Caffenol-C - any users?

[Scott]

Ok, so Pete's suggestion of using Caffenol-C to develop my old Kodacolor-X found film got me to thinking: HC-110 is cheap, but Folger's is cheaper.  I'm wondering now if it's worth giving a try - I've had great luck with HC-110 and Acros and Arista.EDU. 

So, any users?  Pros/cons?  Whatcha all think?

Scott

[radiophoto]

Well, I just developed a roll of Shantou ERA 100 last night in Caffenol-C, 13 min. @ 68 F, and got terrific results. 

I think Folger's might be too high-quality for effective results, however -- the cheaper the instant, the more caffeic acid -- which is the developing agent in the mix.  I use a store brand instant and it is half the cost of Folger's.

I don't know of any cons, other than it's difficult to know how long to develop a particular brand of film sometimes.  I've been doing my part by posting new info to the Massive Dev Chart as I can.  There are several types of film now posted under the caffenol section there.

[Scott]

Ok, so we've got washing soda.  I'm taking the kids to Redner's after school for dinner fixins.  Going to pick up some instant coffee and ascorbic acid (from the canning supplies, apparently).  The films I generally use (Acros, Pan-F, and Arista.EDU) aren't listed on digitaltruth, but a quick googling found some starting points.  I'm loading up the Yashica-Mat now with my last roll of Pan-F, and will be doing kitchen sink chemistry tonight!

[radiophoto]

Scott, there's a caffenol group at flickr that has a lot of great info, you should check that out for future use.

Meantime, let me give you a few pointers:

Mix in 8-oz. batches (we don' need no steenkeeng batches!  whoops, sorry), but split that into two 4-oz sections, one for your coffee & water, one for your washing soda/vitamin C/water.  Mix everything thoroughly before combining the two.

You may find that the washing soda clumps a bit, so you should strain that before adding it to the coffee mixture.  I used water at about 80 degrees to mix the water & soda last night and got no clumps, so try that.  I used colder water to mix the coffee as a result, and when combined came pretty close to 68 deg. -- that final mix went into the fridge for a few minutes to cool down to 68 while I loaded my film into the tank.

[Scott]

Ok, lemme ask you this, Pete: How 'bout mixing up the A and B solutions ahead of time, and mixing them together when needed for one-shot developing?  I'd think, at the least, the coffee could be mixed in bulk.  Dunno how fast the L-ascorbic would degrade, and even at that, I doubt the vitamin activity is why the ascorbic is being added.  If it's only as acting as an acid, then the citric in the canning mixture'll help that, and the acidity shouldn't degrade rapidly if it's in a closed container (in the dark, yada yada).

Whatcha think?

[Scott]

Ok, so Braedan is sick today.  I was going to head out and shoot some Pan-F in the Y-Mat, but that got scrubbed.  Set up the Seneca, shot a sheet of Arista.EDU Ultra 100, and did some googling.  Found some reasonable starting points (Caffenol-C seems to be fairly independent of film type, speed, and temp... ), and just mixed up the developer.  I'm letting it sit for a couple minutes to allow the "microbubbles" to off-gas, but I doubt I will in the future - I'm running the sheet in the Uniroller.  What's the difference with microbubbles in that?

The developer is reputed to stink.  Well, either I have a high tolerance for stench (possible), or it's not that bad.  Smells like stale coffee and old grease.  I don't want to bathe in it, but doesn't smell any worse to me than regular chems.

Wish me luck - I'm developing presently!

[Scott]

Well, there's an image on the film.  It's kind of a thin negative, but it was a dark shot, anyway, so this might not be the developer's fault.  But the image is there, will be easily scannable, and was developed with coffee, laundry helper, and canning goods!

So as I don't forget, this was with the 8:4:2:1 formulation (doubled), 10:15 in the Uniroller.  Think the temp was about 30C - was higher, but I stirred in an icecube to cool it.  I think 30 was about where it landed.

Scan coming soon.

[Scott]

Well, the Caffenol-C worked fine.  Apparently, though, I've got a leak in m'holder.


This was shot at f/11 (more'n 1:1 at 5x7!); I'm thinking I'll reshoot it with a different holder, and f/8 (the maximum aperture for this lens).

Gotta mark that holder for later rehabbing...

[radiophoto]

Ok, lemme ask you this, Pete: How 'bout mixing up the A and B solutions ahead of time, and mixing them together when needed for one-shot developing?  I'd think, at the least, the coffee could be mixed in bulk.  Dunno how fast the L-ascorbic would degrade, and even at that, I doubt the vitamin activity is why the ascorbic is being added.  If it's only as acting as an acid, then the citric in the canning mixture'll help that, and the acidity shouldn't degrade rapidly if it's in a closed container (in the dark, yada yada).

Whatcha think?

Scott - I'm very sorry, but I never saw this posting, it must have slipped thru the cracks.  All that I've read states that since you're essentially making a one-shot developer, it should be made fresh, as needed.  I don't know anything about the chemical breakdown or shelf-life.  Since it only takes a few minutes to mix, that is an easy rule to follow, even if you don't know the reasons behind it.

I'm sure you could try it, in a small batch or so.  Hey, I know!  Ask Jorn, he knows ev'rytheeng! 

[Scott]

No problem, Pete.  Having mixed the stuff up a couple times today, I think what I'm going to do is mix a batch of the coffee, a batch of the washing soda, and keep them in bottles for a while.  When I need to develop something, I'll mix the two and dump in a couple teaspoons of the ascorbic acid (I bought as a canning additive - contains ascorbic and citric acids, but seems to be working ).  The ascorbic dissolves readily, so everything should work.

I have another couple sheets in the tank now.  Developer was at 20C this time.  Fingers crossed!

[radiophoto]

Yeah, good luck!  I haven't seen too many people using the Caffenol for sheet films, so that's pretty cool.  You must have your pics posted at photobucket, because I can't see them right now (any of them in your other posts, as well), but I'll take a look at home.  I'm on a US Govt computer and photobucket is blocked.

[Scott]

Yeah, Pete - they're all on photobucket.  I'll post the next ones to flickr.

The negatives look a little better, but I'm thinking if I exposed for EI50 instead of 100 (the first one was 200 - still getting used to the new meter... ), the exposure'd be right on.

Film's almost dry - scans soon!

[titrisol]

Not a bad idea, but just from experience mix the ascorbic with the carbonate before adding the coffeee
Also you can buy ERYTHORBATE in the sausage/meat/ham supply stores which is the isomer of ascorbic acid and used to be cheaper.

No problem, Pete.  Having mixed the stuff up a couple times today, I think what I'm going to do is mix a batch of the coffee, a batch of the washing soda, and keep them in bottles for a while.  When I need to develop something, I'll mix the two and dump in a couple teaspoons of the ascorbic acid (I bought as a canning additive - contains ascorbic and citric acids, but seems to be working ).  The ascorbic dissolves readily, so everything should work.

I have another couple sheets in the tank now.  Developer was at 20C this time.  Fingers crossed!

[LarryD]

Hey Pete I have a question I am about to try some old expired C-41 I found in a drawer and do you have any Idea on the times for C-41 in Caffinol-C :

[radiophoto]

Larry, I just read on flickr that somebody had a good experience with 15-20 minutes in Caffenol-C at 70 deg. F.  See here.