what's wrong with my Diafine workflow?

[yossarian123]

I just started using Diafine to develop Tri-X @1600. The first 3-4 rolls came out just fine, I loved the results. The last 2 rolls have been horrible, I'm getting highlights completely turning to mush and horrible grain. What's going on here? And I'm using it for 3+3, agitate 5s every minute, stop for 1min, fix for 5. Final rinse is about 12 minutes. I used the same process for the first rolls, nothing has changed (except my B solution has turned a weird yellow color).

Could this be a camera/exposure issue? I'm using a Nikon S2 with Gossen Digisix, my color rolls with this camera came out perfect so I'm guessing the camera is good.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChrisN]

Check your scanner settings - especially makes sure ICE is turned off.

 

[Wolf Rainer Schmalfu]

Diafine

Diafine

How old is the Diafine soup?

 

[yossarian123]

I mixed the Diafine about 1-2 months ago.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Check your scanner settings - especially makes sure ICE is turned off.

I second that. I also suspect you're scanning in color instead of B&W; scanning in color adds so many other variables that it's best avoided unless you really know what you're doing.

 

[yossarian123]

I've been using a Plustek 7600 with Silverfast, 48->24 bit color and iSRD (the ICE equivalent) is disabled. I'll fire it up and try 16 bit gray scale for testing purposes.

 

[yossarian123]

OK, so I just scanned more shots on the same roll. They actually look decent. I'm wondering if this might be the camera after all. My first 3-4 rolls were with either a Leica M3 or IIIa, the last 2 were with the Nikon S2.

 

[yossarian123]

For some reason, I couldn't access the 16 bit grayscale option on my Plustek 7600 SE. I'll look into that later, for now I just scanned as a transparency and inverted in photoshop. I tweaked levels a little bit, otherwise it's a straight scan.

 

[yossarian123]

I'm wondering if it's the camera. From what I remember, that shot was at f/1.4 and about 1/125 or 1/250. I'm wondering if the shutter is really firing at that speed.

 

[Tim Gray]

Well the last scan looks much more useable than the first version you posted. The 'horrible' grain in her hair in the last scan is because there's very little exposure there. The highlights in and of themselves don't look particularly bad.

 

[yossarian123]

I've got a roll of Tri-X from my IIIa (EI 1250) hanging in the bathroom now. I'm eager to test my theory that it's the camera and not my developing skills. I've shot a couple of rolls with the IIIa/Tri-X so I know the shutter is accurate. Because Diafine seems like it would take a tremendous idiot to really goof things up (which I'm hoping I'm not).

Say that it is the camera, it's probably underexposing and it's probably doing so by what - one stop or two? I shot the roll at 1600, so is this what you'd expect from shooting Tri-X at 3200/6400 w/Diafine?

 

[varjag]

Silverfast SE is crippleware, you wouldn't be able to turn on 16 bit depth. Use Plustek's own (ugly) software or shell out for Vuescan I guess.

 

[anerjee]

Colorperfect

Colorperfect

If you have Photoshop or Elements, you can use Colorperfect. I have the Plustek 7600, and now I use the Silverfast to generate 16 bit grayscale (or 48bit color) scans. The inversion is done by colorperfect.

The interface of the software is strange to say the least, but you can get good results without too much effort. I prefer the Colorperfect results to Negafix for both color and b&w, after having spent quite a bit of time with both.

Silverfast SE is crippleware, you wouldn't be able to turn on 16 bit depth. Use Plustek's own (ugly) software or shell out for Vuescan I guess.

 

[yossarian123]

Just as a test, I'm going to re-fix the last two rolls. AFAIK, my fix is really fresh (<10 rolls) so I doubt it's going to do anything.

One question for Diafine users (which I may post as a separate thread) - I keep my A/B solutions in gallon containers. They're separate of course, and I take care not to get any A into B (thoroughly rinse my funnel in HOT water after every use). Could this be a case where my solution A went bad?

Also, does anyone know if I need to re-stir my A/B soups soups? If the gallon jugs sit for a couple of weeks does the developer sink to the bottom? I'm wondering if I underdeveloped because the soup was too thin.