Printing photos with Coffee? ... home darkroom, Caffenol, and film photography

[@jonashobrack9107]

one thing i really like is that the ingredients for caffenol don't have an expiration date. As someone who is only going to do prints irregularly this is a great option... and if you combine it with salt as a fixer it is completely economicaly friendly:)

[@ribsy]

yea thats true! caffenol is quite simple. but they do exhaust fast though, so i wouldn't consider them ideal

[@josecrespo1973]

Great video! I always develop my films with Caffenol so as not to contaminate the environment. I've learned that it's best to mix the washing soda with the water first, then the other ingredients. That way it doesn't foam as much. I hope someone finds a natural developer for C-41 soon.

[@ribsy]

yea a natural c41 would be cool

[@masterkamen371]

I've done a bunch of experimenting with caffenol while I waited for proper chemicals to arrive from Czechia. You can increase the developing time by a lot just by increasing the concentration of the ingredients. The recipe I used was the following: 75g of coffee, 75g of washing soda, 20 or 25g of vitamin C (original recipe said 25g but I used 20 since that was all I had on hand) and 1L of water. With that recipe I found that the prints were done developing in around 120 seconds, and even that is starting to overdevelop. As a fixer I just used salt mixed into water, but that means that photos take at least 8h to completely fix. It would have taken a whole day had the room temperature in my darkroom not been so high. Because of that fixer I could not do test prints or immediately see how my prints came out, so I just had to guess everything. I was really pleased with the results even though it was a very cheap temporary solution. I got very nice looking prints once I got used to guessing times on the enlarger

[@ribsy]

Thanks for the details - 8 hours is a long time!

[@Raychristofer]

"I got dibs on ribs!" Good job man. Still haven't tried caffenol yet.

[@ribsy]

haha nice rhyme. def give caffenol a shot

[@michaelmorales309]

Ay!!! Nice! Glad to see you are digging the process.

[@michaelmorales309]

For the exhausting point. I use this recipe one shot in a tube and this eliminates the extra time.

[@ribsy]

good call! i have the tube and will have to try that next time. how much liquid volume do you use? how long is your developing time?

[@ribsy]

for sure! its fun to mess around

[@michaelmorales309]

@@ribsy I use 120ml for 3 minutes.

[@amberlion4896]

You are just getting better and better! Love your channel man! I started shooting bnw film few months ago. Was also wondering about the environmental impact of analog photography but couldn’t find any decent information. Keep up the great work!

[@ribsy]

thanks for the support! i really appreciate it

[@summeronfilm]

Wild...it looks sepia-toned right out the gate. Very cool experiment.

[@ribsy]

yea! i honestly think the toning is the most impressive part 😊

[@thomaschipman]

nice, man! def do the film vid showing half a roll with caffenol and half without. would be a good match to the printing one.

[@ribsy]

yea for sure! gonna compare to the two

[@squaredeck]

Nice video, I always think that true black and white silver Gelatin prints have more of a green cast rather than blue. I normally tone black and white prints with selenium to get rid of that green cast

[@ribsy]

yea good point. its def an evident cast though and its not nice when you compare it side by side

[@danielemuna9900]

I'm headed to the darkroom this weekend. This gave me a good sense of the process! Gotta invest in an enlarger sometime soon

[@ribsy]

dope! good luck with the darkroom. be careful, you might get hooked

[@joshuahoffman8343]

Man do I miss the darkroom... Great video man!

[@ribsy]

yea! the darkroom is such good fun. great way to kill time

[@SinaFarhat]

Nice! Have a good week!

[@ribsy]

thanks for watching! i'll be enjoying lockdown 😅

[@ZainRiza]

Is there anything more hipster than combining coffee and film? You should try developing with beer. I literally watched a video by On Film Only just yesterday and he dev'd with beer haha. Pretty much the same process but with beer. The colour print of the portrait with the girl and flowers was so good. Also really enjoying the New Classic Podcast.

