Old Diafine dilemma

[Ronald_H]

Shot a roll of Tri-X last night at a concert. Rated it about 1000-ish as usual.

I really like to use Diafine and Tri-X for this sort of contrasty work. I have some bottles of Diafine A & B solution, but I haven't touched them for almost a year. Can I still expect decent results? I know that Diafine is supposed to last 'forever', but this long?

The alternative is to use HC110 (fresh) which of course will also work.

Any thoughts?

 

[MartinP]

I haven't used Diafine, but for most of these things the storage conditions are as important as the sort of chemical. You could try putting some exposed leader through the Diafine, simply by cutting a bit off another roll, see if it goes as black as you would expect. Alternatively shoot a couple of frames from another roll and unload in the dark in to the dev. reel, then develop that to see what you get.
🙂

 

[JeffGreene]

Shot a roll of Tri-X last night at a concert. Rated it about 1000-ish as usual.

/QUOTE]

Ron:

If you've kept it cool and dry, it should be fine. I use diafine, and misplaced my bottles. Went out and replaced them and used the new stuff for over a year and a 1/2. Discovered that I'd placed them in my basement when moving my daughter's things to her new apartment. Worked fine after almost two years.

 

[david.elliott]

My diafine is three years old and still working fine. It has been kept in those brown storage containers that freestyle sells.

 

[drewbarb]

Your Diafine should still work just fine.

However, I'd process this in Ilford's Microphen. For my money, this is about the best push process developer out there. Tri-X at 1000 should be about 10 minutes in full strength Microphen; your contrast will look like you shot it at 320 and processed in D-76, no joke. Beats the pants off Diafine, IMO. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ronald_H]

It's dead Jim

It's dead Jim

Hi guys,

Don't know how you managed to keep it working for so long, but my Diafine is stone dead. Got a nice strip of completely blank film for my efforts 🙁 Checked the shutter of my FM2 just to be sure, no problems there.

I use plastic 'harmonica' style compressible bottles to store my solutions in and have done so for years. My previous barch of Diafine also was so-so after 1.5 years. A futher factor is that it gets hot in here during summer, about 30 degrees Celsius. No idea if that could be the cause for its demise.

 

[MartinP]

Ouch 🙁

Was that blank strip of film a piece of test leader or the valuable roll ? I fear the worst . . .

 

[Ronald_H]

It was the whole roll... I figured I should at least get something, even if not perfect.

Made some shots of a band a friend plays drums in. Better luck next time, it's not that the pictures are irreplacible.

I really like the Tri-X - Diafine combo for concert work, but for some reason it doesn't keep that long... Ah well.

 

[david.elliott]

Sorry to hear that :\

Completely blank? That seems weird to me that you didnt have anything at all. It gets quite hot in the summers here too. Sure you didnt accidentally get some B into A?

 

[Fotohuis]

I use plastic 'harmonica' style compressible bottles to store my solutions in and have done so for years

A bad and wrong choice. Use glass bottles for developers. Those stupid harmonica bottles are just adding a lot of air due to the high surface area. Use them as junk bottles.
Diafine 1 quart/950ml will be guarantee fine in glass bottles A+B for 1 1/2 year.
When using an inert gas like Protectan it will be 2 years.

When you have some particles you can filter the liquid. Avoid B going to A because then the Diafine is killed immediately.