develop b&w film at home using COFFEE! | caffenol film developing 🎞☕️

[@_H_2023]

Nice photos Lisa, the negatives came out really well. Love the images with the magnolia tree.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thank you so much for watching and leaving a comment! Made my day! 😊

[@patrick.hudepohl]

For washing the film, you could look at the "Ilford method" which uses less water. You fill your development tank with water and invert it 5 times. Flush the tank, fill it again and invert 10 times. Flush, fill and invert 20 times. Finally, a rinse with some wetting agent added and you're done.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Wow, thank you for this recommendation! I will surely try it!

[@loficutoff]

great video just tried this using the recipe and the photos came out perfect! thanks

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thanks for watching and glad to hear it!! 😍

[@randall.chamberlain]

Fantastic walk through, thank you very much :)

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thanks for watching and leaving a comment! I love hearing that after a couple of years this video is still helping people :)

[@randall.chamberlain]

@@LisaMarieKaspar I tried this already and it worked beautifully. Now you also know you made someone's life better too. Cheers!!

[@piakelly3949]

Ooooh Lisa! This makes me want to try it myself! Love the results and the video. :) Greets, Pia

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thanks so much Pia! You should definitely give it a go

[@dalehammond1704]

Nice work! All the ingredients for CaffenolI are super cheap and plentiful in our area. I try many developers and always come back to Caffenol. It's safe, it's fun, and in my opinion it's one of the best developers out there today. Used correctly it's staining action helps smooth out grain by filling it. I use a batch once because it's low cost and I personally am not for reusing developer no matter what the maker says. Reusing a developer only transfers debris from one roll of film to another. P.S. All developers are basically the same. Some claim added ingredients for supposed "better images," but in my opinion that's sometimes doubtful. The most important ingredients are a good photographer, camera, and film type.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Hey Dale, thanks for watching and your insights into Caffenol! I also can't imagine switching to a regular developer (at least for now), as I kinda love the process of mixing the smelly potion together haha. I need to be consistent using distilled water though, as our water in Hamburg is also quite hard and leaves some stains!

[@dalehammond1749]

Nice work. Years ago I used to shoot old outdated double 8 Kodachrome and develop it with caffenol. I got some amazing results. Keep up the work!

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Ohh that sounds so interesting! Thank you for watching!! :)

[@jtmotenz]

Thanks for the video! I’ll be using this method while I’m learning how to use film for the first time. (so that a mail-away company doesn’t have to deal with a whole roll of my horrible first photos) 😅

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Yay so excited to hear you give film a try! I think it's the best way to learn about analog photography to develop your own film (and make prints in the darkroom, but that requires a lot of equipment which I also don't have and haven't done in a while, but it's really rewarding!). Please don't be so hard on yourself, it's all about the journey! I'm sure there will be nice photos! Most importantly: Have fun learning!! 🥰

[@jtmotenz]

@@LisaMarieKaspar Thank you so much! Just judging by your accent, are you from Sweden?

[@malypavel25]

I just developed my first film a few hours ago. The contrast seemed low, but then I noticed my developer was expired 5 years ago. I think I will be going straight to cafenol rather than buying another bottle of developer 😊 great video!

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thanks for watching! Hope you will be pleased with the caffenol results!! :)

[@agungsukariman]

Love the results!!

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thank you so much!!

[@malypavel25]

Developed my first Caffenol film today. Honestly, the results are better than ones with “professional developer”. One question I still have is what detergent you use at the end to bath the film in. Just a regular liquid detergent from Lidl that has aromas or other additives? Or does it have to be a specific kind?

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Happy to hear that! :) I just use whatever liquid dishsoap I have on hand! Don't think aroma / colouring etc. have an effect on the negatives as they are already fixed at this point 🤔

[@chilecayenne]

Very interesting...I'd heard of this, fun to see it in action!! I'm just about to invest in some tanks, changing tent, etc for developing my own film.... Quick question: Do you shoot your B&W film with any filters on the lens? Yellow? Orange? Just seeing the contrast you had I was curious if you used any filters...I tend to try to almost always keep at least a yellow on on my lenses for any B&W shooting. Thanks in advance and have a GREAT day!

