caffenol

Fomapan 400 in Caffenol-STD – Experiments and Results. And Large Format

dirk — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:11:22 +0000

This is an article of fine art figure photographer Scott Nichol from Allentown, PA, USA. You can visit his blog at http://www.silverystars.com/somanystars/. The Original article can be found here.

I wanted to experiment with the recipe for a coffee-based film developer commonly called Caffenol. Dirk Essl at caffenol.org does an excellent job of keeping track of development times for lots of different films that can be developed with Caffenol. However, most of the films that have been developed using this unique developer were films like Ilford HP5+ and Delta 400, neither of which I had any 4×5 stock at the moment. I did, however, have a good supply of Fomapan 400 and seeing as how development times for Fomapan and the Ilford films were similar, I decided to have a go at it. Initially, I decided just to follow the recommendation for Ilford Delta 400 of 9 minutes at 68°F.

I made 3 bracketed exposures at the old Bethlehem Steel site and developed the sheets with continuous agitation for the first minute, then 8 inversions in 10 seconds every 30 seconds. This is my typical 4×5 sheet development agitation method. In my experience it produces negatives with even development and good contrast.

When I pulled the negatives out of the developer, I was pleasantly surprised to see a well-defined image. The negatives were a little thinner than I would want, but there was most likely a usable image. I let the negatives dry and then scanned them with my Epson V700 scanner. The histogram for each of these scans shows that the densest parts of the negative are right around middle grey. The under-exposed negative had a white point of almost 150 and a good amount of detail in the shadow areas. I think that the shortest exposure in the bracket (1/500 sec) just didn’t capture enough information for this particular development formula. This negative lacks contrast and would prove a difficult negative to manage.

Original Scan Data

Ultimately I chose to use the under exposed shot (1/125 sec) from the bracket. After I pulled the scan into Photoshop, adjusted the contrast and did some light dodging and burning, I was left with a quite usable image.

Bethlehem Steel - Fomapan 400 developed in Caffenol-STD

However, I still wasn’t satisfied with the density of the negatives and wanted to try again with an extended development time. I shot two more sets of images bracketing two shots each with one exposed as metered and another exposed one stop down. Development this time was to be 12 minutes at 68°F and the same agitation method (continuous for the first minute, then 8 inversions every 30 seconds).

Original Scan Data

The resulting negatives were a bit more dense and gave a white point of 179 in the scanner’s histogram. So, additional development did help in building up the negative’s density. Next time, I might go as long as 14 minutes or maybe try the developer at 70°F to try and get some more negative density. But otherwise, I would say this was a very successful experiment!

Haines Mill - Fomapan 400 developed in Caffenol-STD

Stars and Stripes - Fomapan 400 developed in Caffenol-STD

Formula/Ingredients:
Folger’s Instant Coffe (45g)
Solgar Vitamin C Crystals (20g)
Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (24g)

Mixing Instructions:
First dissolved the washing soda in 750ml distilled water, then added the coffee. Finally added the vitamin C very slowly with constant, vigorous stirring. In my first attempt, I warmed the water a bit before mixing. Second attempt was mixed at room temperature.

About Scott:
Schooled as a photographer and practiced in traditional printmaking, his work is at once cinematic and somewhat lyrical, a story left to the imagination of the viewer. Working in both landscapes and studio, he studies the figure and its purposeful place and within an ideal frame. Within this frame lies the emotion and the contemplative nature of the solitary figure.

When asked to describe his style, Scott says, “I tend to approach my work with a simple pre-visualization, an image that I see in my mind that serves as a rough sketch of what I’d like to accomplish with my subject. This vision often changes once the model and I meet face to face. Most models are highly creative and I tend to feed off of their energy, allowing ideas to flow and form freely. It’s truly a wonderful collaboration and I owe a debt of thanks to all of the women who have helped me to create these beautiful photos.”

Scott has published one Book and two more are in the works.

