When I started photography again, I knew I didn't want to be pinned down by shooting all digital. Shooting film was where I started and it's where I want to continue to experiment.
That lead me to buying a number of cameras to shoot film again. Despite having the cameras that will take the pictures, I needed a way to develop the film that comes out of them to get to the image. While I can take the film to a local or commercial developer, I knew that it can be costly and I've always wanted to experience the process for myself. That lead me to a chemical process called "Caffenol-C," a way to develop black and white film using instant coffee and ascorbic acid powder (Vitamin C).
What turned me on to Caffenol-C was a video I saw on Make-Magazine's YouTube channel where Matt Richardson demonstrated the process. Of course the process itself seemed easy enough: measure and mix chemicals, soak the film, rinse.
However the real difficulty was procuring the materials to make the process work. The most difficult items to get were the development tank, fixer and washing soda. The tank and fixer had to be ordered online because there's literally no where in New Orleans to get those items. Washing soda, surprisingly enough, was cheap but really hard to find. No convenience store or super market carries it except Wal-Mart. Alternatively I could have taken baking soda and baked it for a few minutes.
This is a list of what I brought:
Patterson Super System 4 Universal Developing Tank and Reels($27)
Instant Coffee ($7)
Vitamin C 1000mg tablets (60 count) with Rose Hips ($5)
Ilford Rapid Fixer 500ml ($15)
Washing Soda ($4)
Measuring Cup ($5)
Clothes Pins ($1)
Bottle Opener ($6)
Considering that all of the materials can cost up to $100, it is not the cheapest things to try once. If you do plan to develop film many more times in the future, the process becomes cheaper. The only real expendables you have to replenish are the instant coffee, Vitamin C and maybe the washing soda, depending on the box size. The fixative can be recycled a number of times before it has to be disposed, usually four or five times between batches.
120 Film
The first two times I developed film using Caffenol-C was on 120 and 620 film. Both 120 and 620 film are the same size so I'll just call it 120 film.
When loading the film I found that complete darkness wasn't necessary. Instead of sealing the leaks around the doorway of my laundry room, I opted to load my film in the dark closet in the corner. As my film rolls were ISO 100-125 a little light leak wasn't a big deal.
Physically loading the film can be a real pain. Having no prior experience with developing film I tried to pull the film into the reel following instructions I saw online. While the Patterson tank's reels were touted as “easy to use” I had difficulty getting the film to catch on to the guides on the reel. This is because getting the film to catch on the ball bearings is so difficult when you can't see anything. But once the film is loaded the worst is over.
When developing the film I followed the instructions on Make Magazine's video to the tee:
mix chemicals
develop for 9 minutes
agitate tank for first minute
agitating tank 3 times every minute after and tap the tank 3 times to release bubbles
rinse 3-4 times until liquid comes out clear
fix for 5 minutes & agitate 3 times each minute
rinse 4 times until liquid is clear
The result of this process is sort of hit and miss. On the Shanghai GP3 100 Pan film, it came out mostly clear but kind of light. It had very nice grain but because there wasn't enough developer, bubbles settled on the side and created a “burn” pattern on the film.
A very old roll of Kodak Verichrome VP-620 125 had a similar result. While half the roll of the film was ruined due to age, the parts that did develop were clear, fairly light, had decent grain and the same “burn” pattern on it because of the lack of developer.
35mm Film
Like developing the 120 film I followed the same steps described in the Make Magazine video to develop color film. The film I decided to develop was FujiFilm FujiColor QuickSnap 800 that came from a disposable Fuji camera.
However a big difference though was that 35m film was way smaller and more rigid than 120 film. As a result it was very, very difficult to load the film onto the reel. It was so difficult that it took me nearly 20 minutes to finish loading the film.
Another downside was that the film was ISO 800, which was far more sensitive than the 120 films that I developed. Because of this higher sensitivity I risked ruining the film when I loaded it into the reel in a room with light leaks. Luckily that wasn't the case.
Again I used the method described in the Make Magazine video. The film, which expired in 2007, had some surprising results. First and foremost, it came out dark. One explanation that I found online was that I may have left the film in the developer for too long.
But I found that the time in the developer was just right when I developed some rolls of Fuji Superia X-Tra 400. About 9 to 11 minutes was the sweet spot for developing the film. So what could have caused the darkness I got from the Fuji 800 film?
Buy a Thermometer
One of the things I didn't buy was a thermometer. This would've added another $15 to my kit. But as I learned a thermometer is just as important as my other measuring tools.
I found that temperature control of the developer and fixers were important. Before I just rinsed my film in warm to temperate water. But after getting a thermometer and following the advice of using 20 degrees Celsius water (that's 68 degrees Fahrenheit), I was getting much better results.
There could be a number of reasons why the film turned dark. But I guess what may be happening to the film was that the emulsion on the film may not have dissolved properly. And when the film gets exposed to light it turned dark. Temperature could be an issue too as excessive heat may cause the emulsion to stick to the film. Or the high temperature may have broken down the developer before it went in the tank. Whatever the cause may be, I do believe getting the proper temperature helps.
Overall I like the results I get from developing my film using Caffenol-C. The pictures may not come out as sharp or crisp as getting it developed at a film lab, it does lend a rustic quality that you can get only from developing film by hand. And while it is definitely cheaper to do as long as you do it often. There may be some bugs to work out with Caffenol-C, but as long as you continue to work at it, the results can be surprising.
Want to see more? Check out the photos I developed with Caffenol-c here.