One little tip I’ve learned the hard way... When loading in the dark bag, remove your watch. Especially smart watches as the screen may suddenly turn on whilst ur wrist is in the bag and fog the film!
Now this brings up a good question. If were talking an oldschool lumed watch, is that enough light to fog film? And more so, does the slight radioactiveness of the radium lume have any chance of causing damage? Say the film falls over the face of the watch when loading it? Now by common sense I'd say the light would fog film, but in practice I've never noticed any thing that I could contribute to wearing the watch when I forget. But the green spectrum of light film is obviously sensitive to. Maybe down to a weak lume because all my watches are older. That's not a fashion statement or anything, I just like wearing a watch that's a proper mechanical mech in it and I'm cheap. But the times when I've forgot that I had one on while loading film is a fair bit at this point and I've never noticed any issue on the negatives. I'm not sure why that is because its basicaly films 2 worst enemy's. Light outside of the exposer and radioactive contamination combined, all be it very small on the radioactive scale. Just something over noticed by fluke when I forget to take off a watch, but it still puzzles me why there seemes to be no issue with it. Maybe the dark bag isnt very reflective and the films I've loaded never got directly exposed to the watch face? I'm curious if anyone has an answer
@@MrRecall200 I doubt radioactivity of an antique luminous watch would cause any trouble, since some of pentax's 1960's lenses contained up to 20% thorium by weight in the rear 3 glass elements. I have one and use it and white it is mildly radioactive, it doesn't fog the film and won't give you any issues unless you ground it up and ate it.
“I wanted a hobby that was slow, difficult, and with no instant gratification.” This is so who you are James, and the number one reason I connect with you. Don’t ever change.
Thank you so much for the shout, James! Really appreciate this! I’ve actually got a similar video planned shooting photos for my local shop and roaster, Rost Coffee, and developing the film using their beans. Should be a fun one!
I studied photography my first year in college, and truly loved my time in the darkroom. I was drafted and did a year in Vietnam as a combat photographer, sounds bad, but mostly I ran around for the Stars and Stripes publication shooting folks like Bob Hope. My career led me to the position of creative director at advertising agencies in New York and Los Angeles. I was really touched by the joy you seem to have discovered in "old school" photography. Appreciate the details, whether the beauty of a well exposed photo or the crema on a morning espresso.
"I wanted a hobby that was slow, that was difficult, that has no instant gratification, that has gratification that you really had to work for," says no one ever except for this fine gentleman right here 💯
Having switched from digital to film over four years ago, this was actually part of my thought process as well. The "instant gratification" in digital can be somewhat of a curse, when you end up taking hundreds of photos of the same things trying to "get the perfect shot" -- In film you just have to take the risk and hope it comes out, and accept the fact that anywhere along the way your photos may not come out at all. To me it find of reframes the hobby of photography as something that is more about the process, than the outcome. When you get good photos out at the end it's just an added bonus :)
Film photography is probably the most satisfying 'hipster' things, I think. It's not as cheap as DSLR photography (kit lens at least) but getting your negatives/prints back turning out great is a wonderful feeling.
I've been using caffenol for five years now: 35mm, medium format, 5x7, and even 11x14. It's a pleasure to use and simple. What's fun about it is that you can also use for developing contact prints, too. The smell with instant isn't awful, just bad. There are plenty of terrible (and sometimes worse) smells with plenty of other dark room chemicals.
@@pjaj43 - I sold all my film cameras about 21 years ago, including my Hasselblad. It's the only camera that I sometimes miss. Whenever I consider buying one again, I fortunately, I come to my senses and remember that I was hardly using it when I sold it.
Peter Jennings - the first part of the word Hasselblad is Hassle. I couldn’t stand them. They were way too finicky and pricey to repair. I was a die hard Rolleiflex TLR user - Zeiss lens, like the Blad - and Bronica fan.
I thought I just can't like you as a person even more, but YOU'RE INTRESTED IN FILM PHOTOGRAPHY, MY GOSH!!! James, thank you for the video and accurate explanations. Your my number one role model!
