Back in the Game

Have at it.

As much as I like digital, I can’t ever see myself giving up on B&W film. I love the “look” too much. And what happens inside the developing tank is, to me, magic.

Jim B.
 
Art Vandalay said:
How funny...I have a Freestyle order coming with some Diafine.

Where in the Detroit area are you located?
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Just north of Auburn Hills. I'll be heading down to Plymouth Township tomorrow, going to give the Ice Festival a look-see, although with the warm weather today, it might be a bust.
 
Alright! Nothing like the smell of Stop Bath and Fixer to open the sinuses.

I picked up a Rodinax 35U the other day, and I'm torn as to using it or not, since it appears to be in NIB condition. Maybe I'll just stick to the steel tanks. It's what I know best.

PF
 
I'm a big fan of Diafine. I found it worked best with Tri-X at 800 3+3, and Acros at 100 (box speed) 5+5. Know that I reduced agitation to only two gentile inversions per minute. I got negatives that have a good density for wet printing. The reduced agitation I'm sure killed some film speed, but the rewards was a nice midrange and very fine grain. Also know that with the Tri-X I boosted the contrast with a 2X yellow filter so there was plenty of contrast to get "compensated" to avoid flat negatives.

I found that Diafine got better with use after about 24-30 rolls as it got seasoned (cross contamination of Part "A" into Part "B") where the midtones got more pronounced.

I use to shoot 100 rolls a month, one summer I peaked at 150 rolls a month for a summer, and I used Diafine as my developer for economic reasons.

Been shooting less film (Monochrom) so now I'm back to solvent developers like Microphen and Rodinal with slow speed films. I never left the game. Welcome back.

Cal
 
farlymac said:
Alright! Nothing like the smell of Stop Bath and Fixer to open the sinuses.

I picked up a Rodinax 35U the other day, and I'm torn as to using it or not, since it appears to be in NIB condition. Maybe I'll just stick to the steel tanks. It's what I know best.

PF
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That looks pretty cool. I've never used anything like that. I don't care for steel or plastic reels, myself, so I tend to use Kodacraft aprons. Since Diafine doesn't require inversions or extensive agitation, it works really well for me and is dead easy to load film onto. Doesn't work for anything requiring inversions or heavy agitation, unless you use the aprons in a sealed tank versus the Kodak "Kodacraft" tank, which is light-tight but open on top and not sealed.
 
Calzone said:
I'm a big fan of Diafine. I found it worked best with Tri-X at 800 3+3, and Acros at 100 (box speed) 5+5. Know that I reduced agitation to only two gentile inversions per minute. I got negatives that have a good density for wet printing. The reduced agitation I'm sure killed some film speed, but the rewards was a nice midrange and very fine grain. Also know that with the Tri-X I boosted the contrast with a 2X yellow filter so there was plenty of contrast to get "compensated" to avoid flat negatives.

I found that Diafine got better with use after about 24-30 rolls as it got seasoned (cross contamination of Part "A" into Part "B") where the midtones got more pronounced.

I use to shoot 100 rolls a month, one summer I peaked at 150 rolls a month for a summer, and I used Diafine as my developer for economic reasons.

Been shooting less film (Monochrom) so now I'm back to solvent developers like Microphen and Rodinal with slow speed films. I never left the game. Welcome back.

Cal
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I have always been a big fan of Diafine also, but I haven't shot a roll of film in a bunch of years, so I had to get new chemistry.

With the very expired (and not properly stored) film stock I am using, I think Diafine is the only way to go - otherwise I would be totally guessing at dev times and temps.

I don't have a darkroom and don't print; I just load my tanks in a changing bag, develop my film, and scan the results. I just got my old Scan Dual IV and Epson flat bed scanners out of storage, they seem to still be working correctly with Vuescan on Linux.
 
I don't have a darkroom. My Beseller 23C is in Public Storage, and my living situation is that I live in Madhattan and don't have the space.

But I decided that I would concentrate on image capture alone with no regard to printing. I went to art school decades ago and use to be a good wet printer, but I wanted to shoot as much film as possible while it was so cheap and readily available. Along the way I disturbed many people who did not understand that I can evaluate negatives on a light table and print later.

I bought close dated Acros from Freestyle at $1.89 a roll on a closeout (still have about 40 rolls in my freezer) and Arista Premium (Tri-X) at $2.89 a roll. Glad I loaded up the truck.

I know one day in the future decades from now I will be greatful that I shot as much film as I could. Printing and editing takes time which I can always do later...

Cal
 
If you have a lot of experience you can sort out negatives on a light table and print them without making any test strips.

If you like Tri-X (400) in Diafine E.I. 800 maybe try Kodak 5222 Double-X as well at E.I. 640.

Our price for Tri-X (400) 135-36 is Eur. 5,25 and bulk 30,5m/100ft Eur. 140,- so then an XX reel 122m/400ft is not a bad idea.

On the other hand: Fomapan and Rollei is relative cheap: Eur. 3,25 resp. Eur. 4,25. About Fuji Acros 100 135-36: Eur. 6,75. So you see big differences in film prices. :)

BTW Euro versus $ is 1: 1,1 at the moment.
 
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