Questions about Diafine

[shayallen]

I just got back from New Orleans and have 4 rolls of Tri-X 400 shot mostly at 400 iso and had some questions about developing them in Diafine. I did a search and found some information mostly from 2006. I shoot mostly street stuff and Have been shooting at 400 iso... should I be shooting it higher? and how much 800-1250?

Do I pre-wet?

How long can I use Diafine?

Should I just go by the info on the Diafine box? And what does agitate gently for 5 sec. mean?

What type of fixer should I use? Can I re-use it and for how long?

Sorry for so many questions! And thanks for your help.

 

[maddoc]

I use Diafine mostly with Tri-X pushed to 1000ISO and like it a lot. The 1 gallon solutions (1 gallon A + 1 gallon B) should last for ~ 80 rolls of 135-36 and I use mine since September (or October) last year. I never pre-wet the film, invert 15x in the first minute and then 1x per 30 seconds (Both solutions). I found it to give better results than the recommended agitation. On the other hand, over-agitation can lead to bromide-streaks and uneven development, though.

I use a water stop-bath and Ilford's Rapid-Fixer (5 minutes, 20 inversions for the first minute and 5 inversions every minute after).

 

[rover]

I just got back from New Orleans and have 4 rolls of Tri-X 400 shot mostly at 400 iso and had some questions about developing them in Diafine. I did a search and found some information mostly from 2006. I shoot mostly street stuff and Have been shooting at 400 iso... should I be shooting it higher? and how much 800-1250?

Do I pre-wet?

How long can I use Diafine?

Should I just go by the info on the Diafine box? And what does agitate gently for 5 sec. mean?

What type of fixer should I use? Can I re-use it and for how long?

Sorry for so many questions! And thanks for your help.

Let's see, yes, generally when shooting for Diafine I rate TriX at 1250. You can rate the film at what ever speed you wish, but the "slower" you rate it the higher the contrast I believe. There are threads somewhere comparing the results shot at various ISOs.

I do not pre-wet the film.

Diafine last a while once mixed. A group of us all got our first batches at the same time. Mine never failed, but I discarded it, almost 2 years after mixing, when everyone elses mixes started to go. It just keeps going and going and going....

Agitate gently....I pour in bath one, slowly agitate for 5 to 10 seconds, bump and set the tank down. 2 1/2 or minutes later I do the same and sit her down. After 5 to 6 minutes I remove bath one and add bath 2 repeating the process. Remove bath 2 wash for 30 to 60 seconds with water and then onto the fix.

I use Kodak Rapid Fix, as I would with any developer for at least 8 minutes. I use my fix as a one off so I don't reuse it, but others do.

I would say to develop your current film as you normally would and then shot the next batch to use Diafine. Better to get the results you can trust from New Orleans and experiment on something else.

Good Luck

 

[kully]

Don't prewet the film. I have diafine that is two years old and fine (although there is some particulate at the bottom that I should filter).

I take gentle agitation to mean turning the spirls via the little rod you get for that purpose in Patterson tanks slowly.

 

[Freakscene]

Lower ISOs will just give you thicker, grainier negs. You don't even gain much contrast under EI 800.

DO NOT pre-soak film for development in Diafine; it is important that the first thing the film gets dunked in is the A bath. Certainly, if you pre-soak, the times on the box will not be accurate.

Diafine works well at EI 1000-1600 for Tri-X depending on your taste in density, contrast and shadow detail.

Gentle agitation means exactly that. I use a single inversion that takes 5 seconds. Too quick or vigorous agitation in Diafine will induce crazy streaking that you cannot remedy.

Fix works irrespective of the film and developer. You can use any fixer suitable for film, but use an ammonium thiosulfate fixer because modern films have a relatively high silver iodide concentration and sodium thiosulfate does not fix silver iodide very well. Use the fix as recommended by the manufacturer, or if you want to get scientific, use silver test strips or a chemical test and keep your fixer under 6g/L silver. That's for film. It's 2 g/L for fibre base paper.

Marty

 

[shayallen]

Thanks so much guy's that helps alot. Do I need to be careful about temperature when mixing up diafine and when I am developing my film? I keep my house kind of cool between 72-74 deg.


I also wondered what type of paper developed would be best for this combo and how long can I leave it in the tray and re-use?

 

[david.elliott]

Temperature doesnt really matter. Just make sure that everything is at the same temperature roughly.

For example, dont wash with cold water right from the tap. Set aside a jug the night before and let it sit out so it is room temperature, just like your chemicals.

 

[bmattock]

If you shot Tri-X at the rated box speed of ISO 400, I would not use Diafine. The negatives will indeed be very thick. Diafine is best with Tri-X rated at EI 1250 or so.

If you shot Tri-X at ISO 400, process it in D76 for best results.

And no, do not ever pre-wet Diafine. It works by developing 'to exhaustion'. That means that it must ABSORB solution A into itself and then solution B combines with the solution A in the film's emulsion to develop until the solution A is exhausted. If you pre-wet, the film emulsion (which is like a sponge) is already 'full' of water and cannot absorb any more liquid - so it won't absorb solution A, and solution B will have nothing to combine with.

The instructions on the box are really clear. Follow them.

 

[philipp.leser]

Tri-X delivers a true EI 400 in Diafine, but the negatives will get contrasty. Rating the film faster than EI 400 will result in negatives that have a contrast that's better manageable but you will lose shadow detail. It's a trade-off you have to make with Diafine.

I usually shoot Tri-X at EI 400, develop in Diafine and use a softer paper grade.

Regards,
Philipp

 

[shayallen]

Thanks, I also wondered what type of paper developer would be best for this combo and how long can I leave it in the tray and re-use?