How to Develop Film With Coffee and Washing Soda

Last Updated: March 5, 2023 References

Common black and white film is made with silver halide, a chemical that can be developed with an alkaline solution in order to bring out the images one has captured with a camera. Many substances can work as "developers," but the hard part is getting the alkalinity right so that the developer can bring out the image: most developers on their own will only give cloudy, indistinct images. One easy way to develop film at home is to use coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda. The first two ingredients bind together to form an effective developer; the washing soda adds alkalinity to the solution and, when film is deposited into the mixture, images are developed. The coffee and washing soda method is less exact than what you might be used to with commercial developing agents; try experimenting with different ingredient ratios and tweaking your camera's exposure to get the look you want for your photographs. This technique requires a developing tank, a simple piece of home photography equipment in which you load your undeveloped film onto reels and close them within a tank with developing fluid. Developing tanks are available at any local photography supplier.

Steps

1
Fill a bucket with 1 qt. (or 1 lt.) of room temperature water.
2
Dissolve 10 tsp. (or 50 grams) of washing soda completely into the water.^{[1]
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3
Dissolve 4 tsp. (or 5 grams) of ground coffee completely into the solution.^{[2]
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4
Dissolve 1 tsp. (or 5 grams) of Vitamin C powder completely into the solution.^{[3]
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5
Wait up to 10 minutes for any bubbles to evaporate.
6
Make sure that you are in a completely dark area.
7
Load your film into the developing tank.^{[4]
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8
Pour the solution into the developing tank.^{[5]
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9
Shake the tank gently for about 30 seconds.
10
Agitate the developing tank every minute for about 10 seconds by inverting it and shaking gently.^{[6]
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11
Continue for 10 to 20 minutes.
12
Pour the developing solution out.
13
Pour in 1 qt. (or 1 lt.) of tap water.
14
Shake the tank gently for about 30 seconds.
15
Agitate the developing tank every minute for about 10 seconds by inverting it and shaking gently.^{[7]
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16
Pour out the water after 10 minutes.
17
Refill the tank with fresh tap water. Repeat the rinse process.
18
Pour out the water after 10 minutes.
19
Remove the film.
20
Hang the film in a corner away from light, dust, and wind.
21
Wait until the films are dry to see your developed images.^{[8]
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Community Q&A

Question

Do I need to use a fixer for this method?

Community Answer

Yes, you always have to use a fixer. Without it the negatives will fade within a couple years. The fixer dissolves any silver nitrate left on the negatives and preserves the image.
Question

What about a fixer? Is this all?

Peter Bjerg

Community Answer

It's a good idea to use an acidic "stop bath" for 1 minute (with constant agitation) in between the developing and the fixing. The non-toxic DIY version of a stopbath is 2 tsp citric acid per 500 ml cold water. Makes sure the citric acid is completely dissolved before use.

Warnings

The coffee and washing soda developing process creates a very strong, very bad smell when the ingredients are mixed together.^{[9]
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Do not use baking soda. Washing soda is sodium carbonate, while baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Using baking soda will ruin your undeveloped film.

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