Stand developing with Caffenol

[jonbrisbincreative]

I've got my Sinar F kit put together and took it and the roll film back out to do some tests to understand movements and macro. I tried Fuji Acros with Caffenol-C-L doing stand development. The results were not unexpected but I'm wondering if anyone else here can quickly point me to what I need to do "next time"?



I used the recipe almost exactly. I substituted Iodized Salt for KBr (but I think I got too much) thinking that would help with uneven development. This is pure stand development. Gentle agitations at the beginning then 70 minutes in the soup.

I had to adjust the curves quite heavily as this gave me a very dense and dark negative. You can see the unevenness in the development, though. I assume I will have to do semi-stand next time with some real agitation rather than simply spinning the spindle which moves the reel up-and-down just a little in the container.

I will adjust the recipe to use 750ml instead of 1l with some left over.

Any other thoughts on why the negative would be so dense? I feel like I lost a lot of dynamic range given the amount I had to adjust the curves. If I can get the development even, I think I'll really like the tonality, though. The Acros I love anyway but the Caffenol does do something unique to it.

Is the salt really needed in the C-L variation doing stand or semi-stand?

[jonbrisbincreative]

The next frame on the roll was not quite as bad. I was able to recover some of the unevenness in Lightroom with the judicious application of an adjustment brush.



The tonality is really nice. I pumped it up a little with some clarity and even more contrast than what I did with Iridient Developer (using a Fuji X-T1 stitched panorama as a "scanner").

[jnantz]

hi

i did stand develop in caffenol ( really sumatranol 130 ) for a few years ( and will do some more , maybe tonight )
it made it easy and the film came out great !
while i appreciate the work the folks on the blogs do for making caffenol into a variety of developers &c
i have never had trouble with 1 recipe for everything ...
i use sumatra beans that i roast myself ( but any old cheap instant will work fine )
do the teaspoon recipe, don't add salt or kbr ... but a splash of whatever print developer you have on hand .
dektol, great ! ansco 130, wonderful !
to be honest, i always made 1L at a time and stopped using the teaspoons but eyeball measure, so it was a large amount of coffee
then a little less washing soda and a little less vit c ... and if you need to measure it is the amount of coffee to make 10 cups of coffee .. 4 oz and 2 oz +/- of vit c .. and 15-20cc of straight print developer
i can't tell you what to do next with your film ... but what i do is a pre wet first, then the developer for a good 30 mins ...
never had a bad sheet, never had a bad roll, and never had worries ...

you can see some of my work in the caffenol-cookbook, i was one of the authors ...
i don't use ansco130 now, but dektol and it works fine ..

good luck
john

[StoneNYC]

I say this mostly in jest, but with such a wonderful film like Acros100 especially if after testing you want to use it in expensive sheet film, what should you do next time you ask?.... use Rodinal

That said, if "the next frame" wasn't as bad, and you were using stand development, then your issue might not be with the developer or development process, have you ruled out light leak with the roll film?

The bands on top AND bottom lead me to a roll issue, if it were the developer I would think the issue would be the top OR bottom but not both.

[jnantz]

OP
when you get the kinks out of your system you won't regret
using caffenol but you will probably regret not using caffenol sooner ..
it works extremely well with neopan and acros,
and seems to have been made for the European British and American films too..

good luck!
john

[jonbrisbincreative]

I say this mostly in jest, but with such a wonderful film like Acros100 especially if after testing you want to use it in expensive sheet film, what should you do next time you ask?.... use Rodinal

That said, if "the next frame" wasn't as bad, and you were using stand development, then your issue might not be with the developer or development process, have you ruled out light leak with the roll film?

The bands on top AND bottom lead me to a roll issue, if it were the developer I would think the issue would be the top OR bottom but not both.

That's a very good point. I may not have got the kinks worked out in working with my roll film holder.

Which leads me to ask: what is the start arrow I should use on acros? I don't see one. I think I might be rolling too much before putting the cover on. Is there a YouTube video or something I can watch for a horseman 120 back and acros?

[jnantz]

hi jonbrisbincreative:

neopan+acros have start arrows like other films i have used .. i don't have a free roll here i can unroll and scan
but it looks like someone already did that here ---> http://www.apug.org/forums/forum51/7...uji-acros.html
towards the bottom of the first page someone scanned the start arrows. on your back, near the take up spool there should be
little squares or a line or arrow or chrome or red bits that is where you line up the start arrows .. i don't have and have never used
horeseman equipment, i am just going by experience with other roll film backs i have used ( hassy, graphic, mamiya and others )

you might have also leaked light while you were loading and unloading if it was in sunlight and / or the spool wasnt' tightly wound ..
have fun with the coffee, i've processed thousands or sheets and rolls though it, never saw a need for anything else, except maybe dektol or ansco 130
or once in a while sprint film developer ( like d76 but different ) ..

good luck !
john

[DrTang]

I tried it a couple times..the stuff reeks

also..my kid thought the ascorbic acid was a powdered drink mix - and was highly surprised

it did work okay though.. but too much of a mess for me

I'll stick to d76 and rodinal

[jonbrisbincreative]

I think the times I've been using for the ingredients I have is too long. I shot 3 sheets of HP5 last night and put them in the soup for ~70 minutes (actually I think it was a little longer) with less washing soda than was called for and my negatives were almost completely dark. I didn't get quite enough volume in the Yankee tank, either, so there was a strip at the top that was undeveloped completely.

Here's what I was able to salvage after making a new negative holder and using my Sinar + Fuji X-T1 Frankencamera scanner:



I had to crop the part off that didn't get developed, so went with a 2:1 rather than a 5:4. I also had to crank the curves to an insane amount to get a decent contrast. But that just made the (already pronounced) grain more noticeable. Of course, you don't use HP5 if you don't like grain. But I'm not ready to burn some Acros in 4x5 on this yet. I'm getting more familiar with this process but I still don't have the kinks worked out yet.

I saved the developer since I only did 3 sheets. I guess I'll add a little water, refresh it with some more soda to get it to the right amount, then do the next batch at maybe 30-45 minutes.

Next I'll probably start the agonizing over whether to get an Epson 4990 or V700 or stick with stitching panoramas.

[jnantz]

hi

looks like you are sorting things out ...
this is something i did a few years ago
acros, in a really old rollie
it was sumatra ( caffenol -c ) with a little ansco 130 ... stand for 30mins...
grain is almost invisible ., really beautiful tonality
and scans ( and would enlarge ) like a dream ...

have fun!
john