Caffenol chemicals?

[Greg_E2]

I'll start by saying that I do have the short Caffenol book, but I have questions before I start gathering all the chemicals.

Coffee - check
Vitamin C - check
De-ionized water - check

What about stopbath, fixer, and wetting agent? There are a bunch of different suggestions, but what works well and hopefully comes in a long shelf life version for storage.

Also, can the developer be reused or is it really best to be one time only?

 

[joho]

"can the developer be reused or is it really best to be one time only?"

It STINKS !!!!! I do not think you will keep it around after use!
the coffee [what] will you use????
the vitamin C will be depleted so it is a one way &&& out!

 

[koraks]

Coffee - check
Vitamin C - check
De-ionized water - check

The water needn't be deionized; tap water will be fine.
You need some soda to speed things up though, otherwise you'll have a glacially slow developer.

What about stopbath, fixer, and wetting agent?

Yes, you need those - at least the fixer. The other two you could omit. There's no DIY substitute for fixer.
For a stop bath, you can use (cleaning) vinegar or citric acid from the supermarket/baker's store.

Also, can the developer be reused or is it really best to be one time only?

Single use.

 

[joho]

has anyone done a study with what Coffee does what????
Cappuccino??with milk ???
espresso ????
Greek coffee ??? [I have not tried yet]
French coffee ???
American Perked ????

 

[Chuck1]

Most people recommend cheap instant coffee.
Robusta preferred over arabica.
There are similar formulas with red wine, beer

 

[AnselMortensen]

Don't forget the washing soda

 

[Greg_E2]

Yup I forgot the washing soda.

I was thinking multiple use like I have 4 rolls of film and a single tank to process them.

 

[koraks]

This developer will have a short useful lifespan. Nothing is there to prevent oxidation of the developing agents. It really should not be considered reusable.

@joho many experiments have done with wine, beer, herbs etc. I'm sure someone has tried various kinds of coffee. I don't hold much hope for the cappuccino, however.

 

[joho]

@koraks about the cappuccino with milk you are right - lactic acid stops development.
__wine, beer, herbs, etc... well henna, is basic to Pyro.

 

[Businessfotos]

1. Find the cheapest instant coffee, buy a dark roast, no decaff at all
2. Use waterless washing soda
3. Use once, dont let it sit for longer than 15-20min before developing
4. use vinegar or citric acid as stop bath to prevent staining your fixer
5. Use commercial fixer, you can use it for several films
6. Use a drop of dish washing liquid with water after watering the film to help it dry
7. Remember that the basic receipt for CM or CH with 15min dev time will push your film 2 stops, so you will either need to meter your exposure accordingly, reduce the dev time to about 7-8min for box speed or use Caffenol delta receipt for box speed

good luck and have fun!

 

[selyfriday]

I found https://www.caffenol.org/ very informative when I started with Caffenol some years ago. (Delta STD recipe)

@Businessfotos 's tips are all exactly what I was going to suggest as well.

 

[npl]

I found that potassium bromide (Kbr) is a must, or alternatively ten time the quantity of iodised salt. Otherwise there's quite a bit of fogging.

And if by "vitamin C" you meant tablets, no, you need pure ascorbic acid.

 

[npl]

1. Find the cheapest instant coffee, buy a dark roast, no decaff at all
2. Use waterless washing soda
3. Use once, dont let it sit for longer than 15-20min before developing
4. use vinegar or citric acid as stop bath to prevent staining your fixer
5. Use commercial fixer, you can use it for several films
6. Use a drop of dish washing liquid with water after watering the film to help it dry
7. Remember that the basic receipt for CM or CH with 15min dev time will push your film 2 stops, so you will either need to meter your exposure accordingly, reduce the dev time to about 7-8min for box speed or use Caffenol delta receipt for box speed

good luck and have fun!

I agree with everything on the list but 6 : I wouldn't recommend dish washing liquid instead of an actual wetting agent made for that purpose. While it does work in a pinch, there's all kind of stuff in it that could damage the negative in the long run.

 

[MattKing]

I agree with everything on the list but 6 : I wouldn't recommend dish washing liquid instead of an actual wetting agent made for that purpose. While it does work in a pinch, there's all kind of stuff in it that could damage the negative in the long run.

I agree!

