Caffenol problems?

Discussion in 'Black and White' started by marios_lizides, Apr 17, 2014.

  1. What do you use to raise the pH in pools? In this country (Australia) it is sodium carbonate. Washing soda.
  2. Soda Ash, - which is basically the same thing except that Washing Soda typically contains more moisture. For that reason soda ash would be better for Caffenol than washing soda but you'd want probably want to use less. However, I know that some people bake their washing soda to get the moisture out so it's not clear to me if soda ash could be used as a 1 to 1 substitute.
  3. Here is the last set of formula I used during the Caffenol "experiments". All mix's are from Rheinhold's blog. Note that 24 g of Arm & Hammer washing soda are used in any mix (# in red) for my 450ml Nikor tanks. Caffenol Data Frame.jpg I believe the box of A&H was a bit over 3 lbs, so that is a lot of carbonate in the box. Being in tropical Hawaii, the box had to be wrapped in a plastic bag .... better yet would be a sealed Tupperware (or similar) container. I still have a large recycled protein mix container with A&H, which is used in my Pyro mixes (5.25g per roll).
    Sharp eyes will note that the three mixes are almost the same, the addition of common table salt (iodized) being the difference.
    Aloha, Bill
  4. Sheesh.
    If you're going to weigh stuff that accurately, you could make up a real developer!;)

    Seriously though. You could ditch the instant coffee and replace it with a fraction of a gram of Phenidone to get a similar result.

    Also bin the KBr, replace the washing soda with one third the quantity of borax, and you're getting close to a phenidone-ascorbate version of D-76. It just needs a slack-handful of sodium sulphite throwing in and you're good to go with a mix that'll last for half-a-dozen films. Not a one-shot wonder.
  5. Joe. Why not go for an ascorbate phenidone developer and ditch the sulfite? Not nearly as much fun of course but for serious people much more predictable.
  6. These days the only film I would use a Caffenol mix on (CCM) would be Rollei Retro-80s. Have no idea why it works so well. Aloha, Bill
  7. Thanks for the tip, Bill. I bought some but struggled with it even at ISO 50. Have used caffenol but on other films. Mostly Polypan-F.
  8. Surely weighing out one chemical is just as much 'fun' as weighing out any other? Or just as much of a chore if repeated many times.
    Unless maybe one of those chemicals is nitroglycerine or nitrogen triiodide!

    Ditching the sulphite in a Phenidone-ascorbate developer would greatly reduce its working life and increase its unpredictability. Then you're back with a wasteful one-shotter like caffenol.

    0.25g of Phenidone versus a tablespoonful of instant coffee. I suspect pricewise there's not a lot of difference. And just as much 'fun' to be had from making up the solution.
    Last edited: May 9, 2021
  9. Those (Rollei) Retro S films are raw material coming from Agfa Gevaert in Mortsel, near Antwerpen (Belgium) and is aviation type film hence the high contrast and lower speed. I am using the Retro 400(S) on iso 160 which is about the real speed in a low contrast type developer like R.L.C. (Rollei Low Contrast) which is the Film Low Gamma receipt made for many years by Udo Raffay ( a known European chemical engineer, died however), now by his assistant Mr. Suvatlar in Hamburg. Caffenol LC is also a low contrast type developer so it will work too on these films.

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