Diafine film developer solution

Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 69 Location: Sheffield, England

Does anyone use Diafine solution to develop their film? If so, what are the disadvantages of using it? From what I've heard, it is a much easier to use solution that gives great contrast and detail, and can be re-used. If this is true, why isn't everyone using it all the time? What are the down sides of using it?

Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 11

I used Diafine for the first time tonight.

Here is a photo from that batch: http://www.phototakers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=383167#383167

Previously I was using HC-110. Diafine seems slightly easier to use -- no thermometer necessary! ...not that HC-110 was that tricky though.

I think one disadvantage is that any given film can only be rated at the 'Diafine' speed. For example, I use Tri-X; with HC-110 so far I have rated it anything from 200 to 3200; with Diafine I am basically forced to 1250 or 1600. That's ok though, as those are my favourite speeds :-)

Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 69 Location: Sheffield, England

Nice photo. I like the way everyone is pretending that the drunkard on the floor does not exist.
I'll probably give Diafine a go as soon as I can get my hands on some.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:26 am

I have used Diafine a few times now, twice with Rollei IR and once with Pan F+. The process is ridiculously easy as you don't have to fiddle around with timing and temperature. I have been getting some streaking on the top edge of a few frames though, as far as I can tell I'm either over or under agitating things during development, but I've been very impressed with the stuff so far. You can get a bit stuck with the limits on what iso you use but from what I've read you can still control contrast through which iso you use when you shoot, for instance, shooting at the films normal iso rating when the scene in front of you is low contrast. I assume you could do the opposite for high contrast scenes to an extent.

Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 69 Location: Sheffield, England

I've been searching for this stuff on-line, but cannot find a UK retailer. Does anyone know where to get it from?

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:59 pm

Did you check freestyle and B&H?

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:04 pm

I just checked and freestyle has a gallon for like 14 bucks.

Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 69 Location: Sheffield, England

Thanks for that. I was hoping for a UK supplier, as the shipping more than doubles the price. However, it looks like I'm going to have to stick with these. Thanks anyway.

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:51 pm

You might check out black and white photography magazine. its uk based and it has a ton of suppliers. i was just reading today and i saw some pretty cheap prices for film and they also sell used darkroom equiptment as well.

take care,

Zach

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 10:21 am

This is an old thread but I though I would add that I use Diafine almost exclusively these days. I was a hard core D-76/HC110 user but once I found Diafine I stopped using anything else.

Most of the B&W work on my site was developed using Diafine.

Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 9:32 pm

whats your go to film for that developer chris?

Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 10:25 pm

I stick mostly with older emulsions like FP4, Pan-F, Tri-x and HP5 but I have tried Delta and T-max.

FP4 at 250 (primary film)
Pan-F at 50 (pan F is really an iso 25 film)
Tri-X at 1000 for 120 and 1250 for 35mm unless flat light then 800
HP5 at 800
Delta at 80
T-max 100 at 160

I recently have played with Ekfe 25 at 50 with excellent results.

Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 8:23 am

Your trix is rated really high, ive never tried that yet, thanks for the tip. looks like you shoot mostly ilford, does the halation on tmax bug you as well. i think ill try that ekfe ive seen some recent posts on pnet and it looks tempting.

Zach

Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:50 am

Actually I don't have a problem with T-max in general just it doesn't play well with Diafine.

Here is an example of Tri-X at 1000 and souped in Diafine. This was shot using a Pentax 645 with a Carl Zeiss 80mm Biometar lens.

This image is an example of FP4 in Diafine.

Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 12:51 am

Ill have to try that trix at 1000, might be nice to use it at high speed indoors as well.