The recipe for low speed films

My successful recipe That I gleened fromt he you tube video in the blog post below with some tweaking that I have done

Woosang's tweaked Caffenol recipe with thanks to the person who posted it on youtube,

Set up.
Processing Tank (Of course)
3 glasses (any size)
3 spoons or more
Measuring jug X 2 at least 500ml
Thermometer
2 stop watches or as I uses an interval program set up for one minute intervals for 20 minutes
Bottle Opener (If you are tackling 35mm canisters)
Scissors

Ingredients
Have these laid out and ready

6 teaspoons of instant coffee (NOT Decaf)
1/4 teaspoon or 1000mg of Vitamin C. Tablets are OK but crush them first
3 teaspoons of washing soda (Wear gloves here)
350ml water at 20C (68F)
Extra water at 20C (68F)or have a tap that you can adjust to 20C (68F)
Fixer I used Acu from Paterson. 50ml mixed in with 350ml of 20C (68F) water
Hardener (optional) mixed into fixer

Liquid soap mixed in water Don't make it frothy

In the dark
I hate Film changing bags so make sure you practise putting the film on the reel first. Find a dark room and then hide under a blanket. If you can use a film changing bag, use that. (I find them too restricting. It is vital you practise first or you will be fumbling in the dark with unfamiliar equipment. Practise loading the tank too for the same reasons.



1. Open the 135 (35mm) canister wit the bottle opener. Use the flat end.



2. Cut the tongue off (The leader) and snip a tiny bit off the edges to aid in loading. (Only a little snip to make the edges smoother for loading)

3. Engage the film on the spool and using a twisting motion walk the film onto the spool (as you have practised this in the light ou know what I mean) If you have not SHAME I did warn you!
Cut off the core and finish the winding

5. Load the spool into the tank and seal

In the light





1. Measure out the ingredients into separate glasses and measure your 350ml (first lot) of 20C(68F) water. Add water to the glasses making sure each ingredient is disolved properly. You may have to heat the water a bit more to achieve this but allow the water to cool back to around 20C (68F)
(Enough Vitamin C goves the brew a greeny tinge)


2. In a big measuring cup (500ml or more) tip the contents of the glasses together, mix and then let stand for 5-10 minutes to clear and micro bubbles.

3. Set the stop watches to 1 minutes and the other to 20 minutes (for Lomo 100 film or Ferrania 100 film this should work for all films but you may have to adjust times as you get beter at this)

4. Pour in the caffenol mixture and at the same time start the stop watches. (As I said I used a training interval timer so it squawked at me every minute but whatever works for you) Agitate SLOWLY (and i Mean SLOWLY turn tank over count to 3 turn back repeat) for the whole first minute . Stomp the tank on the bench after each agitation.

(NB more agitation increased fog significantly. And increasing fog is not the same as speeding development. SO go SLOWLY )

5. Slowly Agitate (As described above) every minute 3 times for the next 20 minutes and don't forget to stomp.

6. After 20 minutes pour out the developer and quickly add 350ml of 20C (68F) water. More water is better. This is to flush the developer and it called a stop bath. We are keeping this as chemical free as possible.

7. Agitate 5-6 times and pour out. Repeat 3 times with fresh water (At 20C/68F roughly.)

8. fixer our chemical step. Tell the kids you will do this one step for them. Keep them away from the film chemical. Its a bummer that we need this step but without it, the film cannot be exposed to light. It is here you can add 25ml of hardener if you want to)
For ACU I used 50ml of fixer in 350ml of water (20C/68F) For fresh fixer 5minutes agitate 3 times each minute and don't forget to Stomp after each agitation.

9. pour out the fixer (Into a bottle, you can reuse it)

10. return to the kids.. Final Washing FYI Water is room temp here I didn't fuss about its temp, just not hot eh?

Water 3X agitation pour out.
Water 6X agitation Pour out
water 12X agitation pour out.

11. Water and liquid soap. Pour into the tank and agitate 24 times. SLOWLY not trying to make a heap of froth.

12. Pour out, open your tank and remove the spool. Walk the film off the spool, I have it attached to a peg and hanging as it walks off the roll. I squeegee with a squeegee but you can use your clean fingers..

13. Allow to dry over night, The opaque parts will clear and you should see lovely photos. :-) The waiting will kill you.. I know I keep going into the room to watch the film dry...



Success!!!

I developed a film

My son shot a film in black and white a little while ago. I wanted to try this recipe from the Internet (You tube) using Caffenol. I had picked up the fixer that I needed and used the last of my cash on a bottle of vitamin C tablets.





