My Prints come out blotchy (caffenol)

I’m kinda new to the whole film scene and i have started my developing with caffenol-c. All my 135s and 120s have turned out fine and when they were scanned a few months ago they looked good. Well recently I decided to go fully analog so i got a basic omega c700 enlarger. Now I’ve seen people say on the internet that caffenol can develop prints and I’m getting images but they are not turning out too good. They have these weird white spots and they never occur the same. It’s not the enlarger but i think it has to do with the caffenol. Can’t anyone diagnose my problem? Thanks

Welcome to APUG Photrio

Have not used caffenol, I use replenished XTOL.

Welcome to Photrio.
I would suggest you start first with a well known and reliable print developer. Once things are working well, experimenting with less predictable options like caffenol can be fun.

+1 to what Matt said. I'd add that fresh paper is much better for learning to print than old, possibly fogged paper. You don't say what you're using, so that's just an aside. There's also a lot of dust on the picture of the dog.

Yeah the dust is from when I scanned the picture. I’m using multitone paper. It’s cheap and that could be the problem. I’ve done pinholes with it before and they turned out fine. I’m gonna invest in some ilford paper. Also i purchased some Kodak D-76 the other day so I’ll give that a try as well. Thanks for the replies

Decap said:

Yeah the dust is from when I scanned the picture. I’m using multitone paper. It’s cheap and that could be the problem. I’ve done pinholes with it before and they turned out fine. I’m gonna invest in some ilford paper. Also i purchased some Kodak D-76 the other day so I’ll give that a try as well. Thanks for the replies

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The Multitone paper should be fine, unless you bought it used and it has been damaged.
D-76 is film developer - it isn't very well suited to paper, which requires a much more active developer.
If you used film developer strength caffenol, that would go a long way to explaining your results.
Dektol or Ilford Multigrade or Ilford Bromophen or Liquidol or (my favourite), Kodak PolyMax T or any other print developer would be much better suited to what you are doing.
There are a few (generally older) developers that are designed to be used with both film and paper, but when they are used with film they are usually more dilute, because that reduces their energy and therefore appropriate for film.

I second what Matt says. Get hour hands on a good PRINT developer, make sure you use it fresh and don't exhaust it, and you should see improved results immediately. I personally use Adotol Konstant, but each one is good to start with.

In the old days, some developers were formulated to be for both paper and film. This was convenient for the photographers at the time, and worked out more or less. As plates and paper were either home-made or of varying quality and Emulsion for plates and paper were more similar a century ago than today, these were average developers for average emulsions.

Today, film and papers usually are developed in specifically formulated developers, which will give optimum results for each. There are still some Universal Developers for film and paper out there, but the formulas are usually for one and are tweaked to fit the other. Besides these formulas should be tested how they work with each type of film/paper, as they will give different results.

I have not worked with caffenol-c. I understand it has been formulated as a film developer, and some people on the net say it´s good for paper, too. From the look of your prints, it seems either the developer was too weak (too little developing agent or alkali), exhausted (oxidazitaion or chemical contamination) or you had way too much restrainer. But that depends on the exact formula you used and the quality of the chemicals and possible interaction with the paper.

As you are just getting started, it is probably a good idea to get some pre-mixed print developer, e.g. Moersch Eco 4812. If you want to dive deeply into the topic, you can look for The Darkroom Cookbook by Steve Anchell (google has a preview of some pages).




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hi decap

i use caffenol for prints too, sometimes it is splotchy but its alwas fun
what i tend to do is jump start it 2 ways .. first i i put about 15-20cc of regular print developer (stock)
in a tray with the caffenol ( 1L ), it helps with everyting ( i do this with film too )
step 2 ... get regular print developer diluted and ready to use ... put your print in there
until the image peeks through the white of the paper and then transfer it over to the caffenol. it works great
there is another photrio user toffle who uses caffenol for prints. poke around "coffee developer group"
and look at some of his work. he has a link to his website too, where he has a recipe he uses for prints that might
be a better recipe than you use.

good luck !
john