Dang James, I remember you writing on Twitter about this, and I'm very glad you got a chance to do it. Edit: And above all, the results are fantastic. Film's role in the world today is absolutely one of slowing down and respecting the craft, similarly in line with coffee. Story is everything and you've captured it very well.
I organized a caffenol shooting project about 10 years ago. I got a couple of bricks of Fuji Neopan Acros which is a great film for shooting at night as there is no reciprocity failure up to 2 minutes exposure time. It was a comedy of errors getting started as we're using 40-50 year old cameras and developing equipment. Yes, we're the original owners. Overall about 1/3 of shots were ruined for one reason or another. The good negatives were great. I did all the developing. Same recipe but tweaking process as we went along. Most comments we got for the bad negatives were that we were over/under agitating during developing. It was never clear what was going wrong. I have 2 by 3 foot night-shot print of an alley that is being lit by one street lamp and the moon. It's about a 60 second exposure and is gorgeous. 35mm .
This makes my life so much easier, I only now need to watch one TH-cam channel to see the majority of what I’m interested in. You make an excellent TH-cam photographer. I actually feel similarly when I pull a roll out of a tank to when I make a good siphon pot or another kind of weird coffee thing. This is an excellent hobby for you!
"I've got to say, the moment you pull a developed roll of film, a roll that you've shot yourself, developed yourself, the moment you pull that out of the tank and see the negative is one of the most satisfying things ever." --James Hoffman I can't wait to hear him describe the first time he sees a sheet of exposed photographic paper come to life in a developing tray.
The stand-out most interesting video on TH-cam so far. Period. I recall learning to develop photos as part of a qualification back in the 1990’s and it was tough but rewarding.
James : So I've been using Skillshare to hone my photography skills Me: ok yeah its just and ad he's not really doing that *pshaw* James: Ok so we're going to be developing film with coffee me: I AM SO SORRY I EVER DOUBTED YOU
Holy crap, the ending! I have a complete RB67 kit that my father bought in the 70's that was professionally restored relatively recently. I haven't shot with it in a few years, he bought it for weddings. This video feels so personal to me seeing the process of using the camera, thank you James. I won't make any critiques of the finished product for fear of sounding too hipster, but subjectively I love it.
Loved the video James, a tip that has really helped me loading 120 medium format onto paterson reels is to snip the corners off the film before loading. that has really helped reduce the catching and snagging that can make the paterson reels a pain to work with.
after 30+ years of doing mono photography I have never tried doing that and I have to say I am really surprised how well they came out! Well done James.
"I recently got into old school photography" 11:08 - pulls out a pretty pricey, medium format professional grade studio camera (not one of those hipster plastic cameras or a run of the mill "previously owned" 35mm cameras found in an antique camera store) LOL
@@tim_biller And that level of gear is built really well, and is very satisfying to use. But even a cheap Chinese Seagull TLR (6x6) is great - makes you slow down, compose, and think about your pictures.
James try this. Take a photo of a person you love and care, develop the film, print it using an enlarger, frame it with a hand written message on the back and give it as a present to this special person. The feelings doing this are amazing for both. The quality of your videos comes from your love about what you do. Thank you!
I love watching your videos because I'm enlightened everyday to the things that coffee can entail; would never have thought of developing photographs in coffee. Very intriguing.
Holy cr*p! Those photos look AMAZING! I mean, it's medium format, that thing is huge and packed with image resolution, but taking into account they were developed with coffee, I'd have expected them to look actually worse. Congratulations for the great photos James.
I have literally been watching nothing but baking, photography and coffee videos on TH-cam during lockdown. If you'd managed to include some sourdough this would be perfection. In an insane sort of way.
Wow! This was a big surprise. I usually watch your videos for the coffee but this is probably my favorite video. I have developed prints in caffenol-C. Thank you for posting this. You just became my favorite TH-cam channel. ♡♡♡
"Watch them load the film, but skip the part that's actually tricky" ain't that the truth of Film Photography channels. So good man, dope to see you getting into it! The photos looked great!
are you fucking serious?? omg i saw the notification about film developing from James Hoffmann and i was stunned for a moment, and then he bring out the rb67, i just melted bruh
What I love about James Hoffmann is that he tries new things with coffee, which makes us entertained and gain some knowledge about it. I really like how you spice up things, which makes your channel unique from others. Also you inspired me to get into coffee making, specifically on espresso. By the way, photography is the best hobby to have, so happy to you're getting into it!