SO I had written the instructions out and studied them. I basically had it in my head except the amounts. Which was on my notes. SO I practised putting a film on the reel and found I am conpletely unable to do it in the film changing bag BUT could do it with my eyes closed when not in the bag so I headed for my bedroom and did what I do to un-jam a film in my box cameras. AND I did it first go. SWEET. Put the cannister together and returned to the kitchen to start the brew.



Easy and enjoyable. The washing soda made the coffee smell horrible. :-( But thats a vital part. I found the Vitamin C didn't dissolve so I crushed one. Hmm I need to find vitamin C powder. tablets dont cut it or maybe I need two tablets.. **DAMN!! NOW I remember I needed 1000mg GRR** Need to edit my recipe.

ANYWAY I set up an interval training program to talk to me every minute for 20 minutes and I settled in to the routine. It was quite relaxing sort of like cooking but for once I will not burn the food.. :-)  A small disaster when the chocolate bear I bit into took final revenge, dropping and huge piece into my coffee splashing the Caffenol and getting chocolate and bear in the developer. **Sigh** OK Not midnight snacks when making developer.  **edits recipe**



It was very exciting when I got to the final washing stage and it was with fingers crossed that opened the tank. At first the film looked all blank, but as I unrolled it, imaged appeared. OK Not well developed, I need either more developing time or more Vit C. Still I got images!!!! First go Images!!! :-)

So I count it as a success.



I can't wait to scan them tomorrow.

Catch up part 2

May 6
Tim popped over today. Both D and I do enjoy a visit, especially from a fellow herp who can help with the snakes. This time he talked to Optimus. Alas his visits are quite rare.
Today he brought gifts. He brought over two whole boxes of TAB and delightfully small and rare folding camera. It is so small!!! Makes my Six-20 look huge. I am thrilled to have this in my collection. It does not have light tight bellows but other than that, the shutter works on all speeds. I'll work on a work around for the bellows issue.
I had a look at Tim's two Box Brownies. He has a C and a D both younger than my flash II but around 15 years younger than my Box Brownie 2. His C is a good piece, with slide film it should give him excellent results. The D, well it needs repair or we need to find a better example and use it for parts. It should still give good results if Tim remembers to tape it's back as the rear door does not sit square. Interesting pieces and fills a gap that my collection has. I showed Tim how to load 120 film... :-)

As a friend cancelled coffee with an hour's notice, we headed for Tahmoor and the the Quintessential for breakfast. No actual shots taken but the study of new cameras made it a photo day.

May 8

Sunday saw me reasonably calm which is a first for Mother's Day. I loathe this day. I took no film photos so nothing much to report.
I did work omy outstanding pile of digital photos....

may 10

David, Tim & I got up at some unreasonable hour to go South Head. The HMAS Perth was arriving in Sydney
I shot some film of Hornby lighthouse as the sun struggled to break through the clouds. I think they will work out, the test shots done with the iPhone did but not as Rich as I would have liked in colors. After this the cloud rolled in and that was the end of it. Rain, grey clouds, wind you name it. Then the HMAS Perth entered the heads. Of course it's become traditional grey ship, grey seas, grey skies. SIGH

We headed off for breakfast at the Wahwah lounge a place of excellent coffee. Yummy as always before picking up 6 rolls of film. The previously stated 3 rolls of 1960/70s film plus my slide film. Tim generously covered the bill but we got only 5 rolls back. Ah the one found in the camera most likely.. Though it's hard to tell.. I got 6 spools back and so I know there were 6. We were only charged for 5 so it's all good.

Off to town, Tim & I bid David goodbye as he got off at central to go to work, and we headed for Photo Reisel we were served by Marcus who was an excellent salesman. He could not help us with the Japanese film but an older gentleman correctly identified it and told Marcus who to ring. The reply from the other end of the phone was not good news. Grump. Anyway we browsed and I got Fabian a 75-200 FD mount lens for his AE-1 which Marcus tested for me. We played with expensive lens that Tim & I could not afford on combined incomes and then after a pleasant 90 minutes left.

A quick stop at Georges then Apple and we headed for my work for coffee. Alas there was no power in marrickville so Tim headed off to work, except the contractors had blocked our gate and he was stuck in the compound! Talked to the foreman who asked the Truck driver to move. This huge semi reversed up the Fraser park driveway.

Arvo shift for a few days so minimum time at home :-(

Catch up

Geez it's been a while since I have blogged. I have been extremely busy but not really doing much. Work was busy and then I have been just too exhausted to do much else. So going through my photo diary I'll transcribe what I have written there.

general
Agfa Cadet trial was a failure.. Mostly do to my inept handling of the film. I needed more sticky tape.
My No1 Box Brownie needs a winder so I sourced a broken n2 Box brownie as a donor. This camera dates from 1904-1907 and uses sight lines on the top of the box for lining up your shot. It's as small as a bug!! I am constantly amazed at how tiny these boxes are and what lovely photos they produce 100 years later. As this on uses 117 film size I may be able to get 127 size to fit.

