evan_parker Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 I am on a quest to find developers that can be assembled from chemicals purchased at a store like Home Depot or a supermarket. I've tried developing with Instant Coffee, Baking Soda, and Lye per RIT's paper on the matter (http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/text-coffee.html) but it didn't work for me :(, coming out with only clear film. Does anyone have any alternative formulas they've heard of? I'd really like to see if this works, perhaps some interesting effects would come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carey_russ Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Um, the coffee-development paper wasn't published on April 1 by any chance? Coffee works great for developing this photographer's brain cells, especially early in the morning in low-light conditions, but the whole concept of using coffee as a developer seems more than a little tongue-in-cheek. What's better, espresso or French press? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Coffee and lye will develop B&W film; I have done it several times. The effective "asa" is very very very low; and the base fog is huge. I shot a test roll of Tri-x of a light bulb; and used EI settings of 400,200,100,50,25,12,6,3,1,0.5,0.25 . . . I got images of the bulb when exposed at the EI of 6 thru 0.25 . The development time was about 1 HOUR at 90F with alot of agitation; OK I am pushing the film! The coffee was Maxwell house "original" ; I added "liquid plummer" lye I mixed in the coffee to bring the Ph to certain levels; using litmus strips to slowly bring the levels in line. I got radically different results; using the same Ph values; so there is no standard formula yet that I know that works well; that is published. I heard about the coffee developer from my pro neighbors dad; who was a photographer in WW2. The recent RIT paper dwells some on the matter; but appears to be written as a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Instead of just talk; here is an actual test strip shot at 1 stop intervals; all at F1.0. The film was scanned in as a color negative; to show the color of the film base; which is coffee colored by eye; and abit more pinkish when scanned. The effective asa is between 3 to 6 roughly; for Tri-x <img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1410057&size=lg"> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wieslaw1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 The method is perhaps suitable for developing photographs of extreme intensity light sources: sun, welding arc or fire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 If your hands feel slimy when developing; use gloves; the lye is a base; and desolves ones skin!<img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1410137&size=lg"> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Here is the left two images; on the last strip; enhanced with Photoshop. There is ALOT of spectle/dirt; because I have used alot of curves/levels; to pull the underexposed EI=20 tri-X images on the left out of the mud/toe area. One should use an enormous amount of bracketing; when using a coffee-lye developer and Tri-x. There is some sprocket hole vertical stuff; due to the long 1 hour development time; and sometimes the agitation was not always the best. <img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1410196&size=lg"> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 The crap in the sink area is what I used to mix the witches brew; of lye and coffee. I have no idea what the capacity of shelf life of the brew is; I used it as a one shot developer. The images are incredibly thin; thus I used a very minimum of fix time; for fear the images would be removed by the fixer. The negative strip has a wierd coffee/tea color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conrad_hoffman Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 What you need is a decent developing agent. The rest of the stuff is just to adjust the ph, preserve & prevent oxidation, and prevent fog. The only developing agent I know of that's available in the super market is vitamin C- ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate. If you can find the latter, you should be able to whip up a reasonable developer using that and sodium hydroxide (be careful) or sodium carbonate from the pool supply store. A reading of Anchell & Troop's Film Development Cookbook will help you immensely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Raw scan of Tri-x shot at an EI =20; and developed in coffee-Lye; F1.0 aperture.....<img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1410286&size=lg"><BR><BR>Same image as above but modified in Photoshop to pull out details; image is way underexposed at EI=20....... <img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1410316&size=lg"><BR><BR><BR>Detailed scan at 1200 Pixels/inch; warts; dust and all; to show the GRAIN of Tri-x; in an underexposed area of the EI=20 image above on the Left. Only curves and levels were used in Photoshop; no sharpening. The bright white squiggle is a piece of dust; scanner was an Epson 2450 flatbed at 1200 ppi. Some horizontal banding is seen. This is a cropped section of the above left frame; shot with a Noctilux at F1.0; and handheld.<img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1410402&size=lg"> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Is it better to brew fresh coffee or can I use whats left from breakfast? Anybody ever experiment to try out milk, cream, artificial "creamer", sugar, or sugar substitute? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Conrad; thanks for the input.<b> My GOAL was to see if the "coffee and lye" only brew would work.</b> I heard about it 35 + years ago from my pro neighbors dad; who was a photographer in WW2. Last fall I was told it was an "urban legend"; ie BS and would NEVER work at ALL..... <BR>BR>I set out to try some images developed in the coffee/lye brew ONLY. This was my FIRST roll; not bad for killing off the lie that it is all BS; and wont work at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan_parker Posted April 6, 2003 Author Share Posted April 6, 2003 To Kelly Flanigan: Those are some remarkable results, all things considered! I know it's a pain, but I would deify you and set up a small shrine forever in your honor if you would detail how you concocted that brew (haha), its ingredients, agitation, how long you fixed for (important)... Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Evan et al; all I did was brew up some Maxwell House "original" in an expresso maker; let it cool; and added liquid Plummer until the Ph was 9; using the pHydrion Brilliant DIP STIK's ; that only measure to within a Ph of 1 unit. (Micro Essential Laboratory, Brooklin New York 11210) . I Developed at 90 F for 1 hour; and agitated it about every minute. I dumped the developer down the drain (I have clogged drains too); and added fresh water as stop at 85F; then dumped; then another rinse at 80F; then rinse; then another 75F rinse ......<BR><BR>After the 2 minutes in rapid fixer; with constant agitation; I opened the Nikkor tank and peaked at the negatives; and saw really THIN images; thus I fixed for only about 3 minutes; Afraid I might "fix away" the faint images. I washed for along time; not knowing eally what should be used; ie 1/2 hour....<BR><BR>My adding the lye to a Ph of 9 was a wild guess; I dont know what is optimum at all.<BR><BR>The images have a decent amount of base fog; use a very high contrast subject; lens; and lighting; and bracket until a combo is found.<BR><BR>Be carefull; the lye is a base.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 <a href="http://www.aisp.net/vster/acids4.htm">CHEMISTRY/PHYSICAL SCIENCE ACIDS, BASES, SALTS MINI LESSON IV </a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige_buddy Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 I've had a play too... I used some Bicard Soda and Draino (Sodium Hydroxide) as per the original referenced article, although I think they mention Sodium Peroxide. Upped the coffee (Nescafe instant) quota to 4 teaspoons also (from 2). 30mins at about 30C produced the densest piece of film I've ever produced! The films edges also were black which I'm guessing is coffee stain or maybe a chemical fog. My normal proof sheet times would be about 8secs @ f5.6 with a 75W globe, these needed 225secs @ f3.5 with 150w globe. I could have fried an egg on the enlarger housing! This globe combo seems to have a lot of light fall off too.. good thing I never use it! I can't remember (would need yo look it up) what I rated the film at, but I don't think it was anything real silly.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william_houck Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate as stated above are now used comercially as developing agents, with ascorbic acid in place of hydroquinone. The ascorbic acid would help your coffee recipe since it will act as an antioxidant as well as a developing agent. None of your discussion above talks about sulfite, which is nrmally used as a developer preservative. If you want to try other chemicals for fun, try aspirin or salicylic acid. The latter may be available as a powder at a pharmacy. These are both substituted phenolic compounds, which is what most developers are, and may show some acitivity. pH is important. Sulfite only gives 9.5-10, borax 10.5-11, sodium carbonate 11.5-12, and sodium hydroxide (lye, caustic soda) 12+ in sufficient concentration. Try for a pH of 10 for starters, 9 is too low. Sodium carbonate (soda ash) is washing soda at your supermarket. The RIT coffee project was published in Camera and Darkroom several years ago. If you spring for a pound of metol, you'll be able to make D-76H or D-76 with ascorbic acid for 200 + quarts or liters. That'll last you for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conrad_hoffman Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Kelly, I was actually replying to Evan as he didn't seem strictly concerned with coffee. Your results, however, are quite remarkable. I had heard about using coffee, but never tried it. It may be pure urban legend, but supposedly Genesee Cream Ale will also produce an image. Not sure if it's the brew itself, or because the brewery is fairly close to Kodak :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Hi William; I used a Ph of 9 ; 60 min @90F ; the base was sodium hydroxide; in liquid plummmer. It looks like the RIT article used the same Ph; but with a different base. My next experiment will be to vary the Ph; if I get some free time.. The asprin idea and vitamin C looks interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_waller Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 I have heard it said that film can be developed in very strong cold tea. Procedure is to boil up tea in water and then let it stand unitl cold (i.e. 20 C), then use as developer. I have never tried it so I have no idea as to development times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry_lambert1 Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 I'll have to order extra lye in my coffee next time I go into Starbuck's, I've always asked for extra benzene in my Perrier at the Maison & Jardin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william_houck Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 I couldn't stop thinking about your project. Do a Google search on dietary phenols. It turns out that black tea is loaded with phenolic compounds, so the post which suggested tea is worth checking out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre_noble4 Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 Why in the hell would someone want to develope their film in coffee for an hour to get an image that looks like shit? After you've developed the roll, is it like you knock down a shot of pyro to celebrate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 Andre ; according to my pro Neighbor's Dad (in 1960) who was in WW2; field brew developer's could be used to develop a negative; in areas that had restrictions on photo chemicals; ie enemy controlled areas; POW camps; blockaded cites. A negative is easy to smuggle out; by letter; bird; hidden in other goods. I was told it was coffee and lye and "other stuff". So the experiment was to see if the old tale was true; or BS. Since I got an image after 1 try; I'm sure a better "field developer" formula was around during WW2; since they were motivated; and like to experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Bowes Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 <p>Hello all. Seem's it takes a few years for the "technology" to catch up with the tall tales (mostly).<br> Coffee developing is a fact, and it produces some amazing results on just about all b/w films. The "chemicals" are all available at Safeway or other stores and LYE is not among them....it's a bit dangerous for all humans around the house.<br> Want to catch up on caffenol developing? <a href="http://caffenol.blogspot.com">http://caffenol.blogspot.com</a> Enjoy, Bill</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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