We are still here!

dirk — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:33:15 +0000

just a quick post to tell everyone of our readers that we are still alive and keep experimenting with caffenol in all variants. I recently got an email about developing glas negatives in caffenol, so interesting times are coming. For the moment I will leave you with a picture one of our readers sent me. Maybe you want to guess what it is and how the picture was made.

As usual, if you have comments regarding this post, successful or even unsuccessful results of your caffenol experiments, or just nice pictures to share, feel free to give me a shout using the contact form.

No related posts.

Merry Christmas!

dirk — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:49:52 +0000

I would like to wish everyone of you a Merry, Merry Christmas. Thanks for all the comments, lovely pictures and ideas that you sent me in the last year. I hope I will have some more time next year to fill this blog with new recipes and experiments around caffenol.

See you next year,
Dirk

Kodak Portra 100T

dirk — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:34:48 +0000

While sorting out my Camera Cabinet I found a Roll of exposed Kodak Portra 100T (Tungsten). This film is not available new anymore, used prices of expired film go from 6 to 20 EUROs.

I had no clue when, what and with which camera I shot it. That’s one of the things I like with analog film: You never really know what you get until you develop the roll. I developed it in Delta-STD for 14 minutes and it came out quite nicely, but most of the pictures where badly composed, under or overexposed, so I can only show 3 examples. From seeing the pictures I could identify the camera: My lovely Russian Rangefinder Zorki 4. I had no Lightmeter at the time, so exposure was off on most shots. Auto Levels in Photoshop gives a nice brownish toning, but that doesn’t work on all pictures, so I converted one of them to ‘real’ B&W.

You can buy new Kodak Portra films at macodirect.de the 160NC comes out beautiful in caffenol.

If you have other rare film, or normal film or any other film that you developed in caffenol, feel free to send me your results so I can post them here on www.caffenol.org.

Caffenol for paper prints

dirk — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:29:38 +0000

It’s been a long time since there was an article here on caffenol.org and I know that some of you are really looking forward to see more pictures of prints developed in Caffenol. I have received very nice results from József, a Hungarian mechanical engineer, coffee addict and lover of analogue b&w photography and good wines.

József writes:

Caffenol came to my life as a crazy idea. Some months ago I found a short description of Caffenol in a Hungarian photography forum. It was enough to wake up the curiosity in me so I began to search for additional info about it. Then I decided to try… The first attempt was an expired (and forgot in the camera) Fuji Superia 400 colour negative. It worked, I had very promising result so I knew that I must go on with this coffee soup. But I found the paper development more exciting.

I’ve got hundreds of old Forte papers (some are 30 years old) to play so I used some of these for the first test. I chose some “unusable” frames to enlarge with very high contrast because I expected Caffenol to be a compensating developer. I was right, caffenol is absolutely suitable for hard negs. The following sample shows what I want to describe…

Ok, Forte was just to play. The second round was a serious work with my favourite paper: Fomatone MG Clasic. I have to say Fomatone loves coffee! It’s simply amazing. I love its tones (even in regular paper developer) and colours, because there’s no black and no white! (See befpass-1200.jpg in the attachment.) I tried Fomabrom Variant as well but it needs more time to find the suitable settings for this paper.

Technical details: I used a general recipe for papers: 900 ml water (I use distilled water) 12 tsp instant coffee, 6 tsp soda and 3 tsp vit C. Temp was 20 C. Since Fomatone is a variable contrast paper I used #2 filter from Ilford Multigrade filter set. I set the exposure for a standard 2 min development. As you mentioned Caffenol exhausts quite quickly so development time must be increased by 30 sec after each whole paper or 1 min after every second papers. I think the exhausting depends on the number of developed paper, not he time. You can work with the soup for hours if you don”t develop too much papers.

At last my personal experience and advice: I recommend a wash directly after the development with the same temperature to prevent the clarity of your stop bath and fixer. This means, if you use stop bath, insert a tray between the developer and the stop bath filled with clear 20 C water. When you develop the 3rd paper, check the development after 2 min and decide if you need to increase development time. You have to take the paper out of coffee if you want to see anything. After 6-8 papers or if development time exceeds 4 min it’s recommended to mix a new soup. Agitation is important. I agitated continuously. When the development time is increased, the agitation should be continuous at least for the first 2 minutes.

