Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Almost 8 years ago the "Onion" had a headline, "Black Man Gets Worse Job Ever" and there was a photograph of the President Elect Obama. It was shortly after this time that I found myself in a similar sitch-Che-A-tion when Damaso Reyes had started the NYC Meet-Up and somehow handed the responsibility to me before leaving for Spain. Somehow a lazy slacker like me got saddled with responsibility. LOL.
In November, of this Election Year, will be our 8th year of more or less meeting monthly, and in celebration I would like to give back to the group that made me less lazy and really helped me greatly develop as a photographer in so many ways.
First off many thanks to John for stepping up and managing so I could take a break, and also for all his help.
For others: Thanks for getting me a fresh large format printer (Epson 7800) for $100.00; thanks for the honor of giving a Symposium at ICP; thanks for all the expert technical help that help advance my photography; and most of all thanks for being my friends because I know I can be mighty annoying and crazy. LOL.
The amount of support has been so generous, and we truely are great friends. As part of my gratitude I propose the New York City "Slacker Brew Invitational."
Here are the guidelines and the rules: Shoot a roll of 36 exposure Tri-X at 800 ISO and give it to me for processing in Diafine. I say the limit of films given to me has to be capped at 75 rolls of Tri-X which is what typically I can do in a day. Negatives will be return sleeved in a negative file. Sorry no 120 at this time. Also limited only to people who have attended at least one NYC Meet-Up or the one we had in Philly. I am trying not to exclude anyone so other friends from all over the world can participate. Anyways this is an opportunity for say Jerome in Montreal for example, but you must have attended at least one NYC sponsored Meet-Up. BTW I am sure we will make up more rules to keep this fun as we go along. My goal is to have perhaps a November Meet-Up deadline. Also know I will not be keeping track of individual films so expect some chaos and the usual confusion I tend to create. LOL.
Anyways I am kinda gearing up to exploit and further refine my process. Let's do it together. We can learn a lot.
Also I want to dedicate this event to our dear friend Helen Hill who is such an original thinker.
We live in a great city for day and night shooting. Let's keep that sharing going.
This event will kinda jump start my film fever. I already have the gallon kit of Diafine required, but because I'm a lazy slacker it is not mixed. The cost of this processing is actually a few pennies of fixer because the Diafine gets reused. Know that I only use HPLC grade chemically pure water for all my chemistry and stop bath. The lab water is so pure that it is not safe to drink because it is so chemically reactive that it will erode living tissue. Also it has an electrical resistance of over 18 Mega ohms. Pure H-two-O.
Also I will bring to the Meet-Up a GePe light table and an 8X lupe to show you the amazing IQ and that the grain is mucho small almost like Fuji Acros (almost no grain).
Understand that Diafine is a compensating developer that is two parts. The compensating effect is reduced contrast, and understand that Diafine originally was created for night shooting.
In the spirit of Helen's original thinking I kinda threw away the directions and figured out how to make Diafine work for me. I'm a lazy slacker, so it basically is less work. As long as the developer is over 20 degrees "C" or 68 degrees "F" there is no concern for temperature.
Next understand that the development times are short. Then Diafine gets reused saving money and time. The results are sharp fine grained with a rich midrange.
The way Diafine works is kinda interesting. Part A is the developer, but during the recommended 3 minute soak actually no or the tiniest amount of development happens. In slacker mode I reduced aggitation to only two inversions because I found that it makes the grain smaller. A bonus effect is that I kinda get reduced development that further reduces contrast to leave rich midrange of a larger format.
Part A is poured off and saved to be reused. Next is the Part B that actually activates the Part A that is soaked into the negative. Again I minimize aggitation to reduce contrast and minimize grain. Like stand development the highlights get developed and then stop. Really hard to blow the highlights so that endpoint is established, I tend to expose for about 50% grey instead of 30% grey if the lighting is not contrasty or very bright, perhaps a 1/3rd stop more light (IE expose at 650 ISO under diffused lighting).
Diafine is known for deep shadow detail so don't be surprise if your 35mm negatives look like medium format. Anyways because of a higher shutter speed expect sharper negatives by that alone, but also know as a developer that Diafine is also sharp.
