Developing Film with Coffee using Caffenol! - DIY Darkroom
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- Welcome to the 1st episode of a new addition to the channel, DIY Darkroom. Every few weeks we're going to focus on a topic that you can follow along with at home to get started in the darkroom. To kick off this series, I wanted to challenge myself with a DIY that I've personally never done before...Caffenol!
Caffenol is about as home brew as B&W film developers come. It's inexpensive and easy to make, with a wide range of possible results. As I found out quickly, it's not like most off-the-shelf developers, but is still capable of getting the job done in a pinch.
Some more resources for Caffenol here: www.caffenol.org/recipes/
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Background Music by Mike Gutterman - "Background Music for Productions Volume 12"
mikegutterman.bandcamp.com/
Content by Mat Marrash: www.matmarrash.com
00:00 Why DIY?
01:04 Caffenol
02:35 Main Ingredients
03:28 Extra Supplies
04:28 SAFETY!
05:02 Different Recipes
06:42 Mixing Caffenol C-M
08:52 Developing B&W Film
12:03 Moment of Truth
13:19 Wrap-Up
#darkroom #filmphotography #coffee - Jak na to + styl
Caffenol was my first ever developer back when I started developing my own film. Found out about it by complete accident while researching how to develop film on CZcams. Have to say, it's the reason I got 100% hooked into developing and now printing my own stuff. This was a great guide, Mat!! I highly recommend for anyone getting started. Also, the worse quality of instant coffee, the better it works apparently, but definitely make sure it is 100% caffeinated 😁
As someone who is down to like a quarter cup of D76 and waiting on a B&H order... I'm motivated to learn more about this.
This stuff is pretty much always in stock, big grocery stores with home goods should have it all!
You can also make washing soda by baking baking soda in the oven at 400 degrees or so for about half an hour for a thin 1/4" layer on a baking pan. It is done when it stops bubbling up CO2 from the powder in little volcanoes
I've used various Caffenol recipes off-and-on over the years, but just recently discovered doing a "cold start" to mitigate fog level on old film. Basically, it's the C-L mix. You start development at 59F, agitate for one minute, then let the tank stand for 60 - 70 mins. I've only used this on some old HP5+, but it works great and really minimizes the fog!
Alan thanks for the pro caffenol tips! This sounds a lot like a home brew technique I heard about with Diafine where you start cold and then leave it in the fridge overnight!
For someone like me who is nostalgic about the Kodak D60 developer and Hypo fixer from the late seventies, this is a great tutorial! Now I need to dig out my old cameras and get to work. Thank you!
Experiment I did and I gradually developed a preference for Caffenol C-L (less sodium carbonate and ascorbic acid). BTW: I always ended up with streaks when I used any kind of squeegee so I just hang the film, clip the bottom for weight, and let gravity take over.
I messed up and bought regular coffee and the process still worked. Thankfully this is forgiving.
Film is surprisingly forgiving! Also now you have drinkable coffee too. ;)
more DIY Videos! 👍😉
Finally, someone found a good use for instant coffee.
In defense of this Aldi coffee, this version of caffenol smelled better than the "burning hair" variety I used in a premixed powder kit years ago.
Hi Mat how about the DIY rapid fixer recipe?
Still waiting for that.
Sodium Thyosulphate or Hypo.
Thanks Mat! Caffenol is a good developer on its own merits. The only time I've had a poor result was when I wanted to demonstrate how cool and easy it was in front of curious family spectators... Anyhow, there are many ways to enjoy film photography without needing to spend a lot of money or time, thanks for making that point!
DIY Darkroom, I love it! Can't wait to see more
Amazing results dude! Thank you for sharing and educating us : )
Love the DIY Darkroom idea, Mat. Looking forward to learning more from you.
Another interessino video,many thanks Mat!!
Thanks for the nice and clear video.
Excellent video!
that was fantastic. i’m going to try it.
thank you for showing! this was super. looking forward to more of this series.
Thanks Brian! :)
Interesting process.
Really cool video! I'm eventually going to develop some film with Caffenol and this video helped so much.
nice job. it looks pretty good
Such great walkthrough! I'm just starting out with analog photography and feel like a knowledge sponge :D
I love how you explain every step and detail very visually and easy to follow. Will try this pretty soon I think!
