Fine grain with Tri-X 400 and Folgernol.

[kymtman]

Shooting Tri-X and ran out of regular soup, had some coffee brewed and

proceded to run my TX in it and this time some awesome fine grain as

the results. 8-4-2 water folgers crystals and washing soda for 27 min.

at 77 degrees F.<div></div>

[kymtman]

A crop of the above photo!

[troyammons]

Is this 35mm film ??

[jordan_w.]

While we're on the topic, here's FP4 Plus in Caffenol/Folgernol. Can't remember the development details -- it was around half an hour at room temperature.<div></div>

[peter_svensson]

Can you explain 8-4-2? Sounds like a soccer strategy to me.

[bj_bignell]

>>8-4-2 water folgers crystals and washing soda

 

8 parts water

4 parts Folgers crystals

2 parts washing soda

 

I'm guessing 'parts' being volumes, not weights?

[silent1]

Actually, that should be eight ounces water, 4 (slightly rounded) teaspoons coffee crystals, and 2 (level) teaspoons washing soda. The new 400TX is some awesome film, no question; even with zero solvent action it's capable of some excellent results.

 

The biggest trick with Caffenol/Folgernol is to ensure that all the microbubbles (from air trapped in both the coffee and the soda granules) have surfaced and either burst or been skimmed off before pouring the developer into the tank.

 

BTW, you can also get much faster activity by adding one gram (1/4 tsp) of ascorbic acid powder and doubling the washing soda (to counter the acidity of the vitamin C); this will approximately halve the developing time and reduce the general stain to near zero (I can't vouch for what it does to imagewise stain, haven't tested it that much).

[kymtman]

Thanks Donald.........yes that is 35mm Tri-X 400. I did have a problem with what looked like water spots in some frames though. Oh, by the way I tried to bleach the stain out with Clorox water solution, with no luck. All it did was tend to eat away the emulsion. I'll post one of the frames. You can notice around the outside edge that it is darker because the emulsion is eroded away.<div></div>

[patrick_gainer]

Now you know! No chlorine bleach unless you want to remove the emulsion. Full strength Chlorox will do it in an instant.

[silent1]

Since the stain is part of the gelatin, it's pretty much impossible to remove once it's been set. You can (I'm told) vary the amount of ascorbic acid in Caffenol C (and, I'd expect, cut back the washing soda in proportion -- with no ascorbic acid, it uses 2 tsp, with the full 1 gram 4 tsp) and control how much stain you get; there's probably some level at which you retain most or all of the imagewise stain but pretty much eliminate the general stain.

 

OTOH, the general stain is just like fog, in that you can print through it, it just adds time to the printing exposure. No big deal...