What the heck....I'm gona' try it!

Matt_Gill · May 7, 2006

Hey, while surfing the net this morning I stumbled upon this...
http://shutterbug.com/techniques/film_processing/0903sb_coffee/
It seems kinda' cool! Im going to try it for sure! If anyone else does, or had, post your results and thoughts! Thanks Matt

benhasajeep · May 7, 2006

Haha, that would be good to try. I just may have to experiment a little.

Thanks

terri · May 7, 2006

I don't think I'll try it, but would sure like to read about your experience!

Take some notes and post what you get, if you can. :thumbup:

Good luck with it!

benhasajeep · May 7, 2006

terri said:
I don't think I'll try it, but would sure like to read about your experience! Take some notes and post what you get, if you can. :thumbup:

Good luck with it!

Send some film up and I will return it with the notes.

Matt_Gill · May 8, 2006

How do you think it will compair with the pro developers? It's a LOT cheaper!

greasemonkey · May 8, 2006

I'm deffinitly going to give it a try. I will be going to a college in a very remote locatoin next year, now I will at least be able to do my own stuff. I was also talking to a teacher of mine, and he said he knew a bunch of photographers in Veitnam that used a host of odd chemicals in the feild to develp their rolls. He said the pics where great, and a few made it into
Time.

Would anybody know of a way that I could improvise on inlarging my negs?

Jeff Canes · May 8, 2006

I tried that when the article first ran; think I developed them for about 15 minutes and they came out very light, but images where there and after playing with them in PS most looked OK.

JamesD · May 8, 2006

This is a not infrequently discussed topic on photo.net; try a search there or on google.com for "folgernol." I kid you not. I believe I've read that it may not be the caffeine that actually does the development, but rather a different group of organic compounds (phenols?). I seem to recall that pure caffeine was tried, making a very strong solution, and it didn't work very well. However, that's my memory speaking, and I wouldn't advise you to trust it; I certainly don't.

This is the first mention of soft drinks I recall seeing. I'd be inclined to try them, but then I'm reminded that I soak brass parts in coca-cola to make them bright and shiny again. I'd worry that it'd dissolve the film base.

Edit: Here's one of the photo.net articles I've read about the chemistry of "folgernol" or "caffeinol." http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Fa8h&tag=

stingray · May 9, 2006

are these at all usable with paper? or will it be too fantastically grainy (is that possible??) I'm much happier to loose one print, a little coffee and some washing powder than the latter AND a roll of film.