CineStill Df96 Monobath - any experience ?

[CameraQuest]

"CineStill Df96 Monobath is the World’s Fastest B&W Film Process"

3 Minute Developing

https://petapixel.com/2018/06/19/ci...is-the-worlds-fastest-and-easiest-bw-process/

 

[brennanphotoguy]

Not yet but I'm gonna split a bottle of it with my buddy and see how it is.

 

[farlymac]

Three minutes if you want to turn the AC off for a few hours to let things heat up to 80°F. 😀 I guess one could use a tub of hot water to reach and hold that temp throughout the process.


PF

 

[brennanphotoguy]

Step 1. Pour the Df96 in a container.
Step 2. Fill another container with hot water.
Step 3. Insert container from Step 1 into container from Step 2 without letting water come into container 1.
Step 4. Insert thermometer till 80 degrees is reached.

Alternatively, develop at 70 degrees for 6 min.

 

[cz23]

I was attracted until I saw the price -- nearly $7.00 per roll.

John

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

80 is what comes out of my tap 9 months a year!
The examples I've seen of pictures developed with Monobath were what I would call "muddy". It better look as good as the traditional system (dev./stop-water/fix/wash-water) just to save a few minutes, and cost more per roll.

 

[x-ray]

I was attracted until I saw the price -- nearly $7.00 per roll.

John

How did you figure $7/roll. 1L will run 16 rolls at a cost of $17/L. That figures to $1.06 / roll.

A friend used a monobath developer back in the mid 60's when we were in highschool. It was interesting. I don't remember specifics though but it did work.

 

[cz23]

How did you figure $7/roll. 1L will run 16 rolls at a cost of $17/L. That figures to $1.06 / roll.

A friend used a monobath developer back in the mid 60's when we were in highschool. It was interesting. I don't remember specifics though but it did work.

It says the regular price is $20/1000ml. My Paterson tank requires about 300ml/roll. Am I not computing right? Fairly new at this.

John

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[brennanphotoguy]

It's reusable. You pour it back in the jug.

 

[cz23]

It's reusable. You pour it back in the jug.

Ah, duh.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[x-ray]

It says the regular price is $20/1000ml. My Paterson tank requires about 300ml/roll. Am I not computing right? Fairly new at this.

John

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

You reuse the developer and add 15 seconds after processing each roll.

Oops- someone already mentioned that.

In the 60's my friend had a little tank you would place the entire film cassette in. You did a couple of gyrations with the spool in the cassette to make sure the developer could get between the spirals in the cassette. Monobath was poured into the tank with the cassette in it and some minutes later you removed the cassette, opened it and removed the processed film ready to be washed. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the system.

I don't think I'd expect the same results as a standard developer but I'd guess it would be ok for some folks. I'd like to be wrong though and hope it's a good and convenient solution.

 

[Noserider]

A quote from Gerald Koch on APUG;

Grant Haist a Kodak, engineer, who was THE authority on monobaths, the wrote the book The Monobath Manual came to the conclusion that they were a waste of time and not worth the added expense. They confer no benefit over conventional processing. Resist the hoopla and stick to conventional processing.

 

[Mackinaw]

Monobaths have always puzzled me. What is so difficult about processing B&W film? It’s not like it’s hard to transfer film from developer, to stop bath, to fixer. I just don’t see the attraction.

Jim B.

 

[lonemantis]

Monobaths have always puzzled me. What is so difficult about processing B&W film? It’s not like it’s hard to transfer film from developer, to stop bath, to fixer. I just don’t see the attraction.

Jim B.

If the process is more convenient, more people might be inclined to try it for the first time. Traditional processing is easy once you understand the basics, but there are fewer opportunities out there to learn - more advanced techniques and experimentation can come later. Cinestill in particular have done a good job of attracting a younger crowd of new film photographers, and the more people shooting film, the better it is for our community as a whole.

I'm not shooting a lot of B&W myself these days, but I'm looking forward to seeing more results from this!

 

[brennanphotoguy]

Monobaths have always puzzled me. What is so difficult about processing B&W film? It’s not like it’s hard to transfer film from developer, to stop bath, to fixer. I just don’t see the attraction.

Jim B.

It's not hard. I can think of a few reasons that people might be inclined to do it though. Like someone else mentioned, if the ease means it gets more people into shooting film and developing that's better for everyone, someone might want to cut down the amount of space they take up in storage so the few amount of bottles and/or chemicals the better, quicker turnaround times maybe if someone has a project that requires it for some reason, someone could be traveling and wants to shoot/develop on the road then carrying this one chemical with them could make that easier, etc.

Personally, I just want to give it a whirl because it's something kind of new. If anything I'll use it on some test rolls and if I don't like it I can always say I tried it.

 

[steveyork]

Just one roll so far, but the negs look underdeveloped and thin using their prescribed time of 4 minutes.

Edit -- They scanned better then they looked.

 

[wlaidley]

I have tried a few rolls through Cinestill Monobath. The first roll was overdeveloped and in not fully fixed. I had to process the film in fix separately and re-wash. The second and third rolls were under-developed - very thin. All were following the recommendations for processing.

I do not know if I have a batch past it's best before date but so far I'm not liking it.

 

[Huss]

Just used this for my first film developing in decades!
Very very happy with the results. And it could not be easier. I developed 6 min @ 70 degrees.

Monobath got me back into developing because I do not want multiple containers of chemicals and keep track of what is old etc. I also have limited space. This makes it so easy on all fronts. It is also cheap, especially considering nothing is going to waste. It works out about just over $1 a roll to develop my film. My local shop (now closed due to Covid19), charges $10..


Arista 400, Nikon F3 Ltd, CV 40 SL2

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Welcome back to the land of the handcrafters, Huss. Keep us informed of your progress with this.

 

[Huss]

Thanks Larry, just developed a roll of 120 and will scan that later.
This is about as simple as it gets and I am so far pleased with the results. I'm going to shoot a roll of Ilford 50 to see how it handles low grain film.