Developing Kodak T-Max P3200 in Caffenol
With Baking Soda, Vitamin C Tablets, and a Salt Mixture as a Fixer
7 min read by Dmitri.Published on . Updated on .
In this article: The setup. What does this recipe accomplish? Ingredients. Tools. Modified Caffenol-C-H developer. Salt fixer. Developing time, agitation and temperature. Results. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!
The setup.
Over the holidays, my brother delighted me with his interest in our dad’s old film camera, FED 5B.
I handed him a roll of Kodak T-Max P3200 that he shot indoors. It was his first time with a film and a rangefinder camera; he chose to eyeball his exposures.
We wanted to see the results, but all photography stores and labs were closed, so we did some research on how to develop film using nothing but “edible” chemicals found at most grocery stores — including the fixer step.
Here’s what we came up with:
What does this recipe accomplish?
We used the following recipe to develop high-ISO black-and-white Kodak T-Max P3200 film at box speed, using chemicals found in everyday grocery store items.
The drawbacks we’ve encountered with this recipe are the dense-looking negative, a long fixing time (overnight soak), and grainy results.
Ingredients.
☕️ 40g of instant coffee.
🧂 20g of table salt (iodized) for the developer plus 300g for the fixer.
💊 16 vitamin C pills containing 1000mg each. If you get the powder in pure form (linked), you can skip the steps requiring you to crush the pills in a Ziplock bag.
📦 150g of baking soda.