Kodachrome and Caffenol

480sparky · Joined: 16 Apr 2013 Posts: 355 Location: Iowa

So I decided to use all that old Kodachrome I was given and experiment with souping it in caffenol. Yesterday, I bought some instant coffee and washing soda, but could not find any vitamin C in crystal form, so I decided to forge ahead without it.

I loaded up a roll of Kodachrome 40 (made for 3200K lighting) and fired off 6 frames, exposing it at ASA 10. I developed it at 68°F for 9 minutes, followed by several rinses. The caffenol came out MUCH darker than it went in, so I was hoping the remjet got dissolved.

I fixed with normal Ilford fixer for 5 minutes, and there was just a touch of remjet still clinging to the film. Several swipes after a thorough rinse removed a bit more of the (very soft) remjet.

What I ended up with was some very faint (negative) images on orangish film base. This is pretty much what I expected.

Not bad for my first caffenol job, 'specially considering the film expired 25 years ago.

I am doling out the film in short sections just to characterize it and plan my next move. Hopefully, it will only take 3 or 4 full rolls before I can start getting usable images.