If coffee is good for me (and it is)…. it must be good for my film, right? I had heard about developing film in coffee back when I went to RIT but have never got around to trying it- until now.
My first test rolls were Kodak 400TX in both 35mm and in 120. The 35mm (above image) was shot in my Leica MP with a 28mm lens and the 120 was shot with the Cuboid using a F72 pinhole.
The method I used for mixing the developer can be found here on Digital Truth. My agitation was 1st minute constant and then 3 inversions per minute till end of time which for 400TX I chose 30 minutes at 70 F. After looking at my test negatives I think they are over-developed by quite a bit but my Imacon had no issue making a good scan. The increased development was a result I believe of the ascorbic acid added in the Caffenol C recipe. If I were to do 400TX again with this recipe I would go for around 20 minutes but I would need to run a test to confirm that time.
If you google Caffenol C or just Caffenol you will find a wide range of opinions regarding this processing technique. The grain is large and sharp and the film is VERY low contrast but that can be a good thing for scanning.
So why would you want to do this?
- It’s cheap.
- It is enviromentally sound.
- It has a unique visual quality from other developers I’ve used… a “vintage” quality.
- It produces negatives that are “easy” to scan.
- It can be done on almost all films with varying degrees of success.
- It’s fun!
If you want to see a larger version of the picture above click here. Please note it is a large file.
Next test…. Ilford Fp4+ in Caffenol C using the time suggestion also found on Digital Truth. The 400TX I used for this test is a bit too fast for my current needs and from what I can gather from other users of Caffenol C Fp4+ is a good choice… stay tuned.
One last note… it smells like hell!
Viva la Revolution!
Link to article on RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) web site:
A Use for that Last Cup of Coffee: Film and Paper Development
Figital Revolution 
Hi Steven,
last weekend I had my first experiance with Caffenol-C. I souped a C-41 colorneg film and I’am very much pleased with the results. More Vitamin C could help keeping the grain smaller and probably gives some more contrast. My mixture definately contains more vitamin C. And yes, it was scanned easily. You may consider to have a look at a sample, more tech details given with the desciption of the image.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagesfrugales/4186023342/
Best regards from Heidelberg/Germany – Reinhold
Steve,
I have been using the Caffenol C at 14 min.@ 72 with very good results. Your samples looked very good.
Agree with you on the smell!
I need to know if this method is archival. Will using coffee damage the film, or shorten the life of the film? Has anyone developed sheet film with this method?
As long as you fix and wash correctly it is perfectly stable. Yes sheet film works fine as welll in something like a yankee tank.