So cool to see it, I bought the ingredients a while back but have been too timid to try ... this makes me feel confident enough to try it!!!
i’ve heard that beer can also be used as a developer.
Good stuff, Mat! Looking forward to the DIY fixer!
Production fun fact: I showed the bottle of Ilford Rapid Fix, but what I ended up using in the film was, in fact, the homemade stuff.
Good video ! Just to say, you can use deca coffee, it works the same but the price is different. I tried it personally an d i'm not the only one. About cristal soda (dehydrated carbonate sodium) you have to add 2.7 times the amount of the basic recipe. Cheers !
Hi Mat. I liked your video. I have used the Caffenol-C-H-UK Recipe which includes iodized salt and was happy with the result.
Neat! Now I have something to try!
It's quite a bit of fun, save for the bad coffee smell. ;)
Caffenol, cool stuff. I will probably missed the stream, but I will catch the video later.
Great video! I have a chemistry background and too and I’ve wanting to build a home lab. This is giving me more ideas….😊
I have made silver gelatin prints from instant coffee mix before with the result of dark chocolate tone. Looking forward to your work on this.
Not only isn't caffeic acid caffeine (it's found mainly in the green growing tips of lots of plants), but it's been shown that caffeic acid is *not* the developing agent in basic Caffenol -- by the simple test of mixing pure caffeic acid and sodium carbonate in water. Even at several times the strength present in coffee, there was no developing action. Likewise for caffeine itself. Instant coffee, on the other hand, does not need ascorbate to develop film (I'd been using Caffenol for a couple years before I tried the "Caffenol C" variant, so there's some other chemical, likely a phenol of some sort, in coffee that does the job.
Just a nit-pick, though. I've developed early 2000s Tri-X, Fomapan 100 and 400, and a couple kinds of microfilm in variations of Caffenol since 2003, and it has always worked (and always smells like a broiler pan after cooking a roast and leaving the pan in the oven overnight).
I've weighed photographic chemicals for years on a small reloading scale I bought for reloading ammunition in 1981, but recently I purchased a scale for making pour-over coffee (weigh the grounds, weigh the water) and reads in tenths of a gram, goes up to 3 kg, and has a very easy tare function (plus a timer that's useful for coffee making, probably won't get much use in the darkroom) and liked it so much I bought a second one for the darkroom, eliminating the conversion of 15.4 grains (the unit reloading scales in the USA usually measure with) to one gram. The brewing scale cost about $20. I use reverse osmosis deionized water (my partner has reef aquariums, the RODI system was installed for them), which is purer even than the distilled at the supermarket.
Teaspoon measures work very well (that's how I learned to mix Caffenol), but don't assume a teaspoon is five grams. This is approximately true for table sugar or table salt, but the baking soda in the Arm & Hammer box is pretty fluffy; it and coffee crystals weigh significantly less than 5 grams per teaspoon. Ascorbic acid powder is much close to that "average" density. If you don't have a drug dealer scale, er, gram scale, try to find a recipe that's already in teaspoon measure, meaning someone else already took care of weighing a teaspoon of each ingredient and counted them out accordingly.
I've never seen white specks on my film developed in Caffenol like you have there. It looks as if you might have gotten a bad roll of Pan F+ (I've read that there was a batch that produced those intermittently in 120 size only). In fact, once I had my process nailed down, my negatives in Caffenol C looked indistinguishable from those I developed in Parodinal (another homebrew developer made from acetaminophen and drain opener lye). Between those two and D-23, I developed all my film in home-mixed developer (and fixer!) for about two years, from 2005 to early 2007.
Home mixed fixer... Do tell
@@DavidGriffin The simplest form is pretty simple -- for one-shot use, I mixed 60 g of sodium thiosulfate crystals into a liter of water. It's slowish, but it'll fix any cubic grain film in no more than about 10 minutes. Discard after, *at most,* two rolls (8x10 inches equivalent) per liter and don't store between sessions, as it has no preservative. It mixes fast, because you're not making a very concentrated solution.
