper edges too readily, causing stains.</p>

<p>I admire folks who homebrew their own darkroom chemicals and prep their own emulsions from scratch. I tried those a few times and just didn't have the knack or patience.</p>

<p>Why do I do things like this? Because I still do photography for fun. And as you can see it is not all flat uneven and stained. The Ascorbic acid in the mix reduces or removes all stain. with out it you get brown sepia negatives. <br>

I was never one who got stuck in a rut but if I found myself in one I figued I better get out befor the next truck came along.<br>

I will keep playing with this as I figure that after this I will try something else just for fun.<br>

Thanks for looking and discussing this.</p>

<p>Larry,</p>

<p>I do photography for fun, too, and I do a lot of things that don't necessarily make sense to anyone else. Good luck, and enjoy!</p>

<p>Thanks Jay same to you if it is not jun it must be a job I figure.</p>

<p>>>I tried coffee developers briefly, and was not impressed; they produce a lot of fog/ general stain, uneven development, low contrast, they're inconsistent in use, they smell horrible, and they're more expensive than better developers. Beyond the novelty, I don't understand their appeal<<</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I am with Jay.<br>

If you want to run a simple (3 different materials) partial household developer try Beutler. A lot of Sodiumcarbonate from the supermarket, Sodiumsulfite from the swimming pool and Metol (the only real photographic ingredient). If you have already a fix tester solution (KI) you can add a drop for putting Beutler to maximum acutance if you like this.<br>

While Retro 80S is in grain very small you will have box speed with Beutler so iso 80 where in most developers it will give iso 40-64. About the price of Beutler 1/4 of Rodinal which is already dirty cheap and with Beutler you will have consistency and reproducible results.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There's a guy <a href="http://caffenol.blogspot.com/">here</a> who has done a lot of recent experimentation with various versions/concentrations/additions to Caffenol and has documented his results (he talks about Caffenol-C-L, Caffenol-C-H, etc - you have to read back through the blog to find the recipes for each version, though).</p>

<p>I tried Caff-C once and the smell turned me off, and I overdeveloped the film. Others, though, have some success with it - John Nanian ("jnanian") has some interesting results in his gallery over at apug.org (he also adds a shot of Ansco 130 print developer).</p>

<p>I am currently testing a mint tea/vit c/washing soda developer, to see if it can be done consistently as reported by the old RIT study - so far, so good, and it smells much nicer than Caff-C :) Still want to try a couple of other films and then I will report on my results.</p>

<p>Roll #2 this time with better control and processing but I did have some fun and put a screw mount lens on the Nikon for some fun with a Hong Kong adapter. :) As I say it is all about fun.<br>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jokerphotography/sets/72157625137522924/<br>

This is from the Soviet 135mm lens I put on a Nikon F100<br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5069709643_89196e59a3_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="396" /></p>

<p>And this was with a Sigma 28-105 zoom I just had in the bag that day as I semi-plan LOL<br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/5070320058_c95fec8af0_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="387" /></p>

<p>Go to the link to see the larger size but I can if you want post larger than those just not here.</p>

<p>No grain except what the old logs show. :-)</p>

<p>I´ve tried Caffenol-C-H to good effect. No fogging, even exposure, and the smell is not at all bad. The trick is to premix the three main ingredients so that when adding the coffee (last), you only have to expose yourself to it for less than a minute.<br>

And the results? Well I mentioned that there were no technical problems. Otherwise I rather like the muted contrast, and that it to a certain degree works as a compensation developer. Is able to draw a lot of detail out of the shadows and still keep the highlights in check. For scanning it works very well, at least for TMAX100. In fact I prefer it to TMAX developer in that respect.<br>

Caffenol-C-H, TMAX100, 18min (1min initial agitation, 10s every min thereafter. 20C (68F)<br>

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1320/5100415742_fbec13d4d2_z.jpg" alt="" /><br>

The rest of the set: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezzie0304/sets/72157625081279605/with/5099816537/">#mce_temp_url#</a></p>