Developing Analogue Film with Instant Coffee
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
Listening to German photographer Chris Marquardt’s Tips from the Top Floor podcast the discussion turned to an alternative green film developer from the standard dark room chemical developer generally used in the film developing process. The green developer under discussion 28 minutes into episode #495 was instant coffee – Caffenol.
I love black and white photography and have been wanting to explore film for a while now… my partner Lindy enjoys shooting black and white and doing her own developing in the dark room. So the idea of a green development process makes me wonder whether a part of our house will finally become a dark room (touch wood and kiss a fairy on the bum).
Monica Andrae, Chris’ partner, had the idea of developing with a more environmentally friendly process for their recent Mount Everest trek. She would shoot with a 50-70 year old box camera using 120 medium format roll film that produces 6 x 9cm negatives. This camera has an uncoated superminiscus lens that creates a cloudy dreamy look. Monica’s dilemma was what film and developer to use given that (a) sherpas would probably ditch the old developer behind a rock on Everest; and, (b) the xrays at airports can make more sensitive exposed films develop with less contrast and fogginess, especially if it’s higher ISO film.
In short, she wanted to shoot and develop analogue film at 16000 feet with a lower environmental footprint.
After investigating the alternatives, she discovered that film can be effectively developed using either instant coffee or red wine. In the case of coffee, it includes similar molecules contained within the industrial chemical developers including caffeine and the acid in coffee.
The basic ingredients for Caffenol are instant coffee, washing soda and vitamin C. The cheaper and stronger robusta bean works far better than arabica beans. Monica emphasises the importance that the coffee must not be decaffenaited and that washing soda is water free (as opposed to baking soda).
Also, the Caffenol recipe would work without the vitamin c component but the result would be a lower contrast and slower development time.
