highscore
Hi
Does anyone here have much experience with Caffenol?
I’ve been interested in this for a long time.
Two weeks ago, I gave it a go with half a roll of Fomapan 400.
So, Caffenol C L: 500g water, 27g washing soda, 16g vitamin C, and 20g instant coffee at 20°C
Pre-rinse and shake three times every 60 seconds for 7.5 minutes.
It foamed vigorously in the stop bath with vinegar!
The second half in Fomadon R09
Results:
The negative colouring was slightly different.
There were no problems with enlarging and printing either
But now a few questions.
- What other recipes do you know?
- What do I need to bear in mind?
- Where can I buy/order potassium bromide (I live in France)?
- What can be used as a stop bath that doesn’t foam as much as vinegar?
- Are there any other basic materials I can get hold of?
AntiLynd
A few partial answers:
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* You can get the raw materials (unfortunately not here from our host, but e.g.) via Wolfgang Moersch,
http://www.moersch-photochemie.de/content/rohchemie
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* Leave out the vinegar and just top it up with water... does it still foam then?
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* Are there any other ingredients to get hold of? It depends on how satisfied you are with your results – so far it sounds pretty good. I wouldn’t change anything for the time being, but would continue testing this recipe until you eventually reach its limits.
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Good luck with it
Nils
mattes
Why not ask at a chemist’s? Chemists are what are known as ‘authorised persons’ and are permitted to stock these chemicals. The prices are quite high, but if you only need a small amount, it works out cheaper than ordering online. I’ve bought potassium permanganate and sodium sulphite from our local chemist before; I was asked in great detail what I needed them for and had to show my ID, but I managed to get them.
Matthias
grommi
Hello highscore,
As Nils already said: with developers that have a high carbonate content (soda ash), don’t use an acidic stop bath, as this leads to the formation of CO₂ gas and may even damage the emulsion. It’s best to rinse 2–3 times with tap water; I give it a good shake whilst doing so, which produces cleaner negatives.
Potassium bromide is often available very cheaply on Eb.., or otherwise from Moersch as already mentioned. In the chemist’s, you usually pay the proverbial prices. It can be cheaper in France, though. It costs nothing to ask.
"So Caffenol C L: 500g water, 27g washing soda, 16g vitamin C, and 20g instant coffee at 20°C"
That’s not Caffenol C-L, that’s Caffenol C-M with double the amount of vitamin C. Caffenol C-L for 500 ml would be:
20 g instant coffee
8 g anhydrous washing soda
5 g vitamin C
up to 0.6 g potassium bromide, depending on the film
7.5 minutes? The development time also sounds very short.
In France, there is ‘sode cristaux’, which is washing soda with approx. 50% water of crystallisation; here, an oven test is urgently needed for C-C-L – see the Caffenol blog at caffenol.blogspot.com
Foma 400 produces ‘beautiful’ grain in Caffenol and Rodinal (R09)
Good light – Reinhold
highscore
Hi
I recently left my washing soda in the oven for three hours
Result: About 750g before, just over 400g afterwards!
47% water lost.
I really like Caffenol as a paper developer. If only it didn’t give off that awful smell.
But if I ever run out of developer at the weekend, I’d gladly put up with it again.
@grommi.
I don’t actually find Caffenol to be very granular with Foma 400.
But that’s probably just my personal opinion.
At what point should one actually start adding KBr?
Although I haven’t noticed any fog in my prints yet.
I suppose I’m a bit blind ;-)
ralle
Caffenol-C-L Instructions 400 800 1600 ASA
So Caffenol-C-L is the best choice for what is known as semi-stand development.
Specifically: After pouring in the solution, start the stopwatch; then tilt the tank 10 times; then, after 2 minutes, tilt 3 times; after 4 minutes, tilt 3 times; after 8 minutes, tilt 3 times; after 16 minutes, tilt 3 times; after 32 minutes, tilt 3 times. Afterwards and in between: leave to stand.
That’s all.
Caffenol-C-L is best for soft gradient effects, i.e. for pushed high-speed films (Tmax 400 or Ilford HP5). These films can be exposed and developed according to their ‘box speed’, i.e. at ISO 400. However, you can also “push” them, i.e. expose them as if they were ISO 800 (1-stop push) or ISO 1600 (2-stop push). And you adjust the development time accordingly. This means for TMAX 400: without “pushing”, 30 minutes, then stop bath, then fixer. With “pushing”, i.e. exposed at ISO 800 (camera or light meter set to ISO 800 instead of 400), the development time is extended to 45 minutes, then stop bath and fixer. And accordingly, if the light meter is set to 1600 ASA/ISO and the TMAX 400 is therefore subject to 2 stops of underexposure, the time is extended to 65–70 minutes.