I have to say I am very impressed by the results, and it matches my experience using caffenol as a paper developer: the amount of sheets counts, not the time of using caffenol as developer.

József is reachable through his website on http://www.designengineer.hu

Pictures from the sea (literally, as far as fixer concerns)

dirk — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:16:54 +0000

Today I will post some pictures, that show how much fun experimenting with Caffenol can be.

Igor says:

“These pictures were taken about 3 years ago and were developed without any professional equipment in a pan. we were sitting in a dark bathroom stiring the film in caffenol with a spoon:) that is why those pictures are not so technically perfect. But it was all about fun. Also I should add that sea water was used as a fixer here.”

Yes, indeed those are far from being technically perfect, and I would not recommend using this technique for everyday purpose, and you should really use real fixer to make your pictures last long enough to show them to your grandchildren. But from an artistic point of view I think those are very good examples and show how much can be done with very little equipment. Just don’t hesitate to show what you are doing, in my opinion caffenol should be fun. And if the fun goes as far as fulfilling all your B&W development needs, that’s even better.

Check out my recipes, or the ones from Reinhold and you will have hours of fun. Or be crazy enough to develop you own recipes and be even more crazy and send me your results so everybody can have fun by looking at your wonderful pictures

More, but not caffenol related pictures from Igor can be found on his Flickr stream

I cannot repeat myself often enough, but if you have pictures, recipes, or even unsuccessful experience with caffenol, feel free to contact me.

No related posts.

Rollei Retro 100 Tonal

dirk — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:30:08 +0000

Recently I wrote an article about an extremely cheap film, the wonderful Lucky SHD 100. Today I will post some images from a film that is on the more expensive side: Rollei Retro 100 Tonal. With EURO 5.36 It’s still cheaper then Ilford HP5, but more expensive then Ilford Delta 100 which is EURO 4.99 and shares the same boxspeed.

The Rollei Retro 100 TONAL is a medium speed black-and-white orthopanchromatic film with highest standard in grain quality and sharpness and highest dmax and a beautiful tonal range.
This film is the best choice for photographic applications like portraits, landscape, architecture, and duplication works.
Because of its clear support it is a best choice as slide material.

The emulsion is coated onto a transparent synthetic base providing excellent long-term and dimensional stability. This films has to be loaded in the camera and unloaded in subdued light. Before and after exposition always store the films in the black light-tight film-container. Not following these advices can cause light infiltration through the base material to the exposed pictures.

So what exactly is the difference between a panchromatic and a orthopanchromatic film?

Orthopanchromatic film differentiates between reds and blacks, but reds come out darker then on panchromatic films.
Because blue light adds more to the exposure (reds are partly missing), hard shadows get lightened up a little as they are brightened up from blue skies.
Lips in portraits are darker, so there is no need of additional Lipstick.
Skin blemishes are not accented as in pan films
Haze and atmospheric perspective gets accentuated, so layered mountain shots get more depth because each layer will be brighter and bluer.
Blue skies com out brighter

In former times there where more orthopanchromatic films, so shooting on Rollei Retro 100 might give your shots a nostalgic touch. Nowadays the only orthopanchromatic films are Fuji Neopan Acros and Rollei Retro 100. All the rest is panchromatic.

This film has a clear film base and should be pre washed before developing to get rid of the antihalation layer. I might experiment with a pre wash in coffee later.

Let’s have a look at the pictures, developed in Delta-STD for 15 mins.

O" title=">O" />

As usual, if you want to show your caffenol images here on www.caffenol.org, want to share your knowledge, or (even unsuccessful) results of your experiments, feel free to give me shout using the contact form.

