You gents will soon be sloshing gallons of Diafine! I'll want to hear personal experiences and observations, and of course see the pics. 🙂
Found film help needed
- Thread starter rover
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Maybe if we order enough they will make some more available.
back alley
IMAGES
does diafine come in a round can with a white label with blue trim on it?
joe
joe
back alley
IMAGES
i need to check but i think we have that here at mcbain camera, a local pro shop.
joe
joe
T_om
Well-known
rover said:
The box shot above is the correct one. Inside the box is two tin cans. Marked A & B
In the "Gallon" kit, EACH can makes a gallon of solution (total two gallons).
The stuff has the half-life of concrete. It will last a LONG time. If you start now, you will be using that gallon kit this time next year and will start feeling guilty about getting such good results from stuff that looks SO bad. I do not think I ever 'wore out' a batch. Part A just went away after a while.
What happens is that as it is used, part A soaks into the emulsion and slowly diminishes in volume. Because the film soaks it up, you pour back slightly less each time it is used.
Part B seems to actually increase in volume as you go along (as well as beginning to look like a science experiment gone terribly wrong) and you will end up having to pour some out.
Do not let the appearance of the developer put you off. It keeps working just fine even though it might not look so good. By the way, NEVER shake it up.
Keep in mind a gallon kit does not actually hit its stride until a dozen or so rolls have gone through it. Then it keeps going like the proverbial Energizer Bunny.
Tom
K
Kin Lau
Guest
Okay.. that's 3 servings of Diafine at the table in Toronto (GeneW, FrankS & myself). Anyone else in the GTA?
taffer
void
Well, it's fun to see how this thread went on. As some of you know, I was in the same position last summer (you can read it on the 'Diafine' thread), and after somebody here provided a link, found the only (I think) place that will ship it worldwide via normal USPS and not UPS or Fedex, that was Huron Camera. They don't stock it but usually get it 3-4 days after you place the order. Shipping was $12 for 2 gallon cartons, not bad for who-knows-how-many years of developer, it got here in 3 weeks via slow boat (not a bad timing) as this thing can't fly.
I simply LOVE the stuff, and it's true, the B solution gets real ugly, loses that nice creamy color and gets a dull brown, also gathers residues from the developing process, so you end getting a brown bottle with black worms floating around 🙂 (that can be filtered, of course).
The truth is that the stuff simply works GREAT even if it's that ugly, and I can't now think on a reason to go get another developer, maybe for experiments but diafine seems made for lazy people so I'm too lazy for that... 😛
As for agitation, I haven't found significant differences, I move the tank at first to get rid of any possible bubbles and then do a couple or three small inversions during the process. What seems important to me is to have the stop bath (water) and the fixer at the same temp. For that I always have a 5 litre bottle filled with tap water at room temp and use that as a stop and post-fixer bath as well. Then finally I give the usual bath in distilled water with some wetting agent.
I mostly use Neopan 400 rated at 640 (not that important in the end as now I nearly always guess the exposure) and Tri-X at 1250. Both look great. Also had very good results with FP4 rated at 250.
So far, Diafine and me, it's a love story.
I simply LOVE the stuff, and it's true, the B solution gets real ugly, loses that nice creamy color and gets a dull brown, also gathers residues from the developing process, so you end getting a brown bottle with black worms floating around 🙂 (that can be filtered, of course).
The truth is that the stuff simply works GREAT even if it's that ugly, and I can't now think on a reason to go get another developer, maybe for experiments but diafine seems made for lazy people so I'm too lazy for that... 😛
As for agitation, I haven't found significant differences, I move the tank at first to get rid of any possible bubbles and then do a couple or three small inversions during the process. What seems important to me is to have the stop bath (water) and the fixer at the same temp. For that I always have a 5 litre bottle filled with tap water at room temp and use that as a stop and post-fixer bath as well. Then finally I give the usual bath in distilled water with some wetting agent.
I mostly use Neopan 400 rated at 640 (not that important in the end as now I nearly always guess the exposure) and Tri-X at 1250. Both look great. Also had very good results with FP4 rated at 250.
So far, Diafine and me, it's a love story.
Tony
Newbie
It is just possible that C41 chemistry will do the job.
K
Kin Lau
Guest
Tony said:
Huh?!? c41 chem is significantly more complicated and temperature sensitive, and this is a 25+ year old roll of traditional b&w film.
Tony
Newbie
My mistake, I read the original post as being chromogenic.
Well the story comes to a sad end. I dunked the found film today,
Result,
Sometime in the past 40 or more years the film was exposed to light, dark strip, no images.
Thank you everyone for your help and guidance to Diafine. I have been shooting my Tri X and will post some Diafine results soon.
Result,
Sometime in the past 40 or more years the film was exposed to light, dark strip, no images.
Thank you everyone for your help and guidance to Diafine. I have been shooting my Tri X and will post some Diafine results soon.
FrankS
Registered User
Too bad about that found film, Ralph, but look on the bright side, everyone learned about Diafine developer and got hooked on it!
Yep, lots can happen in 40 years. Too bad, but it might have come out otherwise!
back alley
IMAGES
bummer
joe
joe
jdos2
Well-known
taffer said:
Very enthusiastic 2!! Awesome stuff!
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