As someone who admires film photography, may I just say... Those photos were STUNNING James. I loved them and I know a lot of people did too. Much love from the Philippines
Given that the developer solution is basically coffee with vitamin C and a carbonate buffer, it would be less of a health risk than the fixer -- the fixing solution is real nasty stuff.
@@Stoney3K Yeah, I miss the smell of darkrooms but I don't miss smelling the chemicals on my hands for days afterwards. Like a chemical, egg-y, adic-y smell...
As someone who has been using film as their medium in photography for a long time and having experimented with caffenol in my teens, seeing this video made me really happy. Nice one James! :)
James please do a review of some semi automatic machines for the every day man, something for us blue collar guys. Something that you love and we can afford! Please and keep up the great work
Great video....what a wonderful surprise to see film being developed on a coffee post! It is always a magical moment to see that the pictures have become visible on opening the tank. Thank you, James, all power to Caffenol.
Of course you're shooting an RB67. Good selection, it's a beautiful machine. A little bit of philosophy for you. Film photography captures and embeds the actual photons that were emitted in the scene at that moment in time. It's kind of amazing, at least to me. It truly is a physical artifact of a moment in time.
Hi James, just stumbled across this - thanks for posting such a detailed run-through. I have done a lot of developing in Caffenol and other plant extractions, but I'd always heard that fresh (and Arabica) coffee was not great for developing. I've just got hold of 10KG of waste dark roasted beans not fit for human consumption (first pass through a new roaster), so really happy to see that it works if extracted as espresso. BTW, Iodised Salt (at 20x volume of the required kBr) works beautifully, and is significantly less harmful to the environment, so I highly recommend it. Cheers!
"I wanted a hobby that was slow, that was difficult, that has no instant gratification, that has gratification that you really had to work for "- so you have to start with having children 😂
I have a lot more experience watching film photo videos than coffee videos, and I must say the results here were so much better than I've come to expect from the typical "I shot ______ camera at ______ location" youtube videos, both compositionally and in the look of the results. Very nicely done!
I love this channel 10 times more now. I am a photographer from Canada who also loves coffee. Ever since I found this channel I got to know way more about coffee which thankfully added meaning to it :) so glad to see you getting into photography!
My brother and I are both roasters / owners, but we also come from a professional photography / video production background, and to see those photos at the end.. James they look freaking amazing. Your exposure, focus, and framing is beautiful. Well done!
This is fantastic, I took film photography all through highschool and I miss having such an easy access to everything, seeing thinks like this really helps me find affordable ways to get back into film.
Wow this takes me back I started traditional photography when I was 13 and did it at school all the way up until my mid-twenties in College we did all kinds of crazy experiments that really worked quite well but we never used or thought of using coffee and I know how to make instant coffee I'm going to get back into photography and try some of these techniques.
I developed my first roll of film close to 35 years ago, but have never tried Caffenol. Your images look great! Thanks for sharing them, and I totally agree about film photography being a perfect antidote to our hyper-digital lives.
There is an amazing meditative zen-like aspect to film photography. Also when you do everything yourself, and you know every single mistake is only on you, that is a great sense of satisfaction, when everything clicks. Film photography, mixing your chemicals, developing film yourself, scanning and archiving it yourself... The next step for me would be to build my own camera, or "at least" dip my fingers into wet plate/collodion photography.
For a (analog) photo-rookie, I congratulate you on picking really fine piece of camera. The Mamiya rb67 is already in the pro-range of analog cameras. And your images are really impressive. Congrats on that! Love to see your first videos about photography!
This is brilliant! I hadn't ever heard of being able to develop film with coffee before, so definitely learned a lot. I love the shots that you took too, in particular the one you took whilst you were on the stairs. And thank you for mentioning me in your video description, too!