 

[fs999]

Here some more recipes :

 

[Greg_E2]

That chart is very handy, I'll have to print it and laminate it. Looking like Delta Standard is a good starting point for my inversion tank developing.

I may be digging back into a rotary processor, which is going to change the times. I had an old Jobo CPE, looking to get a CPA or CPP (with lift) after I get going again. I also have an ATL1000 if it still works, been in storage for more than 20 years now. Is it safe to say that when rotary processing you should cut the times in half and adjust from there?

Reading a little here https://caffenol.blogspot.com/2010/08/recipes.html, the salt vs bromide was really interesting. I'm looking for a little base staining from the coffee, it can help when you are scanning to resolve the dark spots (highlights in the negative). Yes it reduces contrast, but that's often desired for scanning. Might trade off details in things like clouds since the base+exposure will make things more dense in those areas. I'll have to play with it. Iodized salt is common around here, so that's what I would use if I get into a mix that requires or benefits from salt.

 

[titrisol]

has anyone done a study with what Coffee does what????
Cappuccino??with milk ???
espresso ????
Greek coffee ??? [I have not tried yet]
French coffee ???
American Perked ????

Yes, RIT (dr Williams) in the late 90s

A use for that last cup of coffee: film and paper development

A novel application for coffee - DEVELOPING your film and photographic papers with it! Detailed in an article by Dr. Scott Williams and his Technical Photo Chemistry students and published in Sept/Oct 1995 issue of DCCT.

repository.rit.edu

Published in 2002-3 in PopPhoto

Publications

Brewing up Photography: Using Coffee to Develop Film - American Chemical Society

When you wake up, you might smell coffee in the kitchen. Did you know that the same coffee can help make pictures from a camera? Along with additional materials found at your home, you can use coffee to make special camera-friendly films!

www.acs.org

Caffenol Developer Inventor Dr. Scott Williams to Celebrate 30th Anniversary of Eco-Friendly Photography Innovation

Dr. Scott Williams, the inventor of Caffenol, an environmentally friendly alternative photographic developer, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of h ...

sayart.net

 

[joho]

@titrisol thanks for the info!!!
from the 90's??? thats 35 years ago...

 

[titrisol]

@titrisol thanks for the info!!!
from the 90's??? thats 35 years ago...

Yes, and it became a thing in the early 2000s (check the forum)

 

[joho]

reading this I think many times why the Photo-class did not have more physics and chemistry ?????

 

[Greg_E2]

reading this I think many times why the Photo-class did not have more physics and chemistry ?????

I agree.

 

[titrisol]

reading this I think many times why the Photo-class did not have more physics and chemistry ?????

Photo-chemistry is a very specialized course, RIT had excellent classes as it was next door to Kodak
If you have some science backgorund, a book abt Photographic Chemistry (Mees or Grant Haist) make a lot of sense.

The Theory of the Photographic Process : C.E. Kenneth Mees : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

1st edition

archive.org

Modern photographic processing : Haist, Grant Milford : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Illustrationen ; 24 cm

archive.org

Developing The Negative Technique : Kurt I. Jacobson, Ralph Eric Jacobson : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Eighteenth edition, revised, updated and reprinted. Epson V750, Vuescan, ScanTailor, Adobe Acrobat

archive.org

Modern photographic processing by Grant Milford Haist | Open Library

Modern photographic processing by Grant Milford Haist, 2000, Grant Haist edition, in English - Repri. with permission by publisher

openlibrary.org

 

[Sidd]

My experience with caffenol is anything but pleasurable. It's stinky and messy, the controls are not very predictable. So, I have stopped using it. Sorry, if I've hurt someone's sentiment, I must apologise here, my intention is never hurting anyone personally.

My actual question is has anybody tried to develop film with caffeic acid, the ingredient of coffee said to be the main developing agent? I couldn't, since I never could get hold of it. I think in that case, it would be a environment friendly developer, with predictable outcome and not messy.

 

[titrisol]

Here some more recipes :

That is a lot of Ascorbic!
basically 1:2 to 1:4 ratio

At that ratio the ascorbic acid should be carrying a lot of the weight of developemnt

 

[koraks]

That is a lot of Ascorbic!

It is. Caffenol is a relatively expensive developer and I wonder if an LCA would support the eco-friendliness often attributed to it.