Kaffenol 327

To develop 1 film 35mm you need the following and do like this, its easy its nearly as quick as store-bought developers (quicker, since I have a 2 hour trip to the nearest store selling such stuff....)

First the ingredients, you need :

Washing Soda (Crystal Soda, Na2CO3) bought at the mall as an old fashioned cleaning agent.

Ascorbic Acid powder (E300), bought in a health-food store, a pharmacy, or a industrial food-stoff supplier.

Instant Coffee (cheapest, darkest brand, "brazero") bought at an office supply store they are the cheapest brand, if not price-wise!

You also need a little tempered water, glacial acid and fixer-bath solution.

The development of films follow the generic rules as with any other developer.


Ingredients, recipe
Kaffenol 327

Water 250 ml
Washing Soda : 3 teaspoos
Ascorbic acid : 2 teaspoons
Instant coffee : 7 teaspoons (better 2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon)
Potassium bromide 10% 2,4 ml

Water to 320 ml (11 oz)


Start with 250 ml of water, dissolve 3 teaspoons of Wash. soda, one by one, and stir until all is dissolved. This may take some time, and is important, some of the soda usually crystallizes, and will be hard to dissolve. It is very important that all is dissolved.

When the soda is in solution add 2 teaspoons of ascorbic acid. The powder will "boil" as it dissolves, the solution will turn slightly green as the soda reacts with the acid and turns it into sodium ascorbate, the actual developing agent.

Then add 7 teaspoons of coffe, one by one, while stirring thoroughly. The coffe will also react with the soda giving off a characteristic odor in the process, not coffee-like but kaffenol-like! This is also a chemical reaction, and since coffee is no pure chemical agent, most likely several things happen at the same time, what interest us is that caffeic acid is turned into another developing agent.

Last add about 2,4 ml of a 10% solution of KBr, and top up with water to 320 ml (11 0z).

The developer is finished! Just let it stand for 10 - 15 minutes so that the chemical reactions in the brew finishes and the gas bubbles escapes with its odor.

When using the developer, start with 15 - 16 minutes of developing time, which works for nearly all films, B&W, color and slides.

Use a stop-bath, but be careful, if one uses a too strong stop-bath, the glacial acid can react with the soda and give rise to gas bubbles (CO2) inside the emulsion, this will give pinheads in the picture.

Use fixer as normal and make sure to wash out the fixer in the end, just as normal.

This developer will work well for nearly all films, only very high ISO films, like ISO 400 - 800 - 1800 & 3200 may need extra KBr added to keep fog levels down.

Best of luck. I'll be back with more on what a "teaspoon" is and what a "tablespoon" is and even what a "pinch" is!