Diafine

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Ian
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Anyone used this?

Just been listening to the FPP podcast and quite like the sound of it. As someone who pretty regularly pushes film, and can make a mess of exposures, this stuff sounds like a dream.

- Never goes off
- Everything is developed for 3+3+fix (no stop) minutes so you can put TriX at 800 in with HP5 at 1600 and dev them together...
- Water temp not critical (not that it is for regular B&W but hey ho, still a plus)
- Great shadow & highlight detail, so excellent for scanners (not so great for darkroom printers)
- Great grain control (apparently)
- Bad for Zone System users (presumably because of low contrast)

Of course, there's none about in powder form, but NIck 'n' Trick have these Bellini kits that are "the same". Their datasheet gives pretty much the same intructions as normal Diafine.

Was going to have a punt, but wondered if anyone had used it before and could share any downsides. In particular whether the Bellini kits are as good as the powdered stuff (which is sold out pretty much everywhere atm).
 
Martin Henson, a guy whose YouTube channel I'm subscribed to, uses Diafine. While I don't think he has a video about if specifically, he's mentioned it in a number of the ones I've watched. Might be worth a look, or asking him a question via the comments (or his website).

 
Love Diafine, I used a 1 quart kit to develop about 50-60 rolls a few years ago and I have a gallon kit I bought from AG a few years ago that I need to get mixed up. Solution B will suffer more shrinkage than A over time, I think my quart kit is about 700ml solution A and 400ml for B. You have to filter the solutions every now and then too since gunk does seem to form over time.

Negatives are easy to scan and print, I typically shot my Tri-X at 1250 and Acros 100 at 200. They were pretty low in contrast but I split grade my prints so it isn't an issue for me.

I may still have that quart kit kicking about, I might try and develop a test roll/sheet with it if I find it.
 
When I was doing my night shots diafine was the one dev I really wanted to try but ended up going with 2 part soups like pyrocat.
 
Well it's ordered. We shall soon see!

It'll have to go some to beat DD-X with HP5 but I'm hoping some of the more esoteric stuff I have might get good results - esp the Kodak HIE and Konica 750.
 
Righto here we go.

Kits arrived last week and today it got put to the test.

First. It felt weird. I've become hugely reliant on the MDC app for binging at me and ticking at me, and I haven't figured out how to get it set up for Diafine so I had to pay attention.

The gist:

Pour liquid A into the tank. No diluting, no temperature. 3 minutes, with 20 seconds gentle inversion to begin with then 5 seconds every minute.
Pour liquid A back into the bottle. Can be reused until it won't cover your film any more. Doesn't go off.
Pour liquid B into the tank. 3 minutes repeated cycle.
Pour liquid B back into the bottle.
Wash for 20-30 seconds then fix as normal.

In the tank I had a roll of P3200 and a roll of Double-X that I'd been very rough and ready with exposures simply to see if it worked.

The P3200 negs looked very thin. The contact sheet is from scans which have obviously been boosted to try and lift them a bit but they were very flat. On closer examination, the grain looked horrible.

2021-02-04-p3200-r3m.jpg

Nasty eh? Also not very sharp.

2021-02-04-p3200inDiafine-r3m-12.jpg

I'm so glad I put the Double X in with it because that looked pretty bloody good!

2021-02-04-e5222-m6.jpg

I tend to scan quite flat, and here, similar to the P3200, I don't think the blacks have developed too well. The Internet reckons that 4 minutes is better than 3 minutes so my next test will be that. Double-X is quite grainy when pushed, but Diafine has definitely reined it in.

Overall thoughts? Hmm... I think it would be great for film shot all over the place, or Sunny-16 guessed. Great if you don't know what the ISO is of the film, or if you have the wrong ISO set when you start the roll, then switch it back halfway through. Great for developing multiple rolls of different films at different speeds in the same tank. I can see me using this for my remaining Double-X, the IR film I have in the freezer, my Rollei 400 and other oddities that have no proper times on the MDC.

Bad for P3200.

(Below shots are Double-X in Diafine)
2021-02-04-doublex-m6-26.jpg

2021-02-04-doublex-m6-23.jpg
 
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What does frame #20 look like up close?