This is really cool. And the images look pretty great too. Takes me back to high school where we had a dark room to develop film and prints. I understand that satisfaction of seeing the negatives for the first time
Ha you actually did it! And glad to see you're using potassium bromide, it makes a difference. If you want to avoid traditional photo chemicals completely you can also use a lot of salt diluted in warm water. Fixing will take a loooooong time, but could be a life saver if you run out of fixer and need to fix a roll. Welcome to the caffenol family
Seeing getting people into analog photography is always nice since I know a lot about it and I it’s great how you are also fascinated about the whole process. I can definitely recommend the app Develop! to you, as it’s really handy for those development times :)
One little tip I’ve learned the hard way... When loading in the dark bag, remove your watch. Especially smart watches as the screen may suddenly turn on whilst ur wrist is in the bag and fog the film!
I’d stopped wearing one for ages and so completely forgot that I had it on for this!
Also keep your mobile well away from the dark room... as well as a bunch of strange things that I never imagined will be luminescent! lol
Lol
Now this brings up a good question. If were talking an oldschool lumed watch, is that enough light to fog film? And more so, does the slight radioactiveness of the radium lume have any chance of causing damage? Say the film falls over the face of the watch when loading it? Now by common sense I'd say the light would fog film, but in practice I've never noticed any thing that I could contribute to wearing the watch when I forget. But the green spectrum of light film is obviously sensitive to. Maybe down to a weak lume because all my watches are older. That's not a fashion statement or anything, I just like wearing a watch that's a proper mechanical mech in it and I'm cheap. But the times when I've forgot that I had one on while loading film is a fair bit at this point and I've never noticed any issue on the negatives. I'm not sure why that is because its basicaly films 2 worst enemy's. Light outside of the exposer and radioactive contamination combined, all be it very small on the radioactive scale. Just something over noticed by fluke when I forget to take off a watch, but it still puzzles me why there seemes to be no issue with it. Maybe the dark bag isnt very reflective and the films I've loaded never got directly exposed to the watch face? I'm curious if anyone has an answer
@@MrRecall200 I doubt radioactivity of an antique luminous watch would cause any trouble, since some of pentax's 1960's lenses contained up to 20% thorium by weight in the rear 3 glass elements. I have one and use it and white it is mildly radioactive, it doesn't fog the film and won't give you any issues unless you ground it up and ate it.
The ultimate coffee and film photography crossover! Thanks for the mention, really appreciate it :) ✨
Yes love your channel too!
I think the main takeaway from this video is that we learned that James Hoffmann just casually keeps suspicious chemicals in his kitchen.
“I wanted a hobby that was slow, difficult, and with no instant gratification.” This is so who you are James, and the number one reason I connect with you. Don’t ever change.
Thank you so much for the shout, James! Really appreciate this! I’ve actually got a similar video planned shooting photos for my local shop and roaster, Rost Coffee, and developing the film using their beans. Should be a fun one!
Looking forward to it!
Two gods, one cup (of coffee)
I studied photography my first year in college, and truly loved my time in the darkroom. I was drafted and did a year in Vietnam as a combat photographer, sounds bad, but mostly I ran around for the Stars and Stripes publication shooting folks like Bob Hope. My career led me to the position of creative director at advertising agencies in New York and Los Angeles.
I was really touched by the joy you seem to have discovered in "old school" photography. Appreciate the details, whether the beauty of a well exposed photo or the crema on a morning espresso.
Lmao that classic Willem Verbeeck background music at 07:30
Weird coffee science ✔️
James ✔️
Interesting ✔️
= Great content
Don't forget the hair
I don't think it technically counts as "weird coffee science" unless he's wearing a white coat. Surprising coffee science? Interesting coffee science?
The giveaway I'm waiting for: prints by James Hoffman
My two obsessions have collided, I'm nerding out
Angel Bravo Me too....(can l say that now...)
Along with literally everyone else of your generation
Angel Bravo Absholuuteely !!
"I wanted a hobby that was slow, that was difficult, that has no instant gratification, that has gratification that you really had to work for," says no one ever except for this fine gentleman right here 💯
it just blows my mind. who does that on purpose.
