Rollei R3 in Diafine

S

Siegfried

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Hello

Since I've learned important stuff over here about Diafine (especially T_om, thanks), I think it's only fair to share the little I know. All "information" below should be considered "as is".

Anyway, I shot a scene from EI 50 -> 1600 (with the Bessa R meter), developed in Diafine (both A & B 4 minutes, 3 x 5sec agitating in each bath). Looking at the negs, the ISO 50 & 100 shots are the best ones, density - wise. Anything beyond EI 400 was terrible.
The scans, the ISO 100 & 50 are both way too grainy (similar to Delta 400 in Diafine).

So the conclusion to my totally unscientific test :
Rollei R3 is incompatible with Diafine

that's all folks
 
Odd... is it that only the scans look grainy, or do the negatives look grainy too? Scanners can add interference artifacts that may look similar to grain...
 
some extra info

some extra info

sceptical people over here, always a good thing ;)

@Doug, I don't own an enlarger or a loupe, so I can't check it
negatives were scanned with a Minolta Dual 4, which has a lamp instead of LEDs, and shouldn't exagerate grain (no bad experiences)
I have some crops here, 1600dpi, no USM, histogram with black and white points, no clipping. Delta 100 in Diafine vs. Rollei R3 in Diafine. The Delta has more bokeh (where grain looks worse) and delta EI was 80 vs 50 for the Rollei. Imho the delta is clearly superior (and I don't think Diafine is a great dev for delta100).

delta100a.jpg

delta 100, sharp leaves in a sea of bokeh
delta100b.jpg

delta 100, lots of bokeh
rolleir3b.jpg

Rollei R3, shadow area
rolleir3a.jpg

Rollei R3, highlight area

anyway,whatever the grain issue, the iso 50-100 speed is rather disappointing, so I'm not going to try Diafine again. The film seems to be a strange beast, I've read about sub-optimal results in D76 and Xtol. It should be good in the recommended developers though(Rollei HighSpeed & LowSpeed, =AM74 & =CG512). I have a bottle of AM74, when I've tried that combination, I'll let you know.

Siegfried
 
apologies, i haven't seen rollei r3 film...
and i've read that delta 100 isn't so great in diafine.
but i've seen good results from delta 100 rated @80, developed in hc110b. some very smooth tonalities.
 
Is the Rollei film a T Grain film? It seems Diafine doesn't get along as well with T Grain films.
 
rover said:
Is the Rollei film a T Grain film? It seems Diafine doesn't get along as well with T Grain films.
Click to expand...

?? I thought TMax was a T Grain film. TMax 400 is great in Diafine; actually, Diafine is the only thing that makes me like TMax (which before Diafine I used to call "TJ Max").

I had never heard of Rollei film, so I was confused too. Diafine works really well with the right film in the proper conditions, the conditions being "contrasty", and the right film, well, it's been pretty much documented that Tri-X, Plus-X, and sometimes HP5 are fine. I get really beautiful results with FP4+ too.

Sorry to see you struck out with this film. But it's because of adventurous people like you that good combos can be found!
 
I think the R3 is a multi-layer emulsion so that it can be used at widely different exposure indexes. I've never used it, but it may be that its own dedicated developers are needed to draw out the best quality and versatility... Interesting samples, Siegfried!
 
It may just be me Gabrielma,

I actually have liked the results I have gotten with Tri X and Plus X in Diafine so much that I haven't used it with anything else. I actually have a roll of TMax 100 shot at 80 sitting here waiting to be developed. Shot at that ISO it may not be the best one to throw in the Diafine, I was planning on D76.

Siegfried, have you developed the R3 in anything other than Diafine? How have they turned out?
 
R3 and maco both have dev times listed on digitaltruth.com

Read the article on maco it looks interesting.

I may try one of them this weekend, I'm fresh out of B&W film and need to make a trip to the photoshop anyway.
 
delta 100 in diafine

delta 100 in diafine

tajart said:
apologies, i haven't seen rollei r3 film...
and i've read that delta 100 isn't so great in diafine.
but i've seen good results from delta 100 rated @80, developed in hc110b. some very smooth tonalities.
Click to expand...

FWIW in this thread, i actually love delta 100 at EI 80 in diafine, both 35mm and 120 size (the latter i vary EI 64 to 80 depending on conditions). now delta 400 in diafine is crud, unless you're going for big popcorn grain and no detail in shadows or highlights for special effects.
justin
 
I shot roll of Rollei R3 too... and don't know how to develop.
I read that results with d76/id11 are mediocre (from grain prospective).
I have Ultrafine Liquid, never tried that developer and have no processing instruction to it (digitaltruth keps silence )
 
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