September 22, 2010

Shanghai GP3 - Caffenol-C-L

Reinhold asked me to write about my experiences with Caffenol-C-L and Shanghai GP3. I´ve used caffenol-C-M with different films and found it useful. Caffenol-C-L seemed to be promising, so I tried it the first time with a Shanghai GP3 that was pushed 2 steps from the normal 100 to 400 ASA.

Data for the first try: presoaked for 6 minutes (I was busy...), 60 minutes standing development with gentle agitation in the first minute and three turns after 30 minutes. I used 1.5 gram/litre potassium bromide  in the mixture. The result with the pushed GP3 is very pleasing for the first attempt. As you can see in the pictures, the GP3 took the treatment very good. I took the pictures with my trusty Seagull 4A (Rolleiflex clone), not the first choice for a quick shot. When the old bus appeared, I simply estimated time and aperture and hoped the best. Must be 1/8 second with aparture around 5.6, if my old mind serves me right. You can take these long times with a TLR hanging on a neckstrap and a little luck.

The Shanghai GP3 100 ist the cheapest medium format film available at the moment. You pay around 18 Euro for 10 rolls on ebay. Please do not mix it up with the Lucky films, this is a different story. The GP3 has a reasonable fine grain, a good tonality and, as you can see, could be used not only at 100 ASA. It is not a perfect film. Being an old type emulsion, you should use hardener and should avoid toching the emulsion when wet. It is prone to failure when stored to hot or in a humid environment. If this happens to you, its possible to read the numbers from the backing paper on your pictures. And of course the small tape at the end of the film has no gum on it...

If you want to see more pictures, look at my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24469035@N02/

Wolf

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Reinhold,
i have a very newbie qstns... :)
- what is the meaning pf "presoaked 6 min"?
and
"3 turns after 30 minutes"?
- what will happen if i donot use potassium bromide?
thanks
merry christmas and happy new year!

imagesfrugales said...

Hi Anonymus,

a) pour in clear water before development, pour out of course before pouring in the developer

b) turn the tank on the top and back 3 times within a few seconds

c) you will get uneven development and/or base fog with

d) most important: read a beginners tutorial, developing with caffenol uses exactly the same techniques as with any other developer

e) happy holidays and developings

imagesfrugales said...

f) use another developer than Caffenol-C-L for your first trials !!!

Anonymous said...

thank you Reinhold for your quick reply. :)

b) 3 turns after 30mins: does it mean 3 turns per minute for 30mins?
it is 60 mins development: 1 min agitate gently, 30 mins 3 turns, and... what to do in the next 29min?

thank you for your guidance. :)
Gan
ps: i had sucessfully use CM with gp3, thanks to your blog here. now i am trying to push it to 400 with CL. :)

imagesfrugales said...

3 turns after 30 minutes means exactly what it means: 3 turns after 30 minutes

q: and... what to do in the next 29min

a: I guess you mean the next 29 minutes and 50 seconds. It's called "stand" (standing) development, so let it stand undisturbed ;-)

Anonymous said...

hi again Reinhold,

Happy New Year!
thank you for being a part of my life in 2014!
your website has brought back my passion on photography. 4 rolls so far. 3 CM and 1CL.

I spent my new year's eve doing CL, havenot scan it. one thing i notice is the yellowish result.
i use iodized salt 12g/L.
20C water, 60mins stand.
presoaked too long (10mins). wjat could be the root caused of that yellowish result?

will share you the pics once i scan it. :)
thank you
Gan

imagesfrugales said...

Hi Gan, this is the socalled dichroic fog, it shouldn't be a problem. If you carefully wipe the wet film after the last rinse with a clean and V-folded paper tissue, you can wipe off most of it. Additionally you get a dry film in short time and no drying marks at all. But be carful not to scratch the film. Once dry you can't remove the yellow tint anymore.