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Hey there and sorry for the late reply, I was taking a little hiatus from social media :) Good luck with the film developing! It's so much fun but can be a lot of work, as well :D I never use any filters on my cameras (besides a regular uv filter on my digital camera)! Have a great day, as well :))

[@brendanwhite3731]

That was amazing. You scanned you negative on a Epson v550 or v600 scanner i love to know how your computer is the scanner is it working on windows 10 or early vershion. I just developed color film and then wanted to scanning the negitives but my scanner is a Epson v500 which i finding it hard the get it working on Windows 10 when i click on Epson scan it not opening. Have you or your listnere know of any solution that can help. Grate video never knew that you can develop film with Coffee. Hi from IRL.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thanks a lot!! I use an Epson V550 scanner and the software I use is Silverfast, much much better than the Epson scan software in my opinion! As far as I know it's free to use when you purchased an Epson scanner 🤔 Unfortunately, I haven't really used Windows in 8 years or something, so I cannot give advice on that :/ But check out Silverfast!!

[@ccr2569]

Thank you so much. Can we use this developer for x-ray too.?

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thanks for watching! That I don't know, I have never used X-ray film before! You might want to google that one!

[@abohosamabohosam4178]

Hi, I do not have vitamin C powder. Can I use lemon juice instead of the powder because it contains a large percentage of vitamin C to complete this experiment? How many ml of juice do I need for that? I am waiting for a response. Thank you for posting the experience.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Hey and thank you for watching! :) I have never tried this, but it sounds logical - have you googled it?

[@_youngshot]

Hiii Question is the Illford Fixer required/ and the potassium bromide if Im developing 400

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Hey hey! :) You always need a fixer, otherwise your negatives will quickly fade and not "hold up". For the potassium bromide: You can try without it for films of 400 ASA, but it is definitely recommended to use it :)

[@randallstewart175]

Like nearly all videos re caffenol, this one hits the positives while ignoring the negatives, so for balance let's summarize some downsides. 1. It's not that great of a developer. It does quite well with the mid-tones and highlights, but is relatively slow acting in the thinner areas of the negative, causing loss of shadow detail. As a compensation, regular users tend to rate their film speeds lower than "box speed" to avoid black shadows with no detail. 2. It can be somewhat hit or miss for result. This is attributable to the variety of "formulas" offered and, like here, the less than precise measurement of the ingredients when mixing. 3. It stinks. Literally, it smells terrible. 4. By emphasizing that most of the ingredients can be purchased in a grocery, the implication is that it is inexpensive to make. The contrary is true. it may be the most expensive simple B&W developer you could compound. The reason for this is the cost of sources of the active developing ingredients. The developing agent is a phenol, chemically similar to the agent in most commercial developer formulas, but it is a waste product of the instant coffee making process and exists in very small amounts. This means that you have to use a very expensive quantity of instant coffee to get enough of that agent, the rest being waste. Vitamin C tablets each contain only a small amount of the ascorbic acid element you want, so most of tablet is just filler and waste. The cost of buying the chemicals used in more normal developers, measured on a cost per roll of film developed, is much less, since you are not paying for the huge consumer price mark up for something like a Vitamin C tablet. 5. It's shelf life is non-existent. All developers start to oxidize and start becoming "dead" once mixed to working developer dilution. In normal developers, either commercially made or DIY mixed, one or more additional chemicals are added to preserve the active ingredients from oxidizing. Caffenol lacks that, so it dies quickly. In short, you make it up each time you use it, then flush the used developer. This also contributes to its cost inefficiency. It's a positive that making up caffenol may get someone interested in the chemistry of film processing, but if that bug bites you, you will quickly discover that stocking up half a dozen basic chemicals will let you make many better developers for the same hassle and for a much lower cost per roll.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

Thank you for your very insightful and informative comment! My intention with this video never was to only highlight positive aspects of this development method, I was mainly sharing facts/ how to etc. I can only speak for me personally, but I do love the "look" caffenol developing gives my photos. I am not a perfectionist (as mentioned in the video probably a thousand times; not that that's a bad thing ofc!!) and I love what others might call flaws and mistakes because it adds character in my opinion. But again: Thank you for your comment and the effort you put into writing all of this down here! 🙏🏻

[@izcyk]

For people that cant get washing soda you can use bicarbonate of soda

[@eugene8524]

you need to convert bicarbonate to carbonate

[@alekosiecki4094]

A hopeless negative film triggered by an invention for the lazy or gullible. The effect corresponds to the means used.

[@LisaMarieKaspar]

to each their own ✌🏻

[@Terry-t1t]

Well she has inspired me!