2021-02-04-doublex-m6-20.jpg

Not great eh? Caught my eye because of the contrast in the puddle vs the mud everywhere. Diafine is supposed to balance all your exposures which it has done, but not this frame. Definitely needs more testing. 3/4 of this image is shadow and I wouldn't describe it as having much detail. Another thing the info sheet says is not to agitate "too strenuously" as that can block up the shadows. Other images are ok though. This just seems like an oddity.

This frame I remember was taken 2 stops over exposed on the camera meter because I wanted f/2 to isolate the background. It's come out looking the same as all the others which reminds me this is no good if you want to delberately over or under expose because the dev will just correct it. Good for new film shooters, or sunny-16-estimators, but not so good if you're zone system shooting or looking to deliberately brighten/darken your overall image.

2021-02-04-doublex-m6-24.jpg
 
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Well, what a difference between the two film types!

Perhaps I should get some for my experiments with the Ikoflex, where I am Sunny 16 guesstimating (and judging by first results, not doing it very well).
 
Perhaps I should get some for my experiments with the Ikoflex, where I am Sunny 16 guesstimating (and judging by first results, not doing it very well).

I'd say this was an ideal (but far from cheap!) use for it. I'd offer to let you come and try it but as I know it's roughly a 2.5 hour drive from Leighton Buzzard to me (that was my last move!) that's not happening. And the Lockdowners would be in uproar!
 
I'd say this was an ideal (but far from cheap!) use for it. I'd offer to let you come and try it but as I know it's roughly a 2.5 hour drive from Leighton Buzzard to me (that was my last move!) that's not happening. And the Lockdowners would be in uproar!
I think I'll try and improve my exposure skills first, that should keep the lockdown police happy, no unnecessary journeys.
 
I found the following (in Time Layton Fine Art) with respect to Diafine

"T-grain films don’t typically perform as well as classic films so you may want to keep that in mind. Tabular films would include standards like T-max 100, T-max 400, P-3200, Delta 100/400/3200. Conventional films would include Ilford Pan F+, FP4+, HP5+, Kodak Tri-X, Plus-X and Fuji Neopan."

So, that might explain your findings. (I assume Double X is Conventional given that it has been around since George Eastman announced: "My work is done").

Where did you get the kit? I'm not interested - just asking, for a friend...
 
NIck 'n' Trick.

And that makes sense. Every developer I've tried that "doesn't do well with T grain films" acutally really doesn't.
 
Update after a few months of use...

I've been using this to develop pretty much exclusively my Maco TS Eagle bulk roll and it's been quite successful. My latest trial though was with Kodak HIE (expired 1991). Infrared film generally requires bracketing because one doesn't know how much IR light is available because we can't see it... The alleged beauty of Diafine is that if the exposure is wrong, the developer should correct it.

However "they" do say that Diafine is best with pushed films (under exposed) so I don't know what that means when you over expose (accidentally).

2021-06-06-kodakhie-f1n.jpg

The above is the contact sheet from the roll and whilst the negs looked pretty bad out of the tank, the Plustek has totally transformed them. One note also is that over-agitation can cause bad effects. The stated agitation is 20sec at the beginning, then 5sec on the 1min mark, then 5 sec before pour out. When I had part B in the tank, I was just finishing my 5 sec agitation, when the tank slipped out of my wet hands. In a vain attempt to catch it, I ended up semi-throwing it at my wife and it bounced of her shin, onto her foot, and then flew across the kitchen floor. She looks like I've been taking a baseball bat to her shins.

This over-agitation (I left it rolling to make sure my wife was OK) might have caused some of the issues with grain on the sheet. More likely, HIE is quite a grainy film from what I've seen. Frames 5, 30, and 33-36 are all unusable due to what appears to be under-exposure.

Either way, I'm really pleased with the results and not having to bracket as long as I shoot in bright sunlight. The film was rated at 100 and shot with a red filter, using TTL metering of the Canon F-1n

I have to say I'm really pleased with this kit as it lasts forever. Only downside is that you do lose some liquid with each develop, and I'm down to about 850ml (from 1l) after doing 14 rolls of film. It'll be a while before I need a replenishment kit I think.

2021-06-05-kodakhie-f1n-03.jpg
 
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