Having switched from digital to film over four years ago, this was actually part of my thought process as well. The "instant gratification" in digital can be somewhat of a curse, when you end up taking hundreds of photos of the same things trying to "get the perfect shot" -- In film you just have to take the risk and hope it comes out, and accept the fact that anywhere along the way your photos may not come out at all. To me it find of reframes the hobby of photography as something that is more about the process, than the outcome. When you get good photos out at the end it's just an added bonus :)
..and traditional archery nerds lol
just gotta say that im a a film photography hobbyist and honestly pretty much everyone that gets into it has said that at least once.
Golf?
This is type of content is exactly why I follow your channel!
Catching up on my TH-cam subscriptions whilst developing film all day, I didn’t anticipate a Paterson tank turning up in James’ feed, what a treat!
i don't wanna be that guy but this is like the most hipster thing ever.
It feels like an instant stereotype, but you can't deny the appeal!
Film photography is probably the most satisfying 'hipster' things, I think. It's not as cheap as DSLR photography (kit lens at least) but getting your negatives/prints back turning out great is a wonderful feeling.
@@angelobianchi8474 not if you use premium ultra acidic light roast coffee tho
Hi are you aware you’re watching a channel about extremely specialty coffee and espresso? It’s quite centrally located in hipster village.
That describes James doing pretty much anything on this channel.
I've been using caffenol for five years now: 35mm, medium format, 5x7, and even 11x14. It's a pleasure to use and simple. What's fun about it is that you can also use for developing contact prints, too.
The smell with instant isn't awful, just bad. There are plenty of terrible (and sometimes worse) smells with plenty of other dark room chemicals.
I'm over 5 years into Caffenol. High five! You can kinda get used to the smell after some time :P
Next: Willem Verbeeck freezes his barrel aged coffee and drinks coffee martinis with disgust
Of course James "just getting into film photography" gets a mamiya
Holy shit hahaha
Maybe he couldn't find a Hasselblad?
@@pjaj43 hahaha!!
@@pjaj43 - I sold all my film cameras about 21 years ago, including my Hasselblad. It's the only camera that I sometimes miss. Whenever I consider buying one again, I fortunately, I come to my senses and remember that I was hardly using it when I sold it.
bro those older ones aren't even that expensive..
Peter Jennings - the first part of the word Hasselblad is Hassle. I couldn’t stand them. They were way too finicky and pricey to repair.
I was a die hard Rolleiflex TLR user - Zeiss lens, like the Blad - and Bronica fan.
I actively put my hand over my mouth in delight at seeing those photos, this was a fantastic reminder of how much I love film photography
I know it's royalty free music, but it can't be a coincidence that you used the "Willem Verbeeck theme" in your developing film with cofee video XD
There are no coincidences
I thought I just can't like you as a person even more, but YOU'RE INTRESTED IN FILM PHOTOGRAPHY, MY GOSH!!! James, thank you for the video and accurate explanations. Your my number one role model!
Dang James, I remember you writing on Twitter about this, and I'm very glad you got a chance to do it.
Edit: And above all, the results are fantastic. Film's role in the world today is absolutely one of slowing down and respecting the craft, similarly in line with coffee. Story is everything and you've captured it very well.
I organized a caffenol shooting project about 10 years ago. I got a couple of bricks of Fuji Neopan Acros which is a great film for shooting at night as there is no reciprocity failure up to 2 minutes exposure time. It was a comedy of errors getting started as we're using 40-50 year old cameras and developing equipment. Yes, we're the original owners. Overall about 1/3 of shots were ruined for one reason or another. The good negatives were great. I did all the developing. Same recipe but tweaking process as we went along. Most comments we got for the bad negatives were that we were over/under agitating during developing. It was never clear what was going wrong. I have 2 by 3 foot night-shot print of an alley that is being lit by one street lamp and the moon. It's about a 60 second exposure and is gorgeous. 35mm .
I just wanted to say I’ve been following you for ages! I bought your book and it has actually helped a lot. Thanks for everything 😁
This makes my life so much easier, I only now need to watch one TH-cam channel to see the majority of what I’m interested in. You make an excellent TH-cam photographer. I actually feel similarly when I pull a roll out of a tank to when I make a good siphon pot or another kind of weird coffee thing. This is an excellent hobby for you!