I wouldn't try that mix for tabular grain films (T-Max, Delta, Fomapan 200, or Acros 100); instead, I'd use 240 g/l of thiosulfate along with 100 g/l of sodium sulfite and use a two-bath fixing method -- fix half the time in Bath A, the second half in Bath B, and after 8 rolls per liter, discard Bath A and replace it with Bath B, mixing fresh fixer for the new Bath B (and discard both after making this switch 6 times). This solution can be stored for several months (if you process film regularly, you'll use it up before it goes off) and also works very well for prints (though modern recommendations suggest using rapid fixer for minimum time to reduce washing requirements).
Sodium thiosulfate is easily obtained from pool & spa suppliers -- it's sold as chlorine reducer (the SDS will confirm it's above 98% sodium thiosulfate -- worth checking because sodium sulfite is also used for this, though I've never run across it in this application). I get my sodium sulfite from online sellers, most recently by searching it on Amazon.
Drinking my cup of coffee while watching you put yours to work!
This coffee is definitely emergency use only now that it's spent some time in the darkroom. If I'm drinking this regularly, send help!
Wow! I ordered some id11 since I don't always need perceptol or ddx but it didn't come in fast enough for me to figure out the mystery iso 4.5/10" xray film so I used caffenol, was prepared for disappointment but it ended up pretty ok at semi stand 20 min cl and taco style in my patterson. Timely video!
Nice cooking channel. It would be cool to see you developing positive paper too with it. 👍
Great tutorial!! Hopefully you can make a similar video about parodinal ( homebrew rodinal ) since in my opinion it's cheaper ( because you can reuse it and more importantly, prepare a lot without the urge of use it right away ) looking forward that diy fixer video !
Thanks for the comment! Rodinal and Parodinal have been added to "the list". This isn't a weekly series, so it may take some time to get there.
I wouldn't consider Rodinal or Parodinal as reusable developers, especially at the higher dilutions like 1:50 or 1:100. Every instruction I've seen for any variation of Rodinal treats it as one-shot -- dilute, develop, and discard. That said, if you have a good cheap source of acetaminophen and buy sodium sulfite in bulk, you can make Parodinal at 1:50 dilution cost around a dime per roll -- or about half the cost of replenished Xtol.
Sometimes I use it for paper. I like the results
I've heard of folks using it for paper, are there any extra chemicals needed/not needed to have it work when printing?
No. Same formula.
But you should know the exposure time before developing since it does not last very long. 3-4 print and for each you need to add more time.
So if you need to do test strips first developer could be dead by the time you end up with good print
When I squeegee I try to do it with minimal pressure and limit the number of times I do it to help avoid scratching. When developing and needing warm or cooler water, is there a water heater/cooler that you would recommend? I know there is the sous-vide devices but anything else? Thank you.
Looking forward to the future of this segment and was also going to buy myself a magnetic stirrer for Christmas, but was trying to decide between which ones to buy on Amazon. Now I know, thanks
@@careypridgeon which one did you go with?
I'm honestly surprised by the quality of these "cheap" heated stirrers. Back when I was in college, a similar quality tool cost nearly an order of magnitude more! Haven't tested full heating capacity yet, but for anything up to 120C it's been great.
I’m insipired !!
Don’t have access to d-76 or c-41 developing chemicals where I live but these are easily available . Need a bunch of B/w films to stock .
Thank you so much .
Go for it! Caffenol was surprisingly easy, though not the cheapest DIY developer out there.
@@MatMarrash you mean there is another process cheaper than caffenol ? I can manage coffe and abscorbic acid
@@XFISHNCHIPSX there are plenty of DIY developers out there that are less expensive than caffenol, but often employing nastier chemicals.
@@MatMarrash i didn’t know that . I guess there is a lot to research to do . But all diy developing / processing chemicals will have their own properties hence variables .
Gonna be loads of trial errors for a first timer doing it without supervision
Now I believe spiderman is a photographer.
Good cheap fun! With a little tweaking you can get excellent results from Caffenol too.
Definitely a lot to tweak in my home brew but well worth looking into some more!