1 year caffenol.org – a flashback

dirk — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:30:19 +0000

Back in October 2009 I read some crazy stuff about developing expired color film in Coffee and Washing Soda, and was blown away about the results you could get with cheap instant coffee and cheap washing soda.
So I thought I’ll give it a try.
During Summer I was hunting for old cameras on several flea markets and already had done some shootings with them, but giving the films to the lab and letting them scan them.
After I read about this ‘caffenol’ thing, I bought a daylight Developing Tank from ebay, an Agfa Rondinax 35, some coffee and some soda.
I loaded some Fujicolor 1600 into my Zorki 4 and walked around through my flat. I don’t remember exactly which recipe I used and had no idea if it would work at all.

This is one of the first pictures I ever did in caffenol:

“Scanned” with a Pentax K10D using a self built slide duplicator made out of a box of Kellogs and black tape.It worked. And it hit me in a way, that most of things I shoot is now on Film, developed in caffenol. Of course in a much more improved way with my or your recipes. And even as sucessful to have a picture featured in the flickr blog:

So far, there are 41 articels on this site, meaning roughly a new article every 1 1/2 weeks.
29,628 People have visited this site so far, on average there are 220 Visitors each day.
www.caffenol.org is listed in wikipedia and is usually in the top 3 if you search for caffenol in Google.

So I would like to thank all of you that advertise my blog, comment on my pictures on flickr, and all of you that send me wonderful pictures developed in caffenol. All of you will be published, I promise. A special thanks goes to Reinhold from caffenol.blogspot.com who pushes caffenol to a level that competes with commercial developers and tries to standardise the way we measure and mix up our soup.

Thank you all. And Happy Birthday www.caffenol.org

Happy New Year!

Rollei RPX 400 (was:Retro 400S)

dirk — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:11:27 +0000

Correction! I mixed up negatives while scanning, And just found out that This Film is NOT Rollei Retro 400S, but Rollei RPX 400 instead.

Apologies from my side, for the moment, I do not recommend using Rollei Retro 400S for caffenol, because my results are somewhat inconsistent with this film. One came out totally black, and one came out totally underdeveloped. I have just loaded another 400S into my trusty Olympus XA and will try again.

Another Testbatch from MACO to test development times in caffenol arrived and this time it is a panchromatic film from Rollei, the Rollei Retro 400S, or RR400S for short. I was not so confident that this film works, as I once tried a film from a single use camera from Rollei which should feature the same film, but this film came out totally black. The film comes in a Twinpack and if you buy the set of 5 packs (10 films) it costs EURO 2,45 per roll, which is acceptable, I think.

It can be applicated for any general purpose and is suitable for almost every professional tasks. Owing fine grainess, the exposure range of practically one f=stop over- and underexposure capacity, prints can be achieved with an excellent sharpness and contrast, as well as high edge sharpness.

It really is relabeled Agfa APX 400, but 30 cents cheaper and it is available as 120 film as well. Results are more then acceptable, developed in Delta-STD for 14 minutes. The only Lesson I have learned is that I really need a Lenshood for my Tamron 28-80. Here are the pictures for your enjoyment:

I cannot repeat myself often enough, but if you have pictures, recipes, or even unsuccessful experience with caffenol, feel free to contact me.

No related posts.

Lucky SHD 100 – film can not be cheaper

dirk — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:03:38 +0000

I got a testbatch from MACO of Lucky SHD 100, a very popular Film used by Photography students in the UK. No wonder, this film is almost cheaper then bread. If it could be eaten, I would. If you buy a set of 10 Films, you pay about EURO 1,62 per film.

“Lucky New SHD 100, with high clarity, wide exposure latitude, and good physical characteristics, can meet various requirements such as high-temperature and high-humidity. It features processed functions of resisting adhesion and scratch, and widely used in portrait, adv, landscape, journey and art photography etc.”

I had a nice phone conversion with MACO, talking about this film and they state, that the emulsion itself is indeed very good with fine grain and good resolution, but the film base is somewhat below the standard quality and the Film is missing an anti-halo layer. However, this can be used to create creative effects if you shoot with the sun from the side or shoot directly into the sun.

Here are my examples, shot at EI 100, developed for 14 minutes in Delta-STD:

on the last two pictures you can see, what happens if you shoot directly into the sun. I quite like the effect.

Reinhold also has an article about Lucky SHD 100 in Caffenol-C-M