Question regarding Diafine

[DRabbit]

Thanks David.

CJM... what do you expose at when shooting?

 

[DRabbit]

Nevermind CJM... you answered 🙂

 

[cjm]

Yes, exactly. Thats what I did in this set of pictures, but with 100 speed film. See here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gradskater/sets/72157614918726829/

I just noticed that in addition to Diafine and Arista Premium, we're also both using the Plustek 7300. 😉

 

[cjm]

Nevermind CJM... you answered 🙂

I say I expose at 1250. In reality, I aim for 1250 but more often fall somewhere between 400 and 1600 because I don't use a meter.

 

[Gradskater]

I just noticed that in addition to Diafine and Arista Premium, we're also both using the Plustek 7300. 😉

ha! great minds think alike!

 

[shadowfox]

It seems like diafine fits the bill (it sounds easier to use than Rodinal, which sounds like the other best choice for me?). I would rather not have to worry about temperature control or precise timing.

-David

Hi David,

Need to be careful when saying that Diafine is easier to use than Rodinal. Developing your own B&W is far more forgiving on temperatures and timing than let's say E-6. So pretty much every commercially available developers out there are "easy to use" from that perspective.

I like Rodinal better because 1) I don't have to mix powders and 2) It gave me enough variety of results from experimenting with timing, dilution, and agitation methods when combined with different films.

In short, very fun to use 🙂

 

[bmattock]

Need to be careful when saying that Diafine is easier to use than Rodinal.

Not really. Diafine *is* easier to use than Rodinal.

Diafine, like all two-part developers, develops to completion. So timing means virtually nothing once the development process ends due to the second part developer being exhausted. Three minutes, ten minutes, thirty minutes - all the same. I suppose you could get ridiculous and soak it until the emulsion lifts, but for all practical purposes, time doesn't matter.

With Rodinal - indeed any one-part developer - timing matters. More time in the soup means more development. Temperature speeds up or slows down development significantly.

Granted that you are right - B&W in general is far easier than C41 or C6 - and cheaper too. But Diafine is in a class by itself in terms of being 'idiot-proof' as long as the user doesn't mix up parts A and B in processing or pouring the liquid back in the bottles.

Diafine is not the be-all, end-all developer, IMHO. Since it gives an effective speed boost to nearly every film (not a 'push' but an actual speed boost), it is hard to shoot slow films at their intended speed and use Diafine to process them. Rodinal is also, I believe, superior in many ways to Diafine in terms of final product. But for a basic developer that works every time, is way cheaper than even Rodinal to use, it's a pip. Could not be easier to use.

 

[Ronald_H]

Thanks for the comments Ronald. I am happy to hear that the combo scans well!

Is there any way to tell when the batch has died? Or do you just end up with an accidentally undeveloped roll?

I hadn't used my Diafine for a few months because it was summertime (= lots of light), and I was experimenting with HC-110. My first roll in Diafine again looked a bit underexposed and my solution A looked very 'gunky', lots of crud in it. I ordered some new Diafine, but developed on more roll in the old stuff, after filtering my solutions with a coffee filter (as stated on the Diafine box). Obviously I used two filters, one for each solution!

However, the negs were very bad. Way too thin (underexposed) and extremely spotty. No one could really explain what happened...

As others have stated, it is not a 'do all, end all' developer, but you will get good negs over a wild latitude of films and parameters. But fine-tuning my approach with HC-110 for let's say HP5+ looks a lot better than HP5+ in Diafine. But in all fairness, Tri-X in Diafine could keep you happy, for a long, long time.

But don't take my word for it, I'm a rookie w.r,t home development after all, been doing it for littlke more than a year. Used two developers only so far and have processed maybe 50 rolls or so. That can't compare to the decennia of experience that other guys here. But hey, I jumped in and survived, and I'm pretty happy with some of my negs, so why shouldn't you?

Edit: The last roll in the old Diafine was not accidently underexposed btw, because I switched to a roll of a C-41 in the same camera that night and those came out fine, They were all flash pics made with my Canoinet GIII QL17 and a Nikon SB-30 and I did change the settings to account for difference in ISO.