caffenol vs commercial developer

Greg Heath · May 5, 2015

Waiting is the hardest part )

mehguy · May 5, 2015

Greg Heath said:
Waiting is the hardest part )

well actually it wont be that bad. ill be camping all next week so thatll keep me occupied... maybe ill get some more B&W film to shoot while im at it.

lets just hope it comes within that week

Greg Heath · May 6, 2015

Have fun camping !! Our first trip is in 3 weeks. I can't wait.

FiatluX · May 6, 2015

Greg Heath said:
The coffee caused a temperature rise if I remember correctly.

Actually it´s the soda

Good luck and have fun mehguy, you´ll be amazed of what caffenol can do!

mehguy · May 6, 2015

Is it possible to "over fix"

TheToadMen · May 6, 2015

mehguy said:
Is it possible to "over fix"

An extra few minutes won't hurt, but a decent long (enough) wash afterwards is important to clear out all the remaining fix.
I think that is even more important with photo paper than film.

FiatluX · May 6, 2015

Yes it is, but it takes much longer than your usual 5-10 mins. Do the clear film test suggested in this thread, double the time from that test and you´ll be safe!

Greg Heath · May 6, 2015

I have been fixing all my film at 5 min. But did the film test and it came out at 1:40 so double that and that's the fix time.

MattKing · May 6, 2015

mehguy said:
Is it possible to "over fix"

If you fix longer than necessary, you will need to wash longer.

Don't forget that you need to agitate during the fix cycle as well.

Peter Rockstroh01 · May 10, 2015

I've been reading these threads and wondering how consistent (or inconsistent) the contents of active ingredients can be, from one lot of coffee to the next. Have those of you working with this developer noticed fluctuations in your negatives due to variations in the coffee quality ?
My other doubt is image permanence : are coffenol-developed negatives archival ?

Cheers,

Peter

pdeeh · May 11, 2015

Permanence isn't a function of developer but of fixing and washing.
As for variability of results, yep. But then many folk start with caffenol in such a scattergun fashion its hard to tell whether it's ingredients or the process that causes them problems

Mine always look the same whatever coffee I use though

removed account4 · May 11, 2015

i consistantly use the same ingredients ...
and consistantly have film that looks eactly the same ...

the only real variable with my process is that i re-use my developer for sometimes 6 months
and i use a variety of expired films, and "trash heap-ready materials"
as well as timed exposures where i don't use a watch and just count ..
these "barely consistent inconsistencies" haven't really done much to change my results ...

i'm not too scattergunned though and have been using the coffee stuff for about a decade ( thanks for the recipe whitey ! ).

Peter Rockstroh01 · May 11, 2015

Great ! Thanks for your comments. I'll give it a try. I should be able to find ingredients in the neighbourhood.

moltogordo · May 12, 2015

I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately here but if you're a beginner keep it simple.

I'd recommend HC110 to start with. It has all of the qualities you want - repeatiblilty, long shelf life (I've used 5 year old stuff with no problems), and best of all, you can dilute it like Rodinal making it economical, and it's very easy to obtain unlike Rodinal in Canada. Henry's has it as well as does just about any good camera store in Toronto.

I dilute the syrup (it comes as a thick liquid) to 1:63, which is very dilute. I develop EVERYTHING (HP5, Shanghai, TMax 100, fomapan 400, who cares) in this dilution, anywhere from 9 minutes (ASA 100 films) to 12 minutes (ASA 400 films.) Always get printable results that will work on grades 2-3 paper.
Reason is that at this dilution, the developer exhausts before highlights are blown and you still get shadow detail.

I use other develpers (Xtol, Diafine, Pyrocat and Rodinal specifically) but only if I need their characteristics. I could live with HC110 for the rest of my life and not really care too much. Probably the most versatile soup on the market. I also think it's really the best developer for HP5, which is my favorite film.

mehguy · May 15, 2015

film developing tank hasnt come in yet... still waiting.

im still considering commercial developer though...

MattKing · May 16, 2015

Michael R 1974 said:
Rather than using the term "commercial", you might say "scientifically formulated", since some commercially available formulas are published, and can therefore be scratch-mixed if you wish.

Or even: "store bought" developer.

pdeeh · May 16, 2015

I bought all the ingredients for caffenol in a store

Arklatexian · May 16, 2015

I just finished reading all of the recommendations and nowhere was the OP cautioned to handle and load film in his tank in total darkness. Beginners in darkroom work sometimes load with the lights on simply because their instructors thought that "everyone knows that" and did not mention it. As the saying goes: "better be safe than sorry"........Regards!

TheToadMen · May 16, 2015

pdeeh said:
I bought all the ingredients for caffenol in a store

You could roast you own beans ...

mehguy · May 16, 2015

how would i make my bathroom a darkroom? i know that you can put electrical tape around the cresses of the door but my bathroom door has about half inch of a gap between the door and rhe floor. can i just use towels to cover that up?

TheToadMen · May 16, 2015

mehguy said:
how would i make my bathroom a darkroom? i know that you can put electrical tape around the cresses of the door but my bathroom door has about half inch of a gap between the door and rhe floor. can i just use towels to cover that up?

Use anything that blocks out the light. That's all.

Is there a light switch outside the bathroom?
Tape something over it to avoid someone accidentally tripping the switch while you're at it.

And don't forget to put a sign on the door like "DO NOT OPEN - THE DARKNESS WILL LEAK OUT".

MattKing · May 16, 2015

mehguy said:
how would i make my bathroom a darkroom? i know that you can put electrical tape around the cresses of the door but my bathroom door has about half inch of a gap between the door and rhe floor. can i just use towels to cover that up?

I put weather stripping around the frame in my bathroom's doors. I have a couple of old, dark towels that I use to block the bottom.

Or instead of the towel, you might try these: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.ca/stor...er-extreme-double-sided-door-guard/1016702510

pdeeh · May 16, 2015

mehguy said:
how would i make my bathroom a darkroom?

There are some marvellous ideas in this thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Oxleyroad · May 18, 2015

One of my darkrooms was a laundary. In Australia they have a specific black plastic which I called foundation lining that goes onto the ground before reinforment steel if placed into the channels and the concrete poured on top. It is this plastic that I used as it is really dense to cover the windows of the laundary and the doors to the laundary to block out all the light. I would place a note on the sliding door to the laundary saying "Darkroom in Use" and I also put a small latch on the inside so that if anyone chose to try and open the door dispite the notice it would not open.

I stuffed a towel across the bottom of the two doors into the laundary to knock out the last of the possible light entry points. It worked well for 6 years dispite the land lady complaining I left numerous holes in the outside window frame which I did as I thumb-tacked the plastic to the window frame.

mehguy · May 19, 2015

im curious but what is the shelf life of the Tmax developer? I couldnt find any documentation on it.

caffenol vs commercial developer

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