TriX vs. HP5+ in Diafine?

B

BrianPhotog

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Okay, here's the situation: my favorite film+dev combo in existence is HP5+ in DD-X but finances make that a little on the expensive side for me so a few months ago I started shooting Tri-X in Diafine (which is okay, BTW). My 2nd bulk roll of TriX just wound out last night and I'll be heading to pick up another 100ft of something this weekend.

I've *heard* that HP5+ in diafine does poorly (mostly from TriX users). I've also heard, mostly from HP5+ users, that it's okay.

Compared to TriX in Diafine, how does HP5+ in Diafine hold up? It would be so much more convenient to bulk roll HP5+, shoot it at 320 when I want to use DD-X or 800 for general shooting rather then buy Tri-X bulk rolled with the occasional roll of HP5+.

Any help would be appriceated. TIA :)
 
I shoot both Tri-X and HP (and FP) emulsions... all developed in Diafine. Works great.

The 'Bamboo' shot in my gallery was HP5+ in Diafine.

They have different 'looks', that's all. No "better" or "best" involved. Shoot some and see if you are getting what you want.

By the way, here is an intermission for a mini-rant. People that tell you to shoot "a" roll and see if you like it are handing out crappy advice. A fair test would be 30 or 40 rolls of HP5 (or any film new to you) shooting the way you normally do. Check exposures closely as every camera differs in that regard. You can tell NOTHING about a film by shooting one roll of anything.

Give it a chance and see if it works for you.

Tom
 
The following is not first hand experience...

From questions I've asked here and on other forums, I have been advised that there are other cheaper developers which are similar to DDX. One of these is Ilford Microphen. I found it's significantly cheaper, so I have bought some. When my DDX runs out, I will be trying it.

Have a look here http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15018
 
Microphen is often considered to be the powder form of DDX. They are both phenidone-based fine-grain developers with a good speed increase. Of course, they are a bit different, but they produce similar results.

Clayton F76+ is also very similar to DDX, and is also a liquid dev. I don't think it's any cheaper, though, esp once you factor in shipping of the liquid (and there is only 1 store in my area that carries Clayton chems, so shipping is a requirement for me).

allan
 
kaiyen said:
Clayton F76+ is also very similar to DDX, and is also a liquid dev. I don't think it's any cheaper, though, esp once you factor in shipping of the liquid (and there is only 1 store in my area that carries Clayton chems, so shipping is a requirement for me).

allan
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be able to get it shipped to me. I live overseas in Taipei and while most shops are fine shipping powders I haven't yet found one that will ship liquids. To get some things, like KRST, I have to wait until I fly back to L.A. and visit the family or they come here.
 
wintoid said:
The following is not first hand experience...

From questions I've asked here and on other forums, I have been advised that there are other cheaper developers which are similar to DDX. One of these is Ilford Microphen. I found it's significantly cheaper, so I have bought some. When my DDX runs out, I will be trying it.

Have a look here http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15018
Click to expand...
Can Microphen be mixed a little at a time?
 
T_om said:
I shoot both Tri-X and HP (and FP) emulsions... all developed in Diafine. Works great.

The 'Bamboo' shot in my gallery was HP5+ in Diafine.

They have different 'looks', that's all. No "better" or "best" involved. Shoot some and see if you are getting what you want.

By the way, here is an intermission for a mini-rant. People that tell you to shoot "a" roll and see if you like it are handing out crappy advice. A fair test would be 30 or 40 rolls of HP5 (or any film new to you) shooting the way you normally do. Check exposures closely as every camera differs in that regard. You can tell NOTHING about a film by shooting one roll of anything.

Give it a chance and see if it works for you.

Tom
Click to expand...
I'm leaning towards my next 100 feet being HP5+ and seeing how it goes :)
 
Coming in a bit late to this thread, but it's been my experience that traditional grain emulsions - Plus-X, Tri-X, FP4+, HP5+, Fomapan 100, etc - do just fine with Diafine. Modern grain emulsions - Delta, Tmax, Fomapan 200, etc. - do not play nicely in Diafine. To me they look muddy and often seem to loose speed rather than gaining as most of the older emulsions do.

To me the best combination is Plus-X @ EI400 in Diafine and then into a scanner. YMWV :)

My guess is if you like Tri-X in Diafine, you'll be fine with HP5+. Yes, it will be a bit different, but not in a terrible way.

William
 
My son is a big fan of HP5+ in Diafine - - I think it is his exclusive high speed film/Diafine combination. He also says that he does not attempt to enlarge it to more than 8x10 (for 35mm negs) because he thinks that the image begins to deteriorate, but I'm sure that is a subjective assessment on his part.

I also agree with Tom that 1 roll is not going to tell you much. We have been testing batches of 20 rolls to find the right films for our work... and it takes a while.
 
You'll have to try it yourself and see. My experience with HP5 Plus and Diafine was not positive, as I found that it gave me excessively grainy images (relative to HP5 Plus in other developers -- even at 800 -- and relative to other films developed in Diafine). That said, a picture from this combination is currently in a show.

Regarding Microphen -- one of the issues doing partial mixes of powdered developers is that inhomogeneity will result (it's difficult to perfectly mix powders together), giving you inconsistent mixes. That's why most people recommend against it.
 
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