[@ribsy]

Good call! Altho it’s lockdown season ... can’t be wasting beer like that!! 😂 thanks for the support my g 🤟🏽

[@hybridlobo]

Nice video, my first time using caffenol mine foamed up too, if you reverse the order, washing soda, then Vit. C, then coffee last... I have had much better results. Cheers!

[@ribsy]

good call!

[@monk0383]

Great video. I want to do this so bad. Trying to source a enlarger.

[@ribsy]

You’ll get it eventually!

[@artjonshahaj7291]

Let's gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo finaly BW nicee

[@ribsy]

haha yes! i'll be showing a bunch more soon 😊 especially now that the UK is in lockdown

[@MrCodyswanson]

I laughed pretty hard when you said "aaand I fucked up". I did the exact same thing the last time I mixed my C41 Blix, I knew it was going to bubble and foam and I didn't think to use a larger container. End result was a lot of dark red blix all over my countertop.

[@ribsy]

haha i keep it real! i mess things up often, happened to catch this one on video 😅

[@gelderlandproduction]

Love your content! Keep it up!

[@ribsy]

thanks for watching! 😊

[@PiratePhD]

If you want that brownish tint, I think just using selenium toner after normal development is best.

[@ribsy]

yea for sure. this tint isn't perfect but it is very simple

[@devroombagchus7460]

Amazing! Caffenol rhymes with alcohol. Did you try lacing it?

[@ribsy]

haha i guess it does. no i haven't laced it at all

[@migrrrr6676]

Great video! I’m using Caffenol for years to develop film but I’ve never tried it for prints. About the stain, what kind of paper did you use? Fiber or RC?

[@ribsy]

i used RC

[@erikboon6549]

Now I know why you should mix the soda and Vit. C first and then add the coffee..

[@ribsy]

haha yes, don't be like me ... 😅

[@jonathanoldbuck3246]

It appears to me that the main image component is essentially a stain. The edges of the print appear to be the same as "fogged" paper in normal processing. If you subtract that level of "fog stain" from the print, its much weaker, correct? And an important issue: as a stain, is it stable exposed to long term illumination (i.e., framed on the wall)? thanks

[@ribsy]

hmm im not sure

[@urdad7189]

Hey man- this is unrelated to this video but I was wondering if you could do a depth comparison of the 50D and the 250D, testing the exposure latitude which one handles over exposure better and in different lighting , testing how flat it can go- low contrast and warmth. Just an idea I would love to watch

[@ribsy]

hey! perhaps i'll dive into that. def gonna keep messing around with vision3 film

[@AndersKeisHansen]

Great video, thx :)

[@ribsy]

thanks for watching 😊

[@arturors30]

I thought caffenol was only used for developing film not for making prints. Also, I saw the test prints on the bath glass. For me they are just like the finals prints, amazing. It’s beautiful the work you are doing. 🙂

[@ribsy]

yea same! i had no idea until someone mentioned it to me. im happy it works for both

[@Resgerr]

Yes you can- you and use wine instead of coffee also dried rosemary as well. There is all different options

[@arturors30]

@@Resgerr ohh interesting

[@Resgerr]

@@arturors30 a photographer mentioned about rosemary as he was looking into what rosemary contains that’s the same as in developer. Look at photrio.com they mention it but the fellar there used caustic soda ( but washing soda to me is just as good and better for you and the environment

[@arturors30]

@@Resgerr thanks

[@JimmyScribbles]

Hard part for me is getting a Enlarger they arn't bad price wise but the shipping is ouch.

[@ribsy]

yup

[@_H_2023]

I like the video, using the Caffenol to print to me looks like it could give a Pictorialism style of image, I'm thinking Alfred Stieglitz.

[@ribsy]

Yea it does!

[@Resgerr]

I’ve got to use Caffenol

[@ribsy]

yea you should try it out. a bit cumbersome, but cool to mess with

[@BurningtunaDC]

Thanks for making this very easy to understand tutorial. Do you recommend Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and would you get a different effect using a mocha latte? (sorry, couldn't resist...) Thanks again!

