Topic: B/w self dev with caffenol - weird blots, Help!

[Lino]

Hey guys, does any of you have any experience dealing with caffenol?

This is my second try on developing film at home and this is what happened on some of the frames:







The film was fuji neopan ss 100, and I used the caffenol-c formula (washing soda, coffee, and vitamin c). About 9 minutes at 27 Cº, agitating it 10 times for the first minute, and 6 times every 1 minute. Water for stop, and thiosulfate+water as a fixer.

Since this also happened on my first try, i tried to agitate more this time. But i don't know if it wasn't enough, or if it just wouldn't make any diference. Also, i don't know if its suposed to be this grainy and constrasty, even though i kind of like it.

So... what can i do to counter this? any help or sugestion is welcome!

[Francois]

You sure the solution was well mixed and not too thick?
It looks like you have some syrup dropped all over the film!

[Alan]

i mostly use Caf-C !

I think the excess grain is caused by over agitation.
I agitate for the first 30 minutes and 3 times every minute.

It seems to be developed correctly but the markings could be
from the water stop stage.

Rincing is a very important stage with caf-c I find, It takes a lot
to clear the soup from the film.

what mixture did you use?

[Photo_Utopia]

I use it, I thought some of the blotches looked like wash problems how does the emulsion side of the film look? I think that the process is not the best for fine grain, but shouldn't be high contrast.
one of mine:

Mark

[Lino]

You sure the solution was well mixed and not too thick?
It looks like you have some syrup dropped all over the film!

Oh it was thick alright. But it was pretty dissolved. I spent a good time mixing it.

I think the excess grain is caused by over agitation.
I agitate for the first 30 minutes and 3 times every minute.

Rincing is a very important stage with caf-c I find, It takes a lot
to clear the soup from the film.

what mixture did you use?

I rinsed it with water about 3 times. Until the water that came out is was more or less clear, and droped the fixer (50g of thiosulfate for 500ml of water), which came out crystal clear.

I used 27g of washing soda, 20g of coffee, and 8 g of vitamin C for 500ml of water. Which i used for 2 films on the same tank. The first time i tried caf-c, i did got a few coffee grains on the final result, but it actually came out with less frames ruined than this time...

Maybe i should aim for a longer development time and less agitation? And rinse it like crazy

[Lino]

I use it, I thought some of the blotches looked like wash problems how does the emulsion side of the film look? I think that the process is not the best for fine grain, but shouldn't be high contrast.
one of mine:
Mark

Well, it looks alright but a little opaque in comparison to some color negative film that i have here.

[Photo_Utopia]

Well, it looks alright but a little opaque in comparison to some color negative film that i have here.

Looks opaque compared to colour negative?-that's not right it should have a light brown stain.
What film is this? I've only ever processed regular B&W film-is this something different?
This is what my negs look like:

[Lino]

This film is fuji neopan 100 ss.
I didn't had anything to compare with but now that I see how your negatives look like, I'm guessing I also screwed up with the development time, since they look much darker than yours. Oh well... I'm gonna make some changes to the process, and try again this weekend.

Thanks everyone!