Polyphenol Developer Alternatives – A World full of Options – By Daniel Keating

Caffinol…? That’s old school. Have you tried any of the Polyphenol developer alternatives?

By now most everyone who follows analog/film photography has heard of or has seen film developed in Caffenol. In the mid-90’s at RIT the chemistry majors were presented with a class project: If kodak was shut down by the EPA and you had some film to develop, how would you do so with stuff under your kitchen sink? The class discovered that Coffee, Vitamin C  (Ascorbic Acid) and Wash Soda (Sodium Carbonate) would develop film. Coffee contains Polyphenols in the caffeic acid, Vitamin c is a super-additive and the wash soda( sodium carbonate) is the alkali accelerator .