I see you are using an AP tank. That's my favorite too, I find the spiral with it's big guide tabs easier to load than Paterson, the lid leaks a little on that one too but not as bad as the old Patersons I have. I wonder how hard it would be to make a developing tank actually watertight?
Caffenol is interesting but my current budget developer of choice is the good old Rodinal. Dirt cheap (something like 15 euros for 500ml which will literally develop a hundred 120 films) and easy to use, especially in 1:100 dilution semi-stand (I develop for 50 minutes, agitation at the beginning and half way through, nice and relaxed for a lazy slob like myself), and long shelf life. Gives maybe a little grainier results than some but as I mostly shoot medium format it's not too bad, I like the look I get. For 35mm I usually use Pyrocat HD for less noticeable grain, another very economical developer with a long shelf life but not nearly as cheap as Rodinal.
I use Ilford Rapid Fixer 1:4 and it seems to last for a long time, I do a "snippet test" after every couple of films and it still clears the film in about 40 seconds after doing at least 20 films. I don't use a squeegee, I just do the final rinse in distilled water (I distill my own water) with a few drops of Ilfotol and hang to dry in the bathroom (I run hot water from the shower for a while first to get rid of the dust and raise the humidity to lessen curling of the film), no problems.
It'a a shame how everything gets more expensive all the time but fortunately black and white film is still reasonably priced, especially budget brands like Fomapan and my new favorite, Kentmere, (and I have a good stash of FP4 and HP5 from the time they were still affordable) and developing can be done quite cheap too. If I had to pay color film prices and send my film out for developing I would have to go digital.
Thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Curious about the temperatures for this recipe? Or did I miss that part?
I just made my own TF-2 and 510 Pyro. This looks fun. Might try it.
You're WAY ahead of the DIY Darkroom schedule, so I'd say have at it with caffenol! Would highly recommend a version with a restrainer if you enjoy Pyro.
@@MatMarrash I hope you do a Carbon transfer video or series. I’m hoping to test some out this weekend. Carbon tissue is made need to sensitize and expose. I don’t seem to find much on double transferring. I want to keep the correct orientation from negative to paper.
Amazing work.
Looks like there’s some bubbles on some of the images, though - is this something you’ve been able to eliminate through longer mixing of the coffee in the developer?
Great video as always. I'm vaguely curious about Caffenol because DIY stuff really does appeal to me. But TBH I have my process to dialed in with my two film developers at this point (HC-110 and Rodinal) that it feels like a step backwards to mess with Caffenol. Maybe I'll convince my buddy who just got into film to standardize on it so I can see what it's like :D
It's quinine for the fixer, I think. I could also be wrong. I think you can use stop bath as a fixer but I'm not certain. The tannic acid is what blacken the silver halide chrystals in the emulsion. I think. This is really cool: I may just restart photography. Thank you!
I've been actively using Caffenol for several years. It's wonderful for Harman Direct Positive paper.
Hey Mike this is good to know! Are there any alterations to the caffenol to cater it to paper?
Thanks for another great video Mat!!
Do you have links for your sources for your lab glassware, magnetic mixer....etc?
Thank you in advance!!
CC
I'm not an affiliate links kinda guy, but these were all add-ons to the cart during Amazon purchases to hit free shipping.
Looked like a lot of spotting or bubbles on the prints. Is that a rinsing issue with the printing or is it on the negatve/typical of coffee-developer?
Is it an AP tank? I thought that this tank needs 600ml for a 120 roll, is it ok even with just 500ml? I have one tank like this one, but never used because I thought I need to use more chemicals and it's a bit of a waste.
Good morning Sir. Enjoy your work as always. Is a diy Silver reclamation device on the radar?
Very impressed! That stuffs better than D76! Good images! Will these fade over time? Or are they permanenent? You've got me wanting to make my own caffeine! Thank you sir!😅
whenever i develop my images appear but the area around it doesnt go clear. what do i do?
Mat, it would be really helpful to see your method of making fixer and how you safely dispose of it.
