Extreme Compensating Caffenol

Brian Bullen · Jan 20, 2008

I recently purchased an ULF camera back and holder with an odd format size(18" x 24") and needed some film that would fit the holder without having to trim it down. I searched the web and found only a few places that carry film in or near that dimension. I called one of the stores and they sent some free samples of a line/halftone that seemed similar to APHS. After cutting it down to 4x5 and exposing some sheets, I decided to give Dektol 1:10 a try. The shadow values looked good but the highlights were deep black after only 3 minutes of developing by inspection.
Next I thought Caffenol might be worth a go.

Mixed up 16oz of water
1 TBLS Washing Soda
1 TBLS rounded Foldgers
1/8 TSP Ascorbic Acid

The effect surprised me. There is detail in the highlights and the shadow values are respectable. Here is a link to the image.(pic not posted here because of scanner issues)
http://bp3.blogger.com/_DTvpw4AOnVQ/R5LMJFXHvaI/AAAAAAAAAJM/Myk9Jus_eqw/s1600-h/merge.jpg The wall on the left was placed on Zone III(f4.5) and the brightest snow in the foreground was placed on Zone X 1/2(f64). Overall the stain is minimal and the negative is thin but printable. Normally I wouldn't be that surprised with regular pan film but halftone film is pretty contrasty. This is just a first test, let me know what you think.

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 20, 2008

When I tried Caffenol (no ascorbic acid in the version I tried), I found it to be like a lower contrast version of ABC pyro, and that was with a pretty long development time, so a reasonable contrast with this developer on a high-contrast film isn't too surprising. How does it print? Pyro negs are often contrastier than they look, and this might be the case with Caffenol as well.

Brian Bullen · Jan 20, 2008

Hi David, I forgot to mention that this neg was developed for 5 minutes at 68F. Unfortunately I ran out of time and couldn't print this one. There isn't much general stain, seems more proportional.

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 20, 2008

That's a pretty short development time for Caffenol--I don't know about Caffenol C. I think I processed my test sheets in Caffenol for something like 20 minutes and still wasn't at normal contrast.

Brian Bullen · Jan 20, 2008

The portraits on my website are developed in Caff C and are all developed for approximately 12 min around 75f. So far I've been lucky with development times, but I rarely use pan film. Efke and Tmax take much longer and I don't use Caff for those because I don't want to stand in the dark that long.

Akki14 · Jan 20, 2008

Plain Caffenol times, in my experience, are about 20-30minutes for roll film. Apparently the vitamin c cuts back on the basefog quite a bit and put the development time in the "normal" range of about 12 minutes. I keep meaning to try the vitamin c variant, though I only have fizzy vitamin c tablets to try it out with.

removed account4 · Jan 20, 2008

i too have used caffenol with the vitamin c.
i found my times for tmax400 and foma 400
to be about 20mins with standard agitation,
or a rotary processor.

i do however add a bit of straight ansco130
and use it as a stand developer, about 70º for 26 mins
and have gotten really nice results. i even made the mistake
of not hearing my timer ( forgot to set it!), and it brewed for an addtional 5 minutes.
the contrast and tonality was really nice, almost like a "conventional developer".
i don't enlarge these negatives bigger than a wide border on a sheet of 5x7 paper ...
since the grain can be really pronounced at times ... i only use this developer
for making negatives for small prints ...

your actual mileage may vary,
john

Jim Noel · Jan 20, 2008

Brian,
Keep up with your experiments. This image has tremendous compensation. It would be excellent for a full range film, but with this film it really is extraordinary.

I look forward to seeing how things progress.
Jim

Brian Bullen · Jan 20, 2008

jnanian said:
i too have used caffenol with the vitamin c.
i found my times for tmax400 and foma 400
to be about 20mins with standard agitation,
or a rotary processor.

John, are you getting any streaking or other defects from rotary processing? I've noticed on occasion some increased fog around the edges of my negs due to over agitation in the trays.

Akki14 said:
Apparently the vitamin c cuts back on the basefog quite a bit and put the development time in the "normal" range of about 12 minutes

I wish this were true in my case, I haven't had much luck with shorter times and tmax or efke pl25. I could try to double the ascorbic acid to give it a little more punch. Too many experiments and not enough time, sigh.

removed account4 · Jan 20, 2008

PhotoBulley said:
John, are you getting any streaking or other defects from rotary processing? I've noticed on occasion some increased fog around the edges of my negs due to over agitation in the trays.

hi brian
not that i can tell

good luck!

john

Brian Bullen · Nov 30, 2008

Well, I'm back at it. I finally pieced together the 18"x24" camera and have shot a few test exposures with Graphic Arts Hard Dot Film. Even though the camera needs a few finishing touches the film tests are looking great. Here is a sample of the most recent exposure. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
Details: Overcast sky, 8 sec exposure, iso 5, film developed in weak caff/vitc developer under red safelight for 7 minutes. 75f. Printed with straight palladium, 2:45 on a Nu-Arc 26-1k.
Overall it could use a little more contrast for palladium but is well within a workable range. Easy to mix and smells so yummy.
Edit: Forgot to mention the lens. 1884 Steinheil W.A. Aplanat for reproduction, 24in. I put this in here because the lens is not coated, ie lower contrast than a modern lens.

ntenny · Dec 5, 2008

Hi Brian,

It looks like you've developed something similar to Donald Qualls's "Caffenol LC+C" (see <http://silent1.home.netcom.com/Photography/Dilutions and Times.html>)---your recipe has much less washing soda, a bit less coffee, and about twice as much vitamin C, as compared to his.

It's interesting that your development time was so short; I've used the "LC+C" formula a bit with microfilm-base ortho and found development times to be in the 12- to 15-minute range. You do have more of one of the developing agents, of course, but I would think having less washing soda would raise the pH enough to slow things down anyway. Did you use tap water, which could alter the pH? (Mine is alkaline enough to cause excessive fog with standard Caffenol C---I've had to switch to using DIH2O.)

-NT

removed account4 · Dec 5, 2008

brian
have you tried to use caffenol c with the x ray film you are so fond of ?
i've used it with great results with nearly every film i have shot, old and new ...

but never xray film ...

john

Brian Bullen · Dec 8, 2008

NT- Sorry, after checking my notes on the latest development tests the new mix I use is as follows.
8 rounded tablespoons Foldgers
8 level tablespoons Washing Soda
1/4 teaspoon Vit C
128 ounces water 75f

I did use tap water, but as you can see from the dilution the ascorbic acid is fairly weak.

John,
I started out developing x-ray in caff+c and really liked the look. Weird swirls, fingerprints, and strange artifacts were a constant. Because x-ray film has emulsion on both sides the negs were only usable with silver gelatin paper, bullet proof in other words. The stain was excessive and printing times were in the 1-2 minute range on silver paper. I really wanted to print with palladium so I gave it up. Dev times for caff and x-ray were in the 7 min range with constant agitation. If you'd like to see some examples check this page.http://www.brianbullen.com/being/being.html Starting from my son in the puddle to the right are x-ray/caff.

Extreme Compensating Caffenol

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