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Caffenol : black and white developer with home ingredients

moka bialetti

As a kid I played with a chemistry set (made for kids : In Italy it was a popoular game called "Il Piccolo chimico") When I read that it was possible to develop films and black and white papers with homemade ingredients, I had to try it. You will need: soluble coffee, caustic soda (not bicarbonate, but sodium carbonate), ascorbic acid (perhaps lemon juice would work equally), water.

Caffenol : like biscuits dipped into the coffee

binari caffenol

he results did not leave me fully satisfied in terms of quality. Photos developed, probably improperly, were extremely dense, and only decent for scanning.

Also, surely, because they are C41 rolls (color, expired) processed in a black and white chemistry (homecrafted).

With a bew black and white film, like foma , used in the medium-format "squared" examples, the results have drastically improved.

But the stench remains, and causes domestic conflicts.

These experiments  have anyway some charm, and it was definitely fun.

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