I love caffeenol and do it all the time but i basicly switch the amount of ingredient of soda and coffee in my recipe. but i will sure try yours next time. also i use natriumthiosulfate as a DIY fixer. it works well and is cheaper than "real" fixer
You can use crystal washing soda as well, just use 2,7 times the amount as you would with dry washing soda. At our local supermarket you can't buy dry washing soda but you can buy crystal soda really cheap. The amount is not too critical, you just need to really increase the pH of your solution as a buffer.
Great results but just worried about all the marks on the negatives - are they water marks or something wrong with the development?
This is absolutely awesome. Some Kentmere 400 + this stuff is going to make for some CHEAP shooting. Question though, I've been using a DIY stop bath (watered down white vinegar) for my Ilfosol 3 for a while now. Does this need a stop bath or is it altogether unnecessary? Thanks!
Caffenol is just another developer. It does or does not need a stop bath as much as any other. Generally, stop bath is more important if you (1) have a short development time, so need to stop development fast. If you are using a long (12 min +) time, the continuing development in a water bath isn't going to make much difference, and (2) an acid stop bath protects the life of an acid (most types) fixer. Otherwise, caffenol isn't cheap. Folks say that as though using household chemical sources already on hand didn't cost anything, which is nonsense. If you use grocery store products like instant coffee and vitamin C tablets, check the actual expense of shopping those in a grocery versus buying stock chemicals to mix regular developers. The actual cost of preparing caffenol to develop a roll of film is several times the cost of preparing something like D-76, and it takes just about as much time and trouble to mix. Granted, you usually have to buy chemicals in amounts which make the initial purchases a lot more, but then that will also make normal developer sufficient to process dozens, maybe hundreds of rolls. Then add that caffenol (1) has no preservative, so once mixed, it is good to use for less than an hour, so you must mix fresh for every use, (2) it stinks to high heaven, (3) it has no restrainer, so it gives much higher levels of film base fog, and (4) it is "grainy" because it lacks the grain reducing solvent found in many developers. In summary, if you could buy caffenol from Freestyle in a foil envelope, you wouldn't touch it.
I’ve been experimenting with caffenol for a while with good results. I make my own washing soda from baking soda baked in an oven. I measure using a scale. Also make my own fixer.
how do you make your own fixer? if you dont mind sharing :)
@@luciatomas200 I use the Kodak F-24 formula.
500ml Water (at 125F/50C)
240g Sodium Thiosulfate
10g Sodium Sulfite (anhydrous)
22g Citric Acid
or
25g Sodium Bisulfite or substitute 23g Sodium Metabisulfite
Water to make 1 liter
Fix prints for 5 minutes each in two baths. Second bath becomes the first bath when expired replacing second bath with fresh fixer.
Hi, can I use baking soda instead of washing soda, or anyone detergent ?
Mat, I've seen on internet and currently use one coffeespoon of salt to avoid base fog :)
Thanks Manoel for the comment, there are a lot of variations on how to refine and cater your caffenol mix. An easy one is the addition of a iodized salt to act as a "restrainer".
Did I miss something? How did you make the rapid fixer? Also how long do you have to run water over the film to stop it? Can you use water to stop bath with D-76 or HC110?
Fixer used was premade as a 1+5 solution. For stopping film development I ran it under running water for 30-60 sec., and haven't used acid stop bath on film in almost 12 years.
@@MatMarrash Wow thanks Mat I'm going to try running water as a stop. if I don't have to use acid would be great. I just got my first 4x5 camera I can't wait to get the rest of the stuff I need so I can use it. Its been a few years since I used one.
Pretty cool. I'm sure you know this but The Photographers Formulary is a great chemical resource.
nice :)
what light table are you using at 12:47 and would you recommend it
Those are very old fluorescent x-ray viewing light boxes that I purchased off of Craigslist from a doctor that was essentially throwing them away. They're fine for viewing, but not recommended for DIY scanning and constant use.
@@MatMarrash good to know. They look rad as hell though
when will you make the video on DIY fixer?
Caffenol is nice developer for paper negatives
I'm glad there's so many varieties and uses for the stuff since I'm sitting on another 200g of this coffee that I have no plans to drink!
will it work if I make only 250ml ?
What are the artifacts that I see on the film? I like them, but am curious if it’s a result of caffenol or a quirk of the lens/camera. Thank you for posting!
