Aquila Online

Develop film using coffee & vitamin C

// March 24th, 2009 // Interesting, Photos // 1,455 views

When I read the post on how to use coffee, vitamin C and some washing soda to develop your film I thought it was crazy, but on further inspection this might actually work.

Okay, first things first: using coffee to develop film is not something Ansel Adams would do. But it works, it gives your film a distinctive look, and it has a certain MacGuyver-ish flair. Think of it like using a plastic camera- it’s more about having fun than getting technically flawless results.

With most film types, the results will be more contrasty and grainy than regular developer. If you do this with color film (negatives or transparencies), you’ll end up with black-and-white negatives.

The steps seem quite easy and you could have your own coffee infused developed film in 12 minutes. If Tom Overton’s caffenol experiments and the Caffenol Flickr pool are anything to go by, the I’d like to try this for myself. Will keep you posted when I find all the material.

And if it doesn’t work out? Well there’s always coffee and donuts.

While we’re on the topic of photography. Do you want some vintage goodness for your iPhone? Then check out the Shorpy Vintange iPhone wallpaper gallery. All free for your downloading pleasure.