My Diafine Arrived Safely

rover · Apr 5, 2005

Mixed it up tonight and will process a roll tomorrow. I figured that for those of you waiting for yours I would post the instructions on the box. It appears, per Doug's posts, that the agitation recommendations are a bit aggressive.

My plan,

Pour in Solution A and bump off any bubbles, agitate once after a couple minutes.
Drain
Pour in Solution B and bump off any bubbles, one very gentle agitation after a couple minutes, bump, and watch the clock.

I caught the recommended film speeds on this scan too. I have a roll of 400TX in my camera now rated at 1250, which I read was a good time for Diafine. I will shoot the next roll at 1600 and compare the results.

back alley · Apr 5, 2005

doctor rover, makin' soup in the darkroom!

joe

T_om · Apr 5, 2005

That sounds like a good agitation plan... Diafine does NOT do well with "a whole lotta shaking goin' on".

Neat thing about Diafine is you can vary the ISO at any time during the roll and not worry about developing problems. Shoot the Tri-X at 400-600 for flat lighting, 1250 for fairly contrasty stuff and 1600 for night shots. All on the same roll if you like... won't cause any problems in developing and will help Diafine's tendency to produce somewhat flat negatives in flat light.

If you are scanning the negatives for digital darkroom work instead of traditional wet darkroom processing, then just set the meter to ISO 1250 and forget it. A simple curves adjustment in PhotoShop will take care of any and all contrast variations you might then encounter.

I love Diafine. And Tri-X. Yeah, love'em. 😎

Tom

FrankS · Apr 5, 2005

"Shoot the Tri-X at 400-600 for flat lighting, 1250 for fairly contrasty stuff and 1600 for night shots."

Wow! Sounds like the zone system to me. And all on the same roll of 35mm film. Great stuff!

Thanks for that suggestion, Tom!

Doug · Apr 6, 2005

I think you have a good plan, rover! Looking forward to seeing your results.

Tom; good stuff for sure!

taffer · Apr 6, 2005

Yeah Rover !!! I LOVE that stuff, I even like the smell. I can't recommend it highly enough to people willing to give a try to home processing by first time.

As it's said, EI is not that important if you keep it in a range around the recommended speed.

I use the agitation scheme recommended in the box without problems, but take care that the temp. of the stop bath (water), is more or less the same than the one of developer and fixer (I simply keep them all at room temp).

Time to dust off that 50/1.2 😉 Which I also have to do myself, btw.

ijonas · Apr 6, 2005

I can't believe they don;'t sell this mythical developer in the UK. Aarararagggggghhhhhhh!!!!!

T_om · Apr 6, 2005

ijonas,

Check your PM.

Tom

don sorsa · Apr 6, 2005

When you're shooting on a sunny day, you could consider using plus-x @250 instead of tri-x for a very nice look.

GeneW · Apr 6, 2005

Way to go, Rover! I'll be watching for a progress report.

Gene

rover · Apr 6, 2005

The found film swims tonight.

I am thinking about getting the Film Developing Cookbook Don to address some of these exposure and developer issues. I usually rate films at box speed or 1/3 stop below, this Diafine experience is going to be all new to me. It does look like Plus X and FP4 become more of an everyday film when developed in Diafine. Tri X with a yellow filter shot at 1250 though isn't too fast for general use.

Goodyear · Apr 7, 2005

T_om said:
ijonas,

Check your PM.

Tom

Now I'm curious what that PM said... 🙂

FrankS · Apr 7, 2005

Don and Rover,

If ISO 250 works for FP4 in Diafine, I may switch away from my HP5 standard.

don sorsa · Apr 7, 2005

Frank - Diafine is the only developer I use, laziness and lack of time-space as much as anything else. I've only shot FP4+ maybe twice because plus-x is cheaper at the local shops. However, now that the sun is starting to shine on our part of the world, I'd suggest investigating Diafine and FP4+ @ 250. I think you'll like the results. Lex at photo.net has a few samples in one of his folders . I'll look to see if I can find my own samples, somewhere. http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=172915

RayPA · Apr 7, 2005

Manolo Gozales said:
Hey🙂

Talking of new chemicals to play with, I've just gotten a shipment of Precysol and Alkali - Fix.

Never used a staining dev before so I'm looking forward to seeing some results.
The Alkali fixer seems to have a short shelf-life once diluted, so I might have to save up my films and process in a big lump!

Salud!

ManGo

I've been wanting to try a tanning developer for a while now. I've been looking at pyro-based developers. Looking forward to seeing what your work looks like. More and more of these newer developer and "boutique" formulations and reformulations are requiring an all alkali process. I've never had a problem using an acid stop bath before, but I understand the concerns.

RayPA · Apr 7, 2005

rover said:
I am thinking about getting the Film Developing Cookbook...

I highly recommend it and the companion Darkroom Cookbook, which adds nicely to the Film Developing Cookbook. Lot's of information, not the best layout, horrible index in the Film Developing Cookbook, but a GREAT source for all things chemical in the darkroom. 😀

T_om · Apr 7, 2005

Goodyear said:
Now I'm curious what that PM said... 🙂

Nothing sinister. 😀

I did two things:

One, offered to buy some and ship it to him if necessary and two, directed him to Huron Camera.

Huron ships internationally via the post, which is WAY cheaper than Adorama, et al, shipping via courier.

In my experience, the post also has less customs hassles.

Anyway, he went to Huron and ordered there and has about 20 years worth or so of Diafine en route. Well, maybe that was a SLIGHT exaggeration 🙂 , but he will not need any for quite a while.

Tom

PS: Standard disclaimer applies. I neither sell this stuff commercially nor do I have any financial interest in Huron Camera.

o0dano0o · Apr 7, 2005

don sorsa said:
Frank - Diafine is the only developer I use, laziness and lack of time-space as much as anything else.

I second the motion. It even works for bluefire....yesssssss....

rover · Apr 7, 2005

RayPA said:
I highly recommend it and the companion Darkroom Cookbook, which adds nicely to the Film Developing Cookbook. Lot's of information, not the best layout, horrible index in the Film Developing Cookbook, but a GREAT source for all things chemical in the darkroom. 😀

I just ordered the books, should have something new to read some time next week.

Goodyear · Apr 8, 2005

T_om said:
Huron ships internationally via the post, which is WAY cheaper than Adorama, et al, shipping via courier.

In my experience, the post also has less customs hassles.

That's largely the kind of thing I hoped it said. Got a link?

/edit: Man, I'm just too lazy. I googled it 😀

My Diafine Arrived Safely

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