The artifacts are a result of a batch of film that had backing paper issues, and some bubbling from not moving the developer around enough.
Is there a paper developer version of this?
save time, weight the ingredients together and stir them all at once, not one at a time.
the only time i used dishsoap, i got a totally blank roll. i just use my fingers to remove water and as i scan the negatives i ‘polish’ them with a microfiber.
If locating ascorbic acid locally is a problem, could one take vitamin C pills and grind them up into a powder and get the same effect?
will the fixer work for color as well as for b&w?
Thanks for the question! Color processes use a combination of Bleach and Fixer aka Blix. So this would partially work, but you'd also need to add some DIY film bleach to make it color film ready. That stuff is a lot more nasty, however, and should be mixed with caution.
@MatMarrash very informative, thanks!
Can I use baking soda and caffeine and no vitamin c or will it not develop a image ?
Do you use this same recipe for color film as well?
I would not recommend developing color film with caffenol as you will end up with a foggy B&W negative on a color film base. While possible, it's a bit of a waste of the expense of color film and the smell isn't too great etiher.
Mat, I would avoid using a squeegee on my film. That's a good way to scratch it. It's better to run the film through your fingers (without gloves).
This is maybe good general advice for beginners , but I think this man has been shooting film long enough to know this is a risk. Lots of people use these film squeegees regularly without issues. It's down to technique, pressure, and making sure your squeegee is in good shape and clean before you use it.
Like anything we've all got out own go-to techniques. I've had squeegees ruin film about as many times as my fingers have.
reading the old (german) instructions from agfa, it is recommended to just shake the container - an 8 progeny. Turning is not recommended as this will create a lot of bubbles which are not conducive to the development process. in the video you can see a lot of foam, so it seems to be true ;) one more thing, when rinsing, it's better to leave the lid on and only let a little water run down the middle. so that nothing runs out above but only laterally. your container will rinse it out really well. I do the last rinse with distilled water and only then use wetting agent. This should NOT foam under any circumstances.
DO NOT peel off the film afterwards, as this often results in fine scratches or damage to the sensitive gel. hang it up with weights in a dust-free environment and let it dry.
good development takes time, so we better take our time. instead of scratching the film at the end because of some impatience.
At the end of the photos you can see a lot of small flaws. These are, for example, the bubbles from before, the shaking, unclean distribution, peeling off and and and. There are so many ways to damage your own beautiful photos on film, so make it perfect from the start.
Have fun and thank you for your video :)
Love it, my first developer I use to do! But question;” why is your film so grainy and scratched?” I know some like that look I’ve got no problem with that. But it’s ilford pan asa 50. My hp5 plus 400 or Fomapan 200 don’t even look like that till I push it to 1600 asa. Just wondering mate💭
As it turns out, Caffenol and Ilford Pan F are known to not like each other very much. Literally any other combination will agitate and develop better than these two. >__
Can you use Soda? Or Orange Juice? Or monster
What's all the streaking.... Scratches down the film? Are they caused by the squeegee ?
Whats a few huff's amongst friends ;)
At some point can you do a segment on the pros and cons of staining developers? They seem to have something of a cult following, particularly among large format photographers. But they have toxicity issues and work best with alkaline fixers. Is it worth the trouble? Are you better off mixing your own, or buying it pre-made?
Doesn't the magnetic stirrer introduce a lot of air into the solution? That seems like a non-starter for most developers.
Great video. More please
Fun fact: Caffenol made without vitamin C is a staining developer. I've used it a number of times (from 2003 to 2005) before I started adding vitamin C. It's slower working, but the stain helps really smooth out the grain for optical printing (does nothing for scanning, however).
Fixer pH having any effect on stain in developers like ABC Pyro or Pyrocat HD (or original Caffenol) is a myth, BTW. The stain is formed and set into the gelatin during development. Alkaline fixers do no harm, but are not necessary for staining developers.
