I haven’t blogged lately mainly because days have been spent writing my manuscript and evenings building pinhole cameras (so far so good with designs), developing paper negatives (test shots done, ready to roll for real), making contact prints (finally a couple good ones), and now developing my own B&W film. I shot a roll of 120 film (Fuji Neopan Acros 100) with the iPhone Pinhole and decided to take the plunge developing the negatives. I probably should have made the maiden voyage with a real commercial developer, like Dektol or Tmax or Diafine (all of which I have on hand), but figured that a true test would be to try homemade Caffenol-C. I have been quite successful using it to print paper negatives on Ilford MG IV RC glossy despite that paper’s inherent contrastiness (Arista paper doesn’t work with it, thus the Dektol). So, in a fit of inspiration this evening I whipped up a batch of Caffenol-C and read up on developing technique and times when using it with Neopan Acros 100. Well, I couldn’t find anything on developing times with Caffenol (normally it’s around 13 minutes with other developers), so I had to wing it. First step, however, was unwinding the exposed film and spooling it onto a developing tank spool in a changing bag, completely blind. I read a lot about the difficulty of doing that, but these snazzy spools I have made it super easy–done within a couple minutes. BUT, I missed taking off part of the tape that’s on the end of the film. I find the edge of it easy enough, and thought I had stripped it all off, but I accidentally slit the length of the tape in two and took off only half of it. The remaining half stuck to the film explains why the fixer and the following washes were tinted purple-pink when I dumped them — the chemicals (I think the fixer) reacted with the gum on the tape, turned it purple-pink and streak it all the way down one half of the strip . So, it seems I may have gotten half frames with visible (maybe even decent) images on one side and a purple-pink-white strip on the other. The uniformity of the line down almost the middle of the film strip is odd; it almost looks like a half-frame mask, cutting the exposures in half horizontally. So, bad news is that missing a small strip of tape on the film ruined what might have been pretty good negatives for the first time developing film from a homemade pinhole with a homemade developing solution. Good news is that Caffenol-C seems to work well with Fuji Neopan and my basic chemistry and developing technique, while rough, is all right. I’ll have to sacrifice more rolls to trial-and-error experimentation (with pinhole exposures, developing times, concentrations of Caffenol), but the principle is sound and I fell comfortable with the process. I’m determined eventually to develop most if not all of my own B&W (except rolls I think might have such great exposures that I would want a pro to develop them). It would mean a big savings in development costs, as well as fun and fulfilling.
The negs are drying now, so I can’t scan and post the accidents quite yet, but in the meantime, here is part of the cool backing paper to 120 Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film:
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