[@ribsy]

LOL

[@randallstewart175]

FYI, the active developing agent in instant coffee has nothing to do with coffee as such. Therefore, regular coffee won't work, and using expensive instant coffee is just a waste of money. The developing agent is in one of the chemicals required by the process to manufacture instant coffee, the residue of which is left in the finished coffee product. Frankly, I was surprised at your pints came out as well as they did. I expected lower contrast and much lower density, parallel to what you get when this stuff is used to develop film. I still don't think it has any potential for regular use as a print developer, but it's an interesting experiment.

[@ribsy]

Yea I was actually impressed by caffenol. But it’s not practical honestly. A nice change of pace here and there 😀

[@migrrrr6676]

Not true :) The developing agent comes from the coffee itself: it’s caffeic acid. But you don’t find it only in coffee but in every plants. That’s why you can replace coffee with tea, wine... etc. Instant coffee is used just because it’s way easier and more consistent :) And concerning film development, I’m using caffenol for years and my negatives turn out very great with good contrast and density! You just have to be more precise with the recipe, and use grams instead of table spoons. You can see my results on my IG (@migrrrr), all my b&w are developed using caffenol ;)

[@brentfisher902]

6 minutes? Wow, speed demon. When I do a roll of 35mm Kentmere 400 film in coffee it takes 24 minutes. Go under 4 bedsheets with the devolping tank, the spiral, the lid, a beer-bottle opener, and a somewhat large rubber band. Once you are sure it's completely dark under the covers, use the beer bottle opener to get into the film cassette that you just took out of the camera after shooting it. Wind the film onto the spiral and feel around in the developing take to make sure you don't have the rubber band, or parts of the now-empty film cassette in the developing tank. Place the film in the developing tank and wrap a rubber band around it to ensure the lid does not come off. You can now get out from under the bed covers and put caffenol in the developing tank. 6 teaspoons of instant coffee, 4 teaspoons of washing soda, 1 teaspoon of crushed vitamin C pills, 1-3/4 teaspoons of iodized salt. Dissolve the washing soda in 3/4 cups of water and stir until it is clear, then add the crushed vitamin c pills and salt, and stir until the foaming stops, pour into a separate container, rinse measuring cup, and dissolve the instant coffee in 3/4 cups of water, stir until it's a uniform liquid, then combine the two mixtures ans stir until almost all of the bubbles are gone. The temperature I used was 68 degrees fahrenheit. Pour the developer into the tank using the light-tight hole, once liquid is all in the tank, start a timer for 24 minutes, gently shake the developing tank continuously during the first minute, then do it for 3 seconds every 10 seconds until you get to 24 minutes, dump out the caffenol, run 3 full changes of plain water through the developing tank (DO NOT OPEN YET!). Then once the third tank of water is dumped out, you can open the tank and look at the negatives and you will see small reflective pictures with the shades inverted (a negative, but not see-through). To make it see through, soak it in AquaSafe which is used to make tap water safe for pet aquarium fish (or use you reloadable online card to buy a jar of Sodium Thosulfate anhydrous powder--use 1 teaspoon in 9 ounces of water). Soak it for 20 minutes and do not agitate. You can re-use the fixer one more time, so save it in a bottle. If you don't have either Sodium Thiosulfate or AquaSafe, use 300 grams of table salt in one liter of water and make sure it is well dissolved, and let it sit in the salt water for 24 hours. Then rinse the negatives and they look transparent and with good dark print like a real B&W negative. If you desire positives instead of negatives, increase the development time to 28 minutes, then save the caffenol in a separate container, run 3 full changes of water through the developing tank (you can open the tank and look at the film with the lights on at this point), then mix 250 milliliters of drug store 3% hydrogen peroxide with 15 milliliters of imitation lemon juice, stir it really well, microwave it for 1 minute and 30 seconds on an 1,100 watt microwave. Then place film in this solution and after 3 or four minutes you will hear a fizzing sound. This is the sound of the solution turning the areas of the film that got struck by light transparent. When the fizzing stops the negatives should look milky almost-positive pictures on it. Rinse the film well, and hold it in front of a very bright light. Then save your hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice solution in a bottle as you are able to re-use it one more time. Place the film in the caffenol developer that you saved earlier and just forget about it for 8 hours . After 8 hours, take out the film and rinse it and it will have a brownish-yellow color cast to it. Then soak it in sodium thiosulfate for 24 hours, and change out with fresh sodium thousulfate every 8 hours. Rinse the film and it will be tranparent positive images.