When in doubt overexpose, otherwise thin negatives will result. Soon I will begin conditioning my batch of Diafine with 25-30 rolls of film. Diafine kinda gets seasoned with use and that usually requires about 25-30 rolls being processed.
Anyways let's blast away.
Cal
In November, of this Election Year, will be our 8th year of more or less meeting monthly, and in celebration I would like to give back to the group that made me less lazy and really helped me greatly develop as a photographer in so many ways.
First off many thanks to John for stepping up and managing so I could take a break, and also for all his help.
For others: Thanks for getting me a fresh large format printer (Epson 7800) for $100.00; thanks for the honor of giving a Symposium at ICP; thanks for all the expert technical help that help advance my photography; and most of all thanks for being my friends because I know I can be mighty annoying and crazy. LOL.
The amount of support has been so generous, and we truely are great friends. As part of my gratitude I propose the New York City "Slacker Brew Invitational."
Here are the guidelines and the rules: Shoot a roll of 36 exposure Tri-X at 800 ISO and give it to me for processing in Diafine. I say the limit of films given to me has to be capped at 75 rolls of Tri-X which is what typically I can do in a day. Negatives will be return sleeved in a negative file. Sorry no 120 at this time. Also limited only to people who have attended at least one NYC Meet-Up or the one we had in Philly. I am trying not to exclude anyone so other friends from all over the world can participate. Anyways this is an opportunity for say Jerome in Montreal for example, but you must have attended at least one NYC sponsored Meet-Up. BTW I am sure we will make up more rules to keep this fun as we go along. My goal is to have perhaps a November Meet-Up deadline. Also know I will not be keeping track of individual films so expect some chaos and the usual confusion I tend to create. LOL.
Anyways I am kinda gearing up to exploit and further refine my process. Let's do it together. We can learn a lot.
Also I want to dedicate this event to our dear friend Helen Hill who is such an original thinker.
We live in a great city for day and night shooting. Let's keep that sharing going.
This event will kinda jump start my film fever. I already have the gallon kit of Diafine required, but because I'm a lazy slacker it is not mixed. The cost of this processing is actually a few pennies of fixer because the Diafine gets reused. Know that I only use HPLC grade chemically pure water for all my chemistry and stop bath. The lab water is so pure that it is not safe to drink because it is so chemically reactive that it will erode living tissue. Also it has an electrical resistance of over 18 Mega ohms. Pure H-two-O.
Also I will bring to the Meet-Up a GePe light table and an 8X lupe to show you the amazing IQ and that the grain is mucho small almost like Fuji Acros (almost no grain).
Understand that Diafine is a compensating developer that is two parts. The compensating effect is reduced contrast, and understand that Diafine originally was created for night shooting.
In the spirit of Helen's original thinking I kinda threw away the directions and figured out how to make Diafine work for me. I'm a lazy slacker, so it basically is less work. As long as the developer is over 20 degrees "C" or 68 degrees "F" there is no concern for temperature.
Next understand that the development times are short. Then Diafine gets reused saving money and time. The results are sharp fine grained with a rich midrange.
The way Diafine works is kinda interesting. Part A is the developer, but during the recommended 3 minute soak actually no or the tiniest amount of development happens. In slacker mode I reduced aggitation to only two inversions because I found that it makes the grain smaller. A bonus effect is that I kinda get reduced development that further reduces contrast to leave rich midrange of a larger format.
Part A is poured off and saved to be reused. Next is the Part B that actually activates the Part A that is soaked into the negative. Again I minimize aggitation to reduce contrast and minimize grain. Like stand development the highlights get developed and then stop. Really hard to blow the highlights so that endpoint is established, I tend to expose for about 50% grey instead of 30% grey if the lighting is not contrasty or very bright, perhaps a 1/3rd stop more light (IE expose at 650 ISO under diffused lighting).
Diafine is known for deep shadow detail so don't be surprise if your 35mm negatives look like medium format. Anyways because of a higher shutter speed expect sharper negatives by that alone, but also know as a developer that Diafine is also sharp.
When in doubt overexpose, otherwise thin negatives will result. Soon I will begin conditioning my batch of Diafine with 25-30 rolls of film. Diafine kinda gets seasoned with use and that usually requires about 25-30 rolls being processed.
Anyways let's blast away.
Cal
