Discussion on Coffenol

Today I developed two films in one batch of Kaffenol 327.
In between films I added one teaspoonful of instant coffe, good results from both films, they hang to dry....

First was Fujichrome Sensia 100 at 20,5 minutes at 20 degree centigrade
Second was Jessops 400 with one extra tsp of coffe (making it Kaffenol 328.....) at 16 minutes at 20 centigrade.
I have had trouble with Fuichrome, 25% longer developing time than C41 films seem to have done th trick.

This effectively cut developer price in half.

I have saved the batch of developer, and will develop yet another fiolm in it tomorrow, to test the keeping properties of used Kaffenol.
Earlier I have used prepared, unused Kaffenol that was stored in a bottle for oen and two days.
It will be interesting to see if the keeping properties of this developer is better than advertised.

Its safe to say it is NOT a one-shot developer!

Q :"Thank's for sharing!
Do you think that Caffenol C-L can also be reused after one hour of stand development, just by adding an extra teaspoon of coffee?"

I personally haven't tried it, but why not?
And why not add one pinch of Vit c as well?

1 tsp = 5ml
1 Pinch = 1 ml.

The reason for NOT loading two films in one tank :

1 35mm film = 290ml
2 35mm films = 580ml
1 film + 1 film = 290 ml plus 5ml coffe.....

yes I'm frugal, isnt this what its all about!
:-))

Q :"Try it Is that not what this is all about? I use Rodinol 1-150 after I use it for a normal roll to develop microfilm or other HC films as it tempers it.
But I must ask why not just put 2 rolls in one tank and do them together the first time? "

Still you're wasting develing agents!,
All that have tried using the same brew for two films report a success.
Give it a spin, save money

Stock bottles for caffenol originated by me I think over on the scandinavian section of APUG. Thats in scandi-language, so you need to translate it. It was picked up by Odd Magne, who did show first pictures AFAIR. I never did show pictures, but described the technique in detail.

I also sendt it to Reinholds blog, but never got published.......

Personally I have moved on from stock bottles, since unexpected problems surfaced during winter, if not stored under warm conditions, Na2CO3 (soda) will crystallize out of solution, and make the excercise moot. I now mix with the fast and sure Kaffenol 327 formula!

Currently I'm working on a Diafine version, but so far has met up with unexpected difficulties, and need to find one chemical that cannot be bought in the Mall (oh well, you cant have everything!). I thought I had ity licked, but to my surprise vitamin C & coffe reacted violently with the "preservative"!

Reinhold's blog and the clear and prescise descriptions of the ingredients and how to do stuff, and excellent pictures, was what set Caffenol developers on the right track, IMHO, and took this out of the realms of those that just brag and throw inaccurate descriptions around, stuff that only assures the newbies fail and give up.

The blog is and remains an example for everyone!

Q: "I have developed successively two 120 film in the same Caffenol C-L bath (600ml of developer, 60min stand development @21°C) .
It worked like a charm! I didn't add any extra coffee or vitC after the first development.
The second film was an old film of Kodak Verichrome Pan 100, I found in an Agfa Clack camera. The film is at least 50 years old. It worked quite well considering the film was largely consumed by fungous.Thanks to the KBr, the fog was not too bad.
I'm really happy with the result!"

Magnificent! I also has developed several old films like that, CCH / CCM though.

I've found that what you call fungus is more like a chemical exposure, due to the print on the backing paper in contact with the film (120 / 127) and with moisture over the years, I think its nearly like a form of development in itself!

I also have ghostlike double exposures like that overlayed with strang effects from decades of storage.
35mm on the other hand has survived 35 years of storage with flying colors!

Interesting you did this with no extra coffe or Vit C, this was suggested by Odd magne I think and I just went along not wanting to "risk" anything. We now need a few daring guys willing to offer 2 - 4 films and carry on the experiment, continued use until its depleted with no extra additives!

I'm gonna try 3 films tomorrow, developed back-to-back, but WITH extra coffe & time, I will change only one factor at a time!


I have prepared a bit more Caffenol (600ml instead of 500ml) with 2 developments in mind.
I thought there would still remain enough agent after the first development to process the second one. That's why I didn't add any extra coffee and VitC.


Hopefully its not cold where you live, or make sure you don't store those bottles in a cold environment. The 3X concentrated bottle of soda will most assuredly crystallize, and turn the entire 1/3 to 1/2 of the bottle into a collection of magnificient crystals!
Thats why I stopped using 3 stock bottle solutions.....

The soda bottle contains up to 162 grams per litre (Coffenol CCM) max solubility of soda is 220 gram (anh) per litre @ 20 centigrade, and only 70 gram per litre @ 0 centigrade (freezing).

The crystals can be put back into solution quite easy, no harm done, but this takes away the only advantage of this technique : TIME.
It takes far longer to redissolve the soda crystals, than just mix a simple brew, especially if you have finetuned your volumetric measures!

I no longer advocate this.