In principle, the ISO rating on the packet is only a guideline. You only need to stick to it if the films are sent to a large-scale lab. If you develop them yourself, you have complete freedom.
To give an example: Fomapan 400 always turned out absolutely rubbish until I finally set it to ISO 200 instead of ISO 400 and adjusted the exposure that way, then used Caffenol-C-L for just 20 minutes. Suddenly it turned out really well. Fuji Acros comes out brilliant at box speed (i.e. at ISO 100; as stated on the box)
The procedure/agitation doesn’t change fundamentally. Only the time after the last agitation (i.e. after 32 minutes), during which you simply leave the film to stand, changes. At "as specified" (box speed): don’t leave it to stand at all, but drain, stop, etc. At double ISO: leave it for another quarter of an hour. At quadruple ISO, leave it for another half an hour.
I got the recipe from a friend
Regards, Ralle
grommi
"I recently left my washing soda in the oven for three hours
Result: About 750g before, just over 400g afterwards!" What kind of washing soda did you use? In Germany, I’ve only ever come across the anhydrous kind, also known as "calcined".
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"At what point should you actually start adding KBr?"
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When exposing at ISO 400 or higher. Of course, you can scan anything somehow, but negatives with
significantly
increased base fog tend to cause problems, even with ‘proper’ enlargement. I find a TMax400, for example, in Caffenol without an anti-foggant, to be pretty borderline, not to say rubbish, especially at 800 or 1600. A bit of fog is OK; we don’t need crystal-clear negatives, and too much KBr can, under certain circumstances, reduce shadow detail. 0.5–1 g/l should suit most films. KBr is also important for stand development to ensure even development without bromide runs or streaks. Alternatively, you could use about 10 times the amount of iodide salt, but KBr is simply better. But even 100-speed films can become heavily covered in fog in coffee. The old, original, genuine APX100 from Leverkusen, for example, was one such film.
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@ Ralle:
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I find the times a little short, but if it works, then it works. Acros 100 in Caffenol-C-L = dream team from ISO 25 to 400. Thomas Graichen once wrote a lovely post about Caffenol-C-L for my blog; he develops for 30 minutes at nominal sensitivity and 70 minutes for Push+2:
http://caffenol.blogspot.de/2011/08/its-so-easy.html
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Regards – Reinhold
adophil
As a paper developer, I really like Caffenol.
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Which formulas are suitable for the positive process? What sort of results can one expect?
highscore
Hi
When using Caffenol as a paper developer, I used 20 parts soda, 10 parts C, and 20 parts coffee per litre.
The development time was about 5 minutes.
The grey tones came out well, but the maximum black wasn’t 100%.
Next time I’ll increase the soda and coffee; my solution was too weak.
That should also reduce the development time.
In my opinion, though, it’s a very useful alternative. But the smell...!
adophil
Thanks! It seems to me that its suitability for positive processing is somewhat limited. Long development times and a low Dmax. That would also explain why there’s relatively little information on the subject. Still, it’s worth giving it a go when I get the chance.
Andreas_23
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As a paper developer, I really like Caffenol.
€
Which formulas are suitable for the positive process? What sort of results can one expect?
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</div>
</blockquote>
Hello adophil,
I described my experiences with Caffenol as a positive developer
here a few years ago.
Best regards,
Andreas
adophil
Thanks, Andreas. You really have to learn how to search properly... I’ll give that a go. It’s not really meant to be a standard procedure, though, but more for ‘emergencies’, special effects and amazed children.
highscore
Hi everyone
I recently compared my Fomapan 400, developed in Caffnol, with one developed in Fomaton R09.
Now I know what you mean by ‘fog!’
And I’ve finally managed to bid on 1.75 kg of KBr on eBay at a reasonable price, including acceptable delivery costs.
Because I think nearly €18 just for postage is daylight robbery. I definitely didn’t want to buy from that seller. So I just had to wait for a cheaper opportunity.
But now I’ll have to develop 175 years’ worth of film before I’ve used up this amount.
Next week I’ll be using Caffenol again, but this time with Foma 200 with an exposure of 160 ASA.
Oh, and one more thing: my short development times are due to the fact that I’m working with a developing bath at 20 °C.
However, this heats up to around 23.5 °C during the development process due to the exothermic reaction of the washing soda.
This means that even with the short development times mentioned, I still get a result that’s easy to enlarge. And nice grey tones.
Whether that puts me at D 0.7 – I have no idea. I don’t have a meter.
