Developing B&W films using household instance coffee

[stingOM]

Anyone here tried this before?

http://www.caffenol.org/

[Attila]

Yes, Bill published here several times.

[Katastrofo]

Actually, Jules is the pioneer here when it comes to coffee, but yes, that is a great
site on the subject.

one of my better results with CCM

Mamiya C2

[ForenSeil]

I've also already done it some times.
Pure coffee+soda does not work very well but in combination with ascobic acid it's as good as an comercial developer.
Worked great for me with APX100. Some other films like Lucky SHD or Efke IR820 have problems with this developer.
With faster films you should add/get some potassium bromide (maybe you can get it in a pharmacy), it improves the "fog resistance" of the film.


APX100 in Caffenol-C


APX100 in Caffenol-C

Many people are also using homemade "PaRodinal". It can be made from acetaminophen(also sometimes called paracetamol or para etc.) and a sodium hydroxide. It has the big plus that it works with every film and you can use Rodinal dev. times.. I've also tried it:


Superpan 200 in Parodinal


Efke IR 820 (with 715 IR Filter) in Parodinal

Overall they are great for having fun! Especially Caffenol makes a lot of fun brewing it . But if you wan't best quality and contant results, buy some Xtol, D76 or any other modern developers, they produce a wider tonal range, finer grain and better sharpness. They should be also less expensive after a few rolls.