Yeah whats up with that?? People seem to love rodinal which i can't stand. i guess the same people prefer olympus OM cameras over anything functional.... (runs for cover)
This forum has made me into a better photographer for sure, but...
As for Rodinal there's some great work on this forum using it. In fact I want to try it with Arcos. Although Rodinal increases grain, Arcos basically has none, and Rodinal is very sharp and has high acutance. I'm sure I could do some crazy stuff with Rodinal. A lot of my understanding of how Diafine works I got from understanding Rodinal stand development threads. I'm speaking specifically of the compensating effects here that some how some RFF'er seenm to have mastered.
Anyways I did perform this Diafine-Times-Two development that I read about in another thread, where you process your film twice being extra careful not to contaminate your part A with Part B. I did three water rinses to ensure not destroying my Part A with sudden death syndrome. The idea of Diafine-Times-Two is to double the film speed by processing twice.
The result were impressive. Nice mids even though Tri-X was pushed to 1600, increased contrast but not so excessive, but now I figure on improvements and shot HP5 at 1600 and Tri-X at 1250, and now I wanna simplify the process by extending the soak time of Part A to perhaps 7 minutes and Part B to 4 or 4 1/2 minutes because I'm a lazy but crazy slacker dude.
By the way I use chemically pure water that is HPLC grade to do all my chemistry that's available in my lab at work, I even use this pure water for rinsing before fixing. Also know that your Diafine will get to look like beer piss after 40-50 rolls and you will see enhanced mids as your Diafine gets seasoned with use.
Then again some people lately have been bashing Arcos saying it looks digital and stating that instead of shooting film if you like Arcos you might as well shoot digital B&W. I figure these are the same people who would bash large format because that is what I want to emulate even though I'm shooting 35 and 120.
Sorry for the rant, but sometimes I get hysterical... John will tell you...Anyways I have a boring day job...
Now back on topic: The Mermaid Parade will be fun because its kinda crazy. Very-very entertaining. And be aware that it looks like the first heat wave of summer is beginning. Hopefully John does not burn his scalp badly.
Cal