Addicted to Coffee

EdBray

EdBray

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Edward Bray
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What can I say, since being advised by Alan to try Caffenol I have really enjoyed the process of making my own developer, my first attempt was with Caffenol CH which is designed for ISO400 films and above and the results were okay, but not any better than I could have got with an off the shelf developer albeit with a bit more fun.

I had been taking some images of my Grandson who was playing on the floor using a Pentax LX with my SMC 50mm f1.4 lens (at f1.4 1/60sec) I was using the Ultrafine Extreme ISO400 film which as seen in an earlier thread hasn't got the finest grain when processed normally, but it has a good tonal range and offers a cheap option for taking non too important images, that is, until I tried using the Caffenol CL formula processed using a semi-stand technique as this is supposed to give better tonality and smoother, finer grain.

Wow! what a difference :banana: the film is beautifully processed and the grain is not so obtrusive as it was previously. This developer and process has now changed my perception of this film and the Caffenol and I will now use it for a lot more than I would have previously.

The formula I used was:

500ml of distilled water
8g Sodium Carbonate
5g Vitamin C
0.6g Potassium Bromide
20g Instant Coffee

The Semi-stand technique I used was:

5 mins prewash
65 mins developer with agitation as follows:
30 seconds initially..................................count up count down
3 inversions after an additional 2 minutes (2.5 mins) (62.5 mins)
3 inversions after an additional 4 minutes (6.5 mins) (58.5 mins)
3 inversions after an additional 10 minutes (16.5 mins) (48.5 mins)
3 inversions after an additional 20 minutes (36.5 mins) (28.5 mins)
empty tank after (65 mins) (0 mins)

3 water washes to get rid of the evil smelling dev
30 seconds alkali stop
water wash
6 minutes of alkali fix
5 minutes of washing with multiple changes of water

I then dried the film in my film dryer before scanning at 4800dpi on my Epson V750 using Silverprint AI Studio software in 16bit greyscale.

So onto the results, the first image is a 100% crop of the full sized scanned image (no PP at all) which would measure 195" x 132" (16' 3" x 11') at 72dpi or 47" x 32" (3' 11" x 2' 8")at 300 dpi.

35mmUltrafineExtreme100crop.jpg


The following image is a resized (to 1200 pixel on the width) image of the whole frame including the borders. This has had some PP with some slight localised tonal changes in the brightest areas (using Nik Silver Efex Pro2) and some USM in CS5 and other than a few dust spots cloned and a slight vignetting at the corners there are no other changes.

UE4001CL.jpg
 
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Wonderful. I've always been curious about the use of Caffenol & instant coffeee to develop films! Thats a lovely print, shot with 400ISO film? My own prints usually are muchhh grainier, but that could have something to do with my camera?
 
Hi Ashly Rose, thanks for your comment, the Caffenol has made a huge difference to the way in which the grain of this film is handled, I can't wait to try a roll of Kodak Tri-X (normally my go to film for ISO 400 stuff).

As for your comment about the grain being attributable to your camera, unless the meter is under-reading and/or the shutter being a bit sluggish (and thus overexposing the negatives) it is much more likely that it is your choice of developer, as this can make a huge difference to the grain and grain structure.

Out of curiosity, what camera are you using for your film work?
 
Thanks for putting this up, I've been looking for some decent information on Caffenol with no success. Really nice looking picture. The small amount of grain visible is nicely unobtrusive. I'll have to have a go myself!

Ashly, your camera will have nothing to do with grain, it's more to do with the film, exposure and, as Edward says, the development. Scans also play a part in it, especially when it's not done by you.
 
Looking good Ed, you know Caffenol makes sense! Incidentally your recipe looks a lot stronger than mine, if you're using that as a basis for CCH I'd expect a fair bit more grain than I get.
 
Thanks Alan, I just used the recipes here the only changes I made was to the amount (all mine were made to 500ml) and in the CL recipe I used 0.6 PBr rather than the 0.5 in the recipe.

What is your CH recipe?
 
I missed your 500ml, I work to the same recipe but with a diluted form so for 500ml I'd use half your ingredients. Times are extended 40% for box speed, seems to work nicely and can be kept for a week once mixed.
 
EdBray said:
Out of curiosity, what camera are you using for your film work?
Click to expand...

I'm using a Phenox DC303K. I've been using the same camera since I was fourteen! I've had a look & everything is working fine altho believe it or not, this camera does not actually have a metre. Thank you for the suggestions. I've heard of various techniques whilst dev'ing that can reduce grain tho? Might be worth considering looking into.
 
Joenail said:
Ashly, your camera will have nothing to do with grain, it's more to do with the film, exposure and, as Edward says, the development. Scans also play a part in it, especially when it's not done by you.
Click to expand...

Mm I just wondered if it had something to do with the quality of the glass but you're probably right! I've never scanned or had my negatives scanned before, only printed in the darkroom. The films I developed the last Thursday haven't been scanned yet but having used different chemicals to those that were continuously used at college by many students, the results might be much improved!? Shall have to see I guess haha alternatively I'll consider changing which film I'm working with.
 
Various grain reducing developers are available, but you lose a bit of sharpness with them. If you're using ID-11 diluting it 1+2 or 3 with less agitation & more dev time will decrease grain. HP5 isn't too grainy at box speed though, so you should be fine with it!
 
Joenail said:
Various grain reducing developers are available, but you lose a bit of sharpness with them. If you're using ID-11 diluting it 1+2 or 3 with less agitation & more dev time will decrease grain. HP5 isn't too grainy at box speed though, so you should be fine with it!
Click to expand...

Mmm I read somewhere that less agitation & slightly extending the dev time can reduce grain, perhaps I'll give that a try next time, just need to finish shooting another roll of a film & I can do another dev. Thank you. I'm jealous of @EdBray's wonderful results!
 
IamAshlyRose said:
Mmm I read somewhere that less agitation & slightly extending the dev time can reduce grain, perhaps I'll give that a try next time, just need to finish shooting another roll of a film & I can do another dev. Thank you. I'm jealous of @EdBray's wonderful results!
Click to expand...

I've definitely noticed less grain with rodinal by going from 1+25 to 1+50 and using the correspondingly longer dev times. Agitation is the same at 1st 30 seconds and then 3 or 4 inversions every min.
 
Someone I know advised me to dilute ID-11 1+6 (or something similar) & leave it developing in the fridge for 24 hours. I can imagine that would reduce grain quite a bit. It'd be hard to accurately control the temp. & time though!
 
Edit: I completely naffed this cmnt up on my phone & I've lost the train of thought that I was following earlier hahaha!

I was in Waterstones the other day & I wonder, are there any books out there on various dev'ing techniques & experiments? I'd be interested in reading one but the Waterstones store in Kingston didn't stock much on film :( I'm curious about finding out more about Caffenol.
 
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Any what? :thinking:
 
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