Caffeinol Recipes

[Photo Engineer]

Apropos of the clip test for fixer, you do know that the clip test can "pass" even though the fixer has "failed" or been exhausted?

You see, the fixer might be able to fix, but is so saturated with silver that when you go into the wash, silver salts can precipitate back out into the photomaterial. This is why a test for residual silver after the wash is important.

So, do not rely on any test of the fixer for exhaustion as being 100% reliable.

PE

 

[Toffle]

i have thought of filling one of my empty coffee bottles with all the ingredients mixed
and seeing what my results are like. if i get something useful, i will let you know,
and send you a premixed baby food container

This is my standard MO. I have a jar of mixed caffenol chems ready to go. When the mood hits me, I just add water, give a little stir, and I'm ready to go. Sometimes I add a shot of 10% Bromide solution as per Steve Anchell's Darkroom Cookbook. Because there is a bit of randomness in Caffenol results, it is difficult to see if this actually has any real effect on my prints, but it makes me feel like I'm actually doing something intelligent. (of course, just blindly throwing chemicals together makes me sound something of an idiot, now doesn't it? )

Speaking of randomness... I just had a thought... my Caffenol prints sometimes take on a swirly, blotchy look... almost fractal. http://tomoverton.images.googlepage...ol.jpg/Chicago-Towers-Caffenol-full;init:.jpg
I wonder if there isn't a little bit of chaos theory mechanics involved as the chemistry goes to work on the latent image on the paper. Like I said, just a thought.

Cheers,

 

[Michael W]

I did this a while back with good results. At the time I read the addition of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is to give a speed increase. This makes sense as the roll of 100 I processed without Vit C had to be rated at 25.
My advice to anyone trying this for the first time would be to make a range of exposures up to 2 or 3 stops more light than required by box speed, e.g for 100 iso film take a frame at 100 iso, next at 50 iso, next at 25 iso & one at 12 iso for luck. I would do that for every scene on the roll, it can be valuable info.

 

[cmo]

Speaking of randomness...

That is exactly the point: at this time this dev is for people who like to experiment, for die-hard darkroom experts, for chemists, but not for the average user who does not want to risk his wedding shots. A guaranteed, consistent quality is what people need for imprtant photos.

 

[Toffle]

That is exactly the point: at this time this dev is for people who like to experiment, for die-hard darkroom experts, for chemists, but not for the average user who does not want to risk his wedding shots. A guaranteed, consistent quality is what people need for imprtant photos.

And this is why I use Caffenol for my prints and not my negs. While I would hate to ruin a whole roll of film if a batch of Caffenol didn't work out, I have no problem risking a few pieces of paper. If a session goes sour, I still have my negs in their original state to try again another day.

Chers,

 

[wogster]

i have my fixer, after exhausted and failing a clip test, go into a 20 gallon
tank ( used to be 50gallon!), and my friendly waste hauler takes it away every few years
we are pretty much on the same page

I use a smaller jug, if you used distilled water for making chemicals, then you end up with lots of these plastic jugs sitting around, perfect use for them, fill them with spent chemistries and take then to the household hazardous waste depot once in a while. Of course if you have a waste hauler that is classed to take away hazardous waste, then that's even better. Providing they handle it properly.

 

[DutchShooter]

Going back on-topic, I tried some coffee-development. I posted the results in the coffee group:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)