@@SilntObsvr Learned something new. Thanks
Staining developers very much do have a cult following, and there's going to be a several part series on these mythical concoctions. Until then, I'd recommend reading one of my favorite articles on the subject: www.largeformatphotography.info/chasing-magic-bullet.html
As a long time staining developer user, I can confirm that there's not much to worry about with fixers. Alkaline fixers are cool, but not necessary for suitable results with pyro and other staining developers. Heck I accidentally fixed some sheets of film in fixer that had extra hardener added to it and didn't lose any noticeable amount of stain.
@@MatMarrash Last night I read the magic bullets article, as recommended. The big takeaway for me is that I really should check the alignment of my enlargers.
On the developer question a bit of history is in order. For many years I used nothing but Tri-X developed in HC110 stock 1 part to 32. Calibration charts in the appendix of The Negative correlated with what I was seeing. Life was easy and the results were good. Then I took a hiatus from film photography for a couple of decades. Things have changed.
Kodak reformulated HC110 and priced Tri-X a dollar a sheet higher than HP5+. Today's Tri-X is different than the 1990s product. Even the notch code is changed. Dektol had QC issues. I decided to search for a slightly different approach.
Going forward film developers would be compounded at home. I'm using Ilford paper developer and Hypam fixer (I always hate mixing powdered fixers). I've pretty much settled on D23 and FX55 for film. I have bulk chemicals to make just about anything, including Pyro and Pyrocat, but want to concentrate on the two I mentioned. Everything is processed in my Jobo for consistency.
But the cult of 510Pyro and Pyrocat HD still intrigues me. It seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a very slight improvement, if any.
Once again, thanks for focusing on this area of darkroom work.
So.. how about that fixer you mentioned for cheaper?...
Where is the Fixer video?
Sir! This similar to Metol?😮
What was the temperature? ?🌡️?
Hey David, thanks for the question. Standard developer temp ranges recommended, I like to keep all developers at 20C when possible.
You know I never squeegee! Looks really scary. Bad experiences in my youth scared me and my films. Now living in a soft water area I just give it a good shake on the reel then hang it up.
Super jealous of your soft water. I have to bust out the distilled stuff and add a dribble of photo flo, and run it through that bath a few times lengthwise before hanging.
I have been hooked on with that idea to use coffee for film development - and I was in such mood till I see the scanned negatives... All these white spots and lines in the frame does not look good to me...
Nice video. Great information but please don't speed up. We as your audience are very patient to learn this. Thank you for a great video. Please don't be offended it's just everyone does that and it's not needed, hence the purpose of a how to video. 😊
Caffenol can yield very good results, but it is not as consistent as other developers because the main ingredient is not always the same (although you can stick to a brand and you are settled if you make some testing). You made a few mistakes that let the developer get foamy in the tank: harsh agitation and not letting the solution settle for at least half an hour. Caffenol does not have much developing capacity so you have to let it work, you cannot expect it to develop a roll of film in six minutes. It is very important to add a pinch of potassium bromide to kill the fogging. And yes, it can develop succesfully even after half a day, it does not get oxidised so fast.
But by no means caffenol is good for the enviroment or cheap: there are many formulas that require less water, less chemicals and have much more capacity than caffenol, and this is why no serius photographer use it: not because is a noveltie, is because is expensive and messy.
If anybody is curious, it have a resemblance to HC-110: no acutance, no edge effect, quite fine grain when bromide is used thanks to its restrainer capabilities and can yield a very very long dynamic range. Longer than POTA, I would say. It is good for portraits and candid photos. If you're curious, go for it. And the smell is not so bad. Selenium is bad, caffenol is just funny.
I think I know where you got that Apron! I too love Caffenol for my 4x5 work.
It's a VERY nice apron, far better than those from the craft store! ;)
I think your squeegee put some lines down on that film...
Does it work with regular film? Not black n white
No
I don't know why, but after the first times i began to ...like that silly smell :)
I develop film with Tylenol
I got a headache just thinking about this!
Fun video but I guess I'm a party pooper I will stick with my HC110. To many years using it. Waiting for the DIY fixer though.
Can't fault you for sticking with one of the most consistently good developers ever! I've souped thousands of rolls and sheets with HC-110 having worked as the B&W tech at a camera store. It just works, doesn't matter the film or what you need to do to it.