The Box Brownie Flash II Had issues last film in the winding the holes in the 120 spools where just too big for the winder.

2 May

My Birthday box filled with goodies arrived. It was filled with all sorts of goodies that I had collected from January to April in my US mailbox. 10kg of presents.
2X Diana Clones
1X Black mini
1x Box Brownie No3 though I have since decided to sell this one. The film size is 4.5 inches wide!! Unless I wind two 120s on one spool... :-(
1x Box Brownie special ( trapezoidal shape)
1x Valiant Six-20 folding camera with box light tight bellows. Very exciting
1x bag of film but from when I wanted high ASA so hmmm I'll sell most of this
Japanese film and some spools and a military bag that I wanted as a handbag. :-)
Several copies of Light leaks magazine. The only ones missed, I have as PDF anyway.
Brightened a low day I was now too busy to be depressed.

3 May
Mother got the mail today and so I woke up to a huge box and two smaller boxes. One had a pristine No2 Box brownie that I have dated to 1919. This works flawlessly and takes 120 without any need to re-spool. The awesome thing about this camera are the three apertures. Research tells me that they are f/11, f/16 and f/22 but some forums are telling me f/16, f/22 and f/32 I am inclined to use the first scale as my BBF2 is around f/11. The Brownies have a shutter speed of 1/35 to 1/50th of a second.
The other small Box has a pocket folding Kodak No1. This old camera is a little worse for wear, the red window was missing, the glass at the front of the spotter is missing and the bellows part is stuck to the film part. I spent some time priding the two parts apart and found a film! Gee. The Bellows tested as light tight.cool!!

4 May
Birthday spent totally alone. Don't ask.

5 May
After night shift, I went to Cape Banks. This is my healing place and the past few days have been emotionally very tough. I do manage but some days are harder than others.
I arrived before dawn and the sky was only beginning to lighten. The car park was filled with Rabbits who scattered as soon as my headlights hit them. Only one lone fox near the houses.
I sat in the car for a few minutes and watched the sky lighten a bit.
Leaving the warmth of the car, I headed for the cliffs. As I walked down the path, I felt my mood lighten My plan was originally to go to the little Island and watch the sun rise from there as the freight ships come into port, but as I reached the top of the cliffs, I saw the rock pools left over from high seas last night. Heading over to the edge, I found a dry spot for put my bag down and set up. I found a sheltered spot for the pin hole camera where it would not blow away and settled down with my 1946 folding Kodak to shoot the rock pools as the sun rose.
Finishing the roll, I stood and and turned to change cameras and was quite startled to see a fox sniffing my camera bag. Faster than I can lift the iPhone, he vanished. Thankfully without Any of my stuff.
Next camera out was the 1919 Box Brownie No2 this had an ASA 50 film in it a fact that I promptly forgot and forgot to time expose two frames (d'oh!!)

Cape Banks worked it's magic on my soul. And as the sun took full custody of the day, I was ready to go home. Next stop was Vision Image.

Vision Image was not too difficult to get to from Cape Banks but as I passed under the airport flyover, I spied a sign telling me that the airport tunnel had one lane closed. OH No!! The South/west traffic was as a stand. Hmmm

The Man at Vision Image looked oddly at my ancient films. After careful study, he offers me Caffenol processing for the old old colour films. Some films were e-22!!! The Japanese films were a no go They were just too small.
Disappointed about the Japanese films, we chatted about the others, two Pan-X and a kodacolor. He suggested that if I want them in colour then he could ship them to the states. Eep I don't want to mortgage my house for film developing so we agreed on the Caffenol route,

I headed home via Botany road Maccas and pulled in for a coffee and a toast or muffin. As I walked in, I spied a sign "NO EFTPOS" due to banking problems. Westpac had suffered a huge failure and across the city hundreds of businesses had no EFTPOS. For me it meant nothing to eat. I headed home via the princess hwy then the M5 and I was delighted that this way had not traffic WIN!!

Later In the day I headed to the PO where there was 2 expired films waiting for me. A back 120 roll and a 127 one.

The 4th was such a shitty, dark day and the 5th was a golden one. It figures eh?

116 conversion to 120

Attempt one.

Fail

I had used some wall spacers to get the 120 to fit and it seemed to work. I used the 116 as the source roll, winding the 120 film onto it ( badly). It all loaded and I wound it on. Trouble is, it seems that when the 120 was wound on to the 116 the tape at the beginning of the roll did not stick on properly and the film came loose from the paper backing and curled into the cavity. GRRRR THIS is why I use the $3 rolls of film. This one is a waste so I will use it for winding on to the film spools when I eventually get a tank to develop test films.

Alas I didn't take photos. But here is the mess :-(