More Fun With Caffenol

 

As I have mentioned before (here and here), I have a ton of Kentmere 400 film (because it is SO cheap) but I haven't been happy with the extremely coarse grain. I think I finally found a combination of exposure and developing that gives me the grain size I like. The pictures above were shot with the camera set at 320 instead of 400 for metering. I developed them according to the Caffenol-C-L recipe which is as follows:

1000ml room temperature water
16g washing soda
10g Vitamin C powder
10g Iodized salt
40g instant coffee

Presoak for 5 minutes. Agitate for the first 30 seconds after adding developer. Let sit for 70 minutes (including the 30 seconds above). Rinse and fix normally.

I know what you are thinking, "70 minutes!" But it's easy because you don't agitate after the first 30 seconds, just set it up and ignore it until you hear the timer go off. I'm definitely pleased with the results and I'm looking forward to shooting the rest of my 100' roll of Kentmere 400.

(FYI I use the website http://caffenol.blogspot.com and the Flickr Caffenol group discussions to do a lot of my research.) 

♥ Jessica

A Day At The Fair

Last weekend I visited The Bethlehem Fair in Bethlehem Connecticut. I grew up in that area and it was a tradition to go to the fair every year. I haven't been there since I moved away. I always find agricultural fairs fun, maybe because I always had such a good time at the Bethlehem Fair as a kid.

Moo!

Photography Winners

Games

I bought some natural wool yarn from a local farm that raises sheep and alpacas. 

Roden's Farm. Best. Corn. Ever.

 Sleepy Sheep

This ride looks too scary for me. 

These photos were taken on Kentmere 400 film (shot at 400 ISO) and developed with Caffenol. This was my first time using Caffenol and I nearly shrieked with excitement when I opened the film canister and found pictures on my negatives. I thought for sure it wouldn't work.

If you have never heard of it, Caffenol is a black and white film developer that you make at home. It is a combination of Washing Soda, Vitamin C Powder, and Instant Coffee. Sounds crazy right? But it works. I did a lot of research on which Caffenol recipe I should use, and how long I should develop it, and I came up with this recipe to use with Kentmere 400 film:

1000 ml room temperature water

54g Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

16g Vitamin C Powder

10g Iodized Salt

40g Instant Coffee

I added one ingredient at a time to the water in that order. I then pre-soaked my film in room temperature water for 5 minutes. I developed the film for 30 minutes, agitating it for the first 30 seconds then again at 1, 5, & 15 minutes. I used Ilford Rapid Fixer and Kodak Photo Flo to finish it off. 

I usually develop my film in Kodak D-76 which isn't an expensive developer. The Caffenol actually comes out a few pennies more expensive than buying a gallon mix of D-76 (Vitamin C powder is the pricey ingredient), however I like that you mix it up one batch at a time because D-76 will go bad if it is left too long. I also like that you can buy all the ingredients locally and it probably isn't as hazardous as traditional developers. Oh, and I like that it is like a fun chemistry experiment.

♥ Jessica