"I've got to say, the moment you pull a developed roll of film, a roll that you've shot yourself, developed yourself, the moment you pull that out of the tank and see the negative is one of the most satisfying things ever." --James Hoffman
I can't wait to hear him describe the first time he sees a sheet of exposed photographic paper come to life in a developing tray.
The stand-out most interesting video on TH-cam so far. Period. I recall learning to develop photos as part of a qualification back in the 1990’s and it was tough but rewarding.
when space travel is commercialized, James will be the one to teach us how to brew in zero-g
Of course!
Probably Aeropress.
@@voxdeharlequin8118 Definitely Aeropress! Glad to see I'm not the only one who though that way! :)
As a professional photographer and coffee enthusiast, this is the best crossover ever!
James : So I've been using Skillshare to hone my photography skills
Me: ok yeah its just and ad he's not really doing that *pshaw*
James: Ok so we're going to be developing film with coffee
me: I AM SO SORRY I EVER DOUBTED YOU
Holy crap, the ending! I have a complete RB67 kit that my father bought in the 70's that was professionally restored relatively recently. I haven't shot with it in a few years, he bought it for weddings. This video feels so personal to me seeing the process of using the camera, thank you James. I won't make any critiques of the finished product for fear of sounding too hipster, but subjectively I love it.
Loved the video James, a tip that has really helped me loading 120 medium format onto paterson reels is to snip the corners off the film before loading. that has really helped reduce the catching and snagging that can make the paterson reels a pain to work with.
after 30+ years of doing mono photography I have never tried doing that and I have to say I am really surprised how well they came out! Well done James.
Accidental ASMR at its finest, such a relaxing voice.
Yes! Avid Film and Coffee buff here. Salute Mr. Hoffman!
There's a movie just released called “bait” about living in Cornwall. It's filmed and developed in coffee by the guy on 16mm film. Check it out
Nice photographic work, Mr. Hoffmann!
"I recently got into old school photography" 11:08 - pulls out a pretty pricey, medium format professional grade studio camera (not one of those hipster plastic cameras or a run of the mill "previously owned" 35mm cameras found in an antique camera store) LOL
You can pick up RB67's with lenses for peanuts on Ebay. First one I found was $400.
@@tim_biller And that level of gear is built really well, and is very satisfying to use. But even a cheap Chinese Seagull TLR (6x6) is great - makes you slow down, compose, and think about your pictures.
I've had a Lubitel 2 since 1973. It's about as sharp as a piece of cheese, but it lit a fire in me for taking pictures that has never gone out.
@@tim_biller 'peanuts'
Joe Baker It certainly is compared to a new medium format digital camera plus a lens.
James try this. Take a photo of a person you love and care, develop the film, print it using an enlarger, frame it with a hand written message on the back and give it as a present to this special person. The feelings doing this are amazing for both.
The quality of your videos comes from your love about what you do. Thank you!
Great episode James, great images and good old fashioned science. I applaud you for choosing that BEAST of a camera. Enjoy the journey. :)
I love watching your videos because I'm enlightened everyday to the things that coffee can entail; would never have thought of developing photographs in coffee. Very intriguing.
"Coffee expert takes photos of coffee developed with coffee, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT"
Premium coffee and film photography. This is the ultimate combination of FAFF, i love it!
so cool, definitely going to try this out! also thank you for the shoutout, means a lot that you’ve been watching my videos! 🙏🏾❤️
Holy cr*p! Those photos look AMAZING!
I mean, it's medium format, that thing is huge and packed with image resolution, but taking into account they were developed with coffee, I'd have expected them to look actually worse.
Congratulations for the great photos James.
I have literally been watching nothing but baking, photography and coffee videos on TH-cam during lockdown. If you'd managed to include some sourdough this would be perfection. In an insane sort of way.
Wow! This was a big surprise. I usually watch your videos for the coffee but this is probably my favorite video. I have developed prints in caffenol-C. Thank you for posting this. You just became my favorite TH-cam channel. ♡♡♡
"Watch them load the film, but skip the part that's actually tricky" ain't that the truth of Film Photography channels. So good man, dope to see you getting into it! The photos looked great!
