HP5+ and Caffenol

[Lawrenceu]

I have been looking around the net and there seems to be varied opinions on using caffenol to develop HP5+. I have a couple of rolls that I shot at 400 and would like to try caffenol on one of them. Any secret recipes out there? One roll is 35mm and the other is 120.

 

[guitstik]

Caffenol-C is great, I use it on just about everything even, dut dut dhuuun, Kodachrome. Check out my gallery and see some of what I have done with caffenol.

The recipe that I have used I got from jnanian and it works great.

4 tbls Folgers instant
3 tbls Arm & Hammer washing soda (not baking)
2 tbls Ascorbic acid
300 ml water

If you need some Ascorbic acid let me know I can get you some to get you going.

 

[OMU]

Hi
HP5+ in Caffenol is great.
I have posted several photos of HP5+ in Caffenol.
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I use the recepie from Reinholds blog;
http://caffenol.blogspot.com/

He is also a APUG member (I think)

Good luck and let us see some results

 

[Lawrenceu]

Thanks folks. I will most definitely give it a whirl.

Guitstik, thanks for the offer. I was able to pick us some at the health food store yesterday. I'm not sure if the price was good or not. But, I have it.

OMU, I will have to find someone with a better scanner than mine to post them. I have a Canon MX340 all-in-one. It really doesn't do photos and negs. I am hoping to get another one some time.

 

[guitstik]

jnanian corrected me on my recipe so I would use his instead of mine...

"the one i always started with was 8tbs coffee, 4tsp washing soda and 2tsp vit c
but i have strayed from the pack and usually put equal portions vit c and washing soda .. about 4tsp each / 8oz of water
my measures are probably not exactly that because i never make 8oz at a time, more like 1L ( a quart ) and i free-pour.
not sure if you have print developer handy, but i tend to add a tiny bit to take the edge off the coffee and smooth things out.
i use about 20c30cc of ansco 130 ( i am sure anything will work ) /1L ...
oh, i don't agitate, but stand develop ..."

I bought 5lbs of ascorbic acid of the web at a cost of $7.32/lb. That is enough to last me for several years so I thought that I could share if you needed it.

 

[removed account4]

hi there

thanks for the plug joel !

i came to the realization that exact measurements for caffenol c are not exactly necessary.
either of the recipes joel posted will work, and the ones on the caffenol blog site are great too ...
the thing with caffenol is not to get too bogged down with exactness and precision but to have a good time.

i haven't measured in years ( coming up on 5 ) and it is pretty much the only developer i use,
well, i have to eat my words a little bit, i roast and grind and brew my own robusta coffee so i do measure it for
the perk ( if you want to know 10cups on a perk is about 750cc, and i use about 12 "scoops" / 10 cups )
the rest of it is eyeball measured.
have fun !
john

ps. mix it in a large container, when you add the vit c it sometimes will foam
and overflow out of your container ..

 

[Lawrenceu]

So, I don't need to use a lab scale to get consistent results. Is that correct? And, volumetric measurement works as well as mass/weight?

Is so, that sure makes it easier.

Here is what I have gathered from reading around on developing HP5+ with caffenol-c shot at 400.

Developer time: 14 minutes
- Agitate for the first minute and then 2x10 sec/minute there after
Stop bath/Rinse: 10 minutes
- Tap water is okay
Fixer: 5 minutes
- Agitate 3x10sec/minute

Rinse as usual.

Does that sound about right?

 

[guitstik]

That's about it. Try to stay consistent when you first start out to get an idea of what it can do then play with it. Just try not to get tied up in the technical parts and have fun. Remember that the technical is for the correct chemistry, caffenol-c is for fun.

 

[Ezzie]

I advocate measuring by weight, but then again I use stock that's more than 4 months old and still get good results. So who am I to critisize those who measure in teaspoons, pinches and whatnot. I use Caffenol-C-M and C-H for the most part (the latter for 400 ISO films and up), and have really never had a mishap. As John says, the latitude this developer gives is enormous, and probably very tolerant of variations to both concentration, temperature and timing. However there those that get it wrong, very wrong. Mostly because they use ingredients not quite what the doctor ordered. Baking soda is not the same as washing soda for instance. But once you get it right, you'll have no end of fun trying out new variations and films. Have fun.