Diafine Reuse

[WoolenMammoth]

Friend of mine raved about diafine, tried some out on a roll of 5222, interesting developer. I normally use all developers as one shot, but am curious about what kind of luck people have reusing this developer for negatives. Is it one shot, or can you run a few rolls through a quart?

any insight on this topic is appreciated!

 

[infrequent]

afaik diafine just keeps on trucking as long as there is no contamination. just ensure that sol B doesn't come into contact with sol A and you are good to go. a bit sol A into B does no harm.

 

[WoolenMammoth]

how many rolls would you run before you noticed a drop in contrast in negs? Ive never been comfortable reusing developer for negatives, maybe I should get over that.

 

[bmattock]

You should not ever wear Diafine out.

It works by developing to completion - and that part of it that is exhausted is in the film emulsion and is rinsed out post-fix. The stuff you pour back into the tanks is not worn out, to the best of my knowledge.

My current batch is a year old. Don't know how many rolls I've done. The ones I have at home are over 4 years old, done maybe a few hundred rolls.

It just lasts forever. More or less. If there is a way to wear it out, I don't know what it is. Eventually, your Solution A will begin to run out, since some is lost each time.

 

[lkgroup]

I have used my batch of Diafine for over a year. I have put over 40 rolls through it. I haven't used it in a while but now that it is mentioned I will have to get it out.

The only thing I have done is filter it from time to time to get out the silver and film particles. I used a coffee filter to clean it up.

leo

 

[Freakscene]

I mix a gallon of Diafine at a time and throw it out when it has diminished to half its volume, several hundred rolls later. I add marbles to the bottle as i use it to keep the liquid full and with a minimal air/developer interface size. You can also mix two lots of Diafine at a time and add a little from your second 'replenisher' set each time. Whatever you do, periodic filtration is required to remove particulate material.

Please post some pictures of your 5222 shots developed in Diafine - I'm interested to see what it looks like.

Marty

 

[drewbarb]

Please post some pictures of your 5222 shots developed in Diafine - I'm interested to see what it looks like.

Marty

Yeah! And tell us what speed you get.

 

[WoolenMammoth]

Im not really the type that subscribes to one film speed, every stock has a window... Looking at the test roll I shot Id be very comfortable running between 320ish and 3200 depending upon the quality of the light source. This dev/film combo seems to behave a little different under diffuse and hard light for sure. Id suggest bracketing a roll for yourself and drawing your own conclusion based on the look you like best.