I wonder how many people have loaded their Mamiya and Hasselblad backs with the film backwards because of that.
James, you have the most soothing voice. You should have your own audiobook !
Is this the Willem/James crossover we've all been waiting for?
are you fucking serious?? omg i saw the notification about film developing from James Hoffmann and i was stunned for a moment, and then he bring out the rb67, i just melted bruh
Absolutely haha
and the music at 7:22 as well
What I love about James Hoffmann is that he tries new things with coffee, which makes us entertained and gain some knowledge about it. I really like how you spice up things, which makes your channel unique from others. Also you inspired me to get into coffee making, specifically on espresso. By the way, photography is the best hobby to have, so happy to you're getting into it!
One more thing here is photography channel that I recommend, "th-cam.com/video/VArISvUuyr0/w-d-xo.html"
Guys, we've reached peak coffee. I'm scared
I think you mean we've reached peak Hoffmann
As someone who admires film photography, may I just say...
Those photos were STUNNING James. I loved them and I know a lot of people did too. Much love from the Philippines
Yeah, when I saw them I was like “wait a minute, these are great!” up there with the best of the film photography youtubers
And remember, don't drink the developing solution!
Given that the developer solution is basically coffee with vitamin C and a carbonate buffer, it would be less of a health risk than the fixer -- the fixing solution is real nasty stuff.
@@Stoney3K Yeah, I miss the smell of darkrooms but I don't miss smelling the chemicals on my hands for days afterwards. Like a chemical, egg-y, adic-y smell...
As someone who has been using film as their medium in photography for a long time and having experimented with caffenol in my teens, seeing this video made me really happy. Nice one James! :)
James please do a review of some semi automatic machines for the every day man, something for us blue collar guys. Something that you love and we can afford! Please and keep up the great work
As a film photography TH-camr myself and a lover of coffee, this is the crossover I never knew I needed.
So disappointed! 13.20 and you didn't even tell us how the developed film tasted?
Yeah, I was curious about mouth taste!
😉
Right up until he added the bromide probably could have been safe lol.
Household cleaner with a bit of ashtray at the end?
Marrying my two great loves together - film photography and coffee. What a joy.
It's not lifechangingly awful, just a little bit gross. Thats the description of my moka pot coffee
How can you possibly make bad moka pot coffee?
@@RobertoPavan Too coarse grind, bad water, too high heat, bad coffee...
Even the background music is a nod to the analog community. Love it!
"I want to make my life a little bit harder"
I like to hand spin yarn, because hand knitting is not slow enough.
LOL!
Great video....what a wonderful surprise to see film being developed on a coffee post! It is always a magical moment to see that the pictures have become visible on opening the tank.
Thank you, James, all power to Caffenol.
Of course you're shooting an RB67. Good selection, it's a beautiful machine. A little bit of philosophy for you. Film photography captures and embeds the actual photons that were emitted in the scene at that moment in time. It's kind of amazing, at least to me. It truly is a physical artifact of a moment in time.
As a coffee and photography fiend as well as someone who loves exercises in frustration, this made my day.
New product line: Darkroom Roast
Surprise! It’s a light roast
Hi James, just stumbled across this - thanks for posting such a detailed run-through. I have done a lot of developing in Caffenol and other plant extractions, but I'd always heard that fresh (and Arabica) coffee was not great for developing. I've just got hold of 10KG of waste dark roasted beans not fit for human consumption (first pass through a new roaster), so really happy to see that it works if extracted as espresso. BTW, Iodised Salt (at 20x volume of the required kBr) works beautifully, and is significantly less harmful to the environment, so I highly recommend it. Cheers!
"I wanted a hobby that was slow, that was difficult, that has no instant gratification, that has gratification that you really had to work for "- so you have to start with having children 😂
Came for the coffee stayed for the photos!
Nice photos you take James 👍👌
My new life goal is to pronounce "vitamin C" like Jim does.
As much as I love your guides and reviews, the bonkers coffee adjacent stuff you get up to is always my favourite.
