My caffenol finally died!
After 16 days it is mostly dead.
I was still developing for 8 minutes, but the negative is extremely thin and worthless in a practical world.
I used the same caffenol batch I mixed up on November 26 and kept in a bottle with the air squeezed out.
Fresh= perfect developing at 8 minutes, nice crisp negative evenly developed, easy to scan.
4 hours old= still perfect at 8 minutes, still crisp and evenly developed, easy to scan.
1 day old = still good even development at 8 minutes, easy to scan.
2 day old = still good even development at 8 minutes, but has signs of weakness, still easy to scan.
4 day old = okay, even development at 8 minutes, but definitely has signs of being thin, negative still looks good, easy to scan, tweaked in PS for levels.
8 day old = surprised to see the negative turn out at 8 minutes, somewhat thin, but usable, fairly easy to scan, more tweaking in PS levels.
16 day old= failed at 8 minutes, negative too thin to do anything with.
My conclusion is that caffenol will keep for a few days in a sealed bottle with the air squeezed out.
It "
might" even work okay on day 16 if additional time was figured in to the developing time, but why chance it on a photo that means something.
Just mix fresh for the very best results.
Thank you all for your time and patience on this.
Now I'm off to take 12 photos with my backwards Brownie since it's 12/12/12!
Becky