If we ever get hard up, we could always try this!!

James Steven Beverly · November 21, 2009

I don't know if This would work with Motion Picture Black and White film but it is a VERY cool sepia kind of look and could be interesting to experiment with:

Dominic Case · November 21, 2009

There's no reason why this shouldn't work on conventional black and white motion picture negative. The Vitamin C (Sorbitol) is a widely used developing agent - probably has more effect than the coffee, which is just there for the novelty. (Though I've no reason to suppose it doesn't also work as a developing agent given enough time).

But unless I've missed something, developing negative in this brew will give you a negative - and a silver negative at that. Possibly with coffee stains, but that's not what the video shows. The sepia positives shown in the video can't have come from this process. Even printing from the caffenol-processed negative would only give you a regular black and white print.

And it's a very long developing time at normal temperatures. You'd need a lot of hot coffee in that processing machine of yours, James ;) Perhaps there is a use for that stuff that Starbucks make, after all.

alexandros petin · November 21, 2009

Yes this is typical scanning of the b/w negative in color scanning mode, at least with my scanner. If you notice the effect is not consistent among the shots.

if you are interested in the look, there is the b/w reversal process that mr martin baumgarden describes in super8metadirectory that skips the re-exposure and uses a sepia as second developer (if i remember correctly).

If you are interested in alternative process google mr Ken Paul Rosenthal and also there is a pdf named recipes for disaster that has film process even with urine!!! :o

If you are interested i have it somewhere in my backup pm me!

Alex

James Steven Beverly · November 22, 2009

Perhaps there is a use for that stuff that Starbucks make, after all.

:lol:

James Steven Beverly · November 22, 2009

Yes this is typical scanning of the b/w negative in color scanning mode, at least with my scanner. If you notice the effect is not consistent among the shots.

if you are interested in the look, there is the b/w reversal process that mr martin baumgarden describes in super8metadirectory that skips the re-exposure and uses a sepia as second developer (if i remember correctly).

If you are interested in alternative process google mr Ken Paul Rosenthal and also there is a pdf named recipes for disaster that has film process even with urine!!! :o

If you are interested i have it somewhere in my backup pm me!

Alex

I'm interested in learning everything I can about the film making process including alternative processing methods. The urine process sounds intriguing. It's amazing the kinds of things that urine has been used for over the centuries, from cleaning cloths to making gun powder. I know there's a place doing commercial coffee processing for still film right now. I will definitely check out these recommendations. Thanks for the information, Who knows when this stuff may come in handy!!

Edited November 22, 2009 by James Steven Beverly

James Steven Beverly · November 22, 2009

Took a quick look but I couldn't find the PDF, do you have an address or a copy you can post?

Patrick Neary · November 22, 2009

There's no reason why this shouldn't work on conventional black and white motion picture negative. The Vitamin C (Sorbitol) is a widely used developing agent - probably has more effect than the coffee, which is just there for the novelty. (Though I've no reason to suppose it doesn't also work as a developing agent given enough time).

But unless I've missed something, developing negative in this brew will give you a negative - and a silver negative at that. Possibly with coffee stains, but that's not what the video shows. The sepia positives shown in the video can't have come from this process. Even printing from the caffenol-processed negative would only give you a regular black and white print.

And it's a very long developing time at normal temperatures. You'd need a lot of hot coffee in that processing machine of yours, James ;) Perhaps there is a use for that stuff that Starbucks make, after all.

Hi-

Coffee's more than a novelty! I've souped my 4x5 in caffenol and you don't need the vitamin C. Foldger's Instant coffee (and the washing soda) do a fine job of developing, but it does take a good 30 minutes for most B&W neg films.

Paul Bruening · November 22, 2009

I can see how you could come up with a solution of coffee that is consistent. But, who among us can piss the same solution every time?

alexandros petin · November 22, 2009

But thats the whole point.not pissing the same solution.

One thing you can do is regulate what you eat and drink so that you make a solution for the look you are after!

hehe bio-process

i will check my files for the pdf.

meanwhile check out this article about the coffee process

alexandros petin · November 22, 2009

cant attach three jpegs of 160 kb each

help!!

K Borowski · November 22, 2009

I'm sure developing film in urine was devised as an emergency measure, maybe during wartime?

It then apparently (unfortunately) survived as some sort of avant garde technique; I wouldn't want to handle or duplicate someone's urine-processed negatives.

alexandros petin · November 22, 2009

I have found the pdf but its 28mb so pm me anyone that wants it. It has lots of diy and unconventional methods of film scratching developing etc.

have looked the pdf and the process is not pure urine. The author advises to use urine with d19 instead of water as it boosts contrast, never tried it though.

John Sprung · November 23, 2009

I've heard stories of operators on the dark end of the machine taking a leak into the developer, but always figured they were just stories..... Most machines I've seen, you'd need a three step to accomplish that. ;-)

-- J.S.

James Steven Beverly · November 23, 2009

cant attach three jpegs of 160 kb each

help!!

Just up load the Jpegs to Photobucket.com (you may have to join but it's free and is a nice thing to have anyway) Then you just copy the emg code and paste that into your post. Photobucket takes the bandwidth and the image appears in the post. You're limited to the number of images you can put in one post here but I think it's like 7 so you're OK at 3.

Edited November 23, 2009 by James Steven Beverly

James Steven Beverly · November 23, 2009

II wouldn't want to handle or duplicate someone's urine-processed negatives.

What, you never heard of Andres Serrano? Don't be a such a wimp, a little pee never hurt anyone especially in service to art. B)

Edited November 23, 2009 by James Steven Beverly

John Sprung · November 23, 2009

What, you never heard of Andres Serrano? Don't be a such a wimp, a little pee never hurt anyone especially in service to art. B)

Right, actually. Unless the peer has a bladder infection, urine is free of bacteria and viruses. It's just waste chemicals dissolved in water. It's filtered out of the blood by reverse osmosis, so nothing bigger than the molecular level gets thru. The really dangerous stuff is #2.

-- J.S.