Same here :D
Wow posted 17 minutes ago... I’ve never been so early for anything.
I have a lot more experience watching film photo videos than coffee videos, and I must say the results here were so much better than I've come to expect from the typical "I shot ______ camera at ______ location" youtube videos, both compositionally and in the look of the results. Very nicely done!
The "weird stuff" he says is the instant coffee
Nice photos. I love the contrast of older film photography methods on subjects using a dell monitor; the old and new. Great video, thanks.
James “I want to be make my life harder” Hoffmann
I love this channel 10 times more now. I am a photographer from Canada who also loves coffee. Ever since I found this channel I got to know way more about coffee which thankfully added meaning to it :) so glad to see you getting into photography!
You should try Caffenol as well, I've used it for over 5 years and it's great fun! :)
when you use the same music as willem verbeeck...
My brother and I are both roasters / owners, but we also come from a professional photography / video production background, and to see those photos at the end.. James they look freaking amazing. Your exposure, focus, and framing is beautiful. Well done!
I love how you combined two of my favourite hobbies together! Keep shooting!!
Fabulous! I love that you are taking photos of coffee subjects and developing with coffee. I do the same, but with tea subjects and developing in tea.
Just read your book, James. Fantastic to say the least. If anyone is thinking about purchasing it I would thoroughly recommend!
Two of my most favourite things put together... Coffee and film photography 🔥🔥
This is fantastic, I took film photography all through highschool and I miss having such an easy access to everything, seeing thinks like this really helps me find affordable ways to get back into film.
Can't believe I missed this, two of my favourite things combined into one James Hoffmann video
Two of my favorite things. Coffee and Photography! Delicious content!
Awesome video. Combines both my passions. Good fresh coffee and film photography. Thanks James!
Wow this takes me back I started traditional photography when I was 13 and did it at school all the way up until my mid-twenties in College we did all kinds of crazy experiments that really worked quite well but we never used or thought of using coffee and I know how to make instant coffee I'm going to get back into photography and try some of these techniques.
My worlds are colliding and i love it.
I love all the youtubers you tagged too!!
I was just thinking about how much I wanted to watch your videos...so great timing for a new one 🥰
Love it! Definitely have to try out this method!
I developed my first roll of film close to 35 years ago, but have never tried Caffenol. Your images look great! Thanks for sharing them, and I totally agree about film photography being a perfect antidote to our hyper-digital lives.
There is an amazing meditative zen-like aspect to film photography. Also when you do everything yourself, and you know every single mistake is only on you, that is a great sense of satisfaction, when everything clicks. Film photography, mixing your chemicals, developing film yourself, scanning and archiving it yourself... The next step for me would be to build my own camera, or "at least" dip my fingers into wet plate/collodion photography.
For a (analog) photo-rookie, I congratulate you on picking really fine piece of camera. The Mamiya rb67 is already in the pro-range of analog cameras. And your images are really impressive. Congrats on that! Love to see your first videos about photography!
This is brilliant! I hadn't ever heard of being able to develop film with coffee before, so definitely learned a lot. I love the shots that you took too, in particular the one you took whilst you were on the stairs. And thank you for mentioning me in your video description, too!
Loved this video and your results. Using fresh coffee is probably a bit much for most people to attempt, but I love that you gave it a try.
Love this! I have a BFA in photography, never heard of this! Wayyyy less exposure to toxic chemicals💖 Props on medium format
Those shots have great detail, lighting and composition!
This is really cool. And the images look pretty great too. Takes me back to high school where we had a dark room to develop film and prints. I understand that satisfaction of seeing the negatives for the first time
Ha you actually did it! And glad to see you're using potassium bromide, it makes a difference.
If you want to avoid traditional photo chemicals completely you can also use a lot of salt diluted in warm water. Fixing will take a loooooong time, but could be a life saver if you run out of fixer and need to fix a roll.
Welcome to the caffenol family
Seeing getting people into analog photography is always nice since I know a lot about it and I it’s great how you are also fascinated about the whole process. I can definitely recommend the app Develop! to you, as it’s really handy for those development times :)
Film photography and coffee are two of my TH-cam interests, and you've made them collide. Good job sir!