[@ribsy]

Oh wow that’s a long time!

[@NPJensen]

My favorite instant coffee - not the cheapest instant coffee btw. That being said, I think you could easily brew extra strong real coffee and get good results as well at a much lower cost - depending on your coffee drinking habits of course.

[@ribsy]

hahaha i don't know anything about coffee, so i guess i should look for a cheaper one. how do i make it stronger?

[@NPJensen]

@@ribsy Add more coffee beans to the same amount of hot water. To 600ml of water, I'd use about 6 spoonfuls of ground coffee beans for drinking coffee, but here, you can easily double up - just remember to run it through a filter to separate the liquid from the coffee grounds after letting it brew for about 5 minutes. But it all depends on your brewing method - oh, and you'll need to use a bit more water to have 600ml of coffee in the end as the beans absorb some of the water.

[@adameden8722]

@@NPJensen I thought I bought instant but had gotten some cheap ground coffee. So I used it all up. Definitely used more bean to strengthen the brew. I also brew using about half the volume of water and then add the C and soda, then top off to 1L. It helps everything to cool faster and avoid bubble over.

[@rorythorns6400]

Awesome video as usual man! I have an idea that may interest you :) You should try making PaRodinal (If you don't know what that is its basically just a homebrew Rodinal Formula using Paracetamol Tablets as the main developing agent) I have seen Rodinal used as a standard Paper developer in the dilution 1+9-1+20, so it should be possible with PaRodinal. If you want to go even further and do an entirely handmade processing schedule, you can use a standard table salt solution for a plain fixer, albeit the times are usually about 20 minutes (can be more ) Anyways keep up the great content and stay safe during this new lockdown! :)

[@ribsy]

good shout! ive always been curious about rodinal. it seems to be a cult classic

[@Resgerr]

Can get Washing Soda in Wilkinson’s- mind you it’s only a little box

[@ribsy]

ahhh shit haha. well good news is that you don't need too much. its the least used ingredient in the recipe

[@nicholassmith7407]

I would like to mail you a camera and some camera accessories for you to keep if you do not mind

[@ribsy]

hey! that's generous of you. send me a DM on IG @ribsy__

[@allysseriordan1073]

Interesting video but I disagree with your comments about caffenol and money. For me, it is way cheaper (I use normal vitamin C tablets which makes it cheaper still) than other chemicals. That's mostly because I don't develop/print enough to use up bottles before they expire. You also have to take into account that I don't have to store and dispose of plenty of chemicals which is always a pain for me as my recycling centre is not that close to me. I still do use a shop bought fixer but I could use salt if I wanted to get rid of that entirely (though that's be a pain as it takes forever to act.

[@ribsy]

thats fair. i think if you shoot alot of film, caffenol is a hassle. BW developer is simple to easy and cheap to compete with

[@allysseriordan1073]

@@ribsy definitely agree with that. Caffenol can be a hassle. I find it particularly so when printing but again I just haven't done enough of it to warrant using anything else. Plus I kinda like the simplicity of it (in that I can get the ingredients from my local supermarket).

[@RoryChapman]

as someone who devs in caffenol all the time, this video is painful to watch

[@ribsy]

it was an experiment