Anyone ever use Acufine? Seriously!

[humblesage]

I just happened across a can of Acufine lying around my bedroom. I was running

low on developer, so maybe that's a sign...

 

Anyway...

 

How is this stuff? I'm actually damn near afraid to try it for the simple fact

that I can't find any information on it. All I find is, "Acufine is the same

thing as TMax" threads on the web. I don't even know why I bought it in the

first place.

 

I suppose I should tell you all that I'm going to use it no matter what. I

already mixed it, and I'm willing to sacrifice a roll of possibly great 120

shots to get a glimmer of this mystical can of dust. Just hoping maybe someone

could give me a head's up on what you've all experienced with this stuff.

 

Thanks in advance,

Gary

[stephen_allan]

Hi Gary,

 

<p>The best place to start is probably the <a href="http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html">Massive Dev Chart</a> over at Digitaltruth. It has info for developing nearly 60 film types using Acufine.</p>

 

<p>Other than that I can't help, I have never used Acufine myself.</p>

 

<p>Steve</p>

[conrad_hoffman]

Tri-X in Acufine was a popular combination way back, with newspaper and sports photogs, for an effective speed boost, and a grain pattern a lot of people liked. My only reservation, and you'd have to check the patents or TFDC, is that I think it uses glycin, something not known for its keeping qualities. OTOH, sealed in a metal can, it's probably fine. Remember, the stuff is for pushing film, and when you push film you'll lose some shadow detail and gain contrast.

[sheldonnalos]

I use Acufine with Tri-X 320 and Tri-X 400 when pushing. I enjoy the look it provides, nice contrasty results while still retaining some shadow detail.

 

It is designed for pushing film, so I shoot as recommended by the manufacturer's info: Tri-X 400 at 1000, Tri-X 320 at 800. If you shot your roll of 120 at normal ISO rating, then I wouldn't try Acufine on it. Shoot another roll as a push, and see if you like it then.

[ronald_moravec1]

Acufine was never my favorite, but it gave an actual speed boost, not just empty shadows as you get with pushing. Whether you get 1000 or 800 or 650 is up to you.

[dbltap4]

Have used it quite a bit. I like it for it's fine grain, speed boost, etc. I use it diluted, 1:1 or 1:3, depending on my mood.

My film de jour has been Neopan 400 120, and it has worked quite well. Very flexible, and economical as D-76 if used diluted. Compared to Diafine, I would give Acufine the nod, as well over D-76.

As was stated, go to the massive developing chart for times, and double them if you go 1:1.

[dbltap4]

Should have added that if it is used diluted, it is a one-shot developer. It does retain the ei boost if diluted, though.

Jim

[humblesage]

WOW! That's more info than I was able to dig up over hours of searching on the net. I do have a couple of rolls of pushed film lying around here. I'll see what I can do with this stuff tomorrow.

 

Thanks all.

Gary

[thomas_sullivan]

<br><br><a href="http://www.bkaphoto.com/pdfs/acufine.pdf"><u>a PDF doc on Acufine, Diafine, and Acu-1</u></a>.....from BKA Photo, whom I believe is the present owner of Acufine.

[jeff_drew4]

I am one of the "newspaper" types that Conrad refers to. We used to use Acufine + Tri-X 35mm at ISO 1200 for 95% of our news photos. Personally, I shot 300-400 rolls per year with this combo. I printed others work as well and we usually used Kodabromide papers in Dektol. I did shoot Tri-X in 120 in Acufine on occasion. I still use it occasionally with 35mm Tri-X at 1200 for higher contrast, grainier than D-76, available light photos. Honestly, it's not my favorite combo, but it works and can be fun. We also used a replenisher, but choosing the 1-shot use is probably sensible for an occasional user. I used to try Tri-X at ISO6400 in Acufine in my old NikonF. Ugly but printable results. The BKA docs on Acufine are good.

[humblesage]

What about attempting to "pull" back on the processing time for speeds lower than 1000. Has anyone tried reducing the processing time for that purpose? If so, did it provide reasonable results?

 

I'm only thinking this because I like to experiment. There isn't any information out there on this process. I'm thinking that I'm just going to have to mess with this stuff a bit to see what it really can do. There has to be something more to it than just push-processing.

 

I have a roll of snapshots of friends and what-not on my point and shoot. I'm going to see what other options there are for this stuff. :)

[larrydressler]

I found that after you mix it it gets better with age. I lost count of how many rolls i put through a gallon but after about 25 I started adding a minute or 2 but it kept on working. I prefer Diafine though for pushing of film and still keeping the grain manageable. And the good news is ... Both Acufine and Diafine are to be produced for the foreseeable future because the company that now makes them has decided that sales are well enough and infact they need more distrabution because many people can't find it where they live. I have had the same working bottle of Diafine for 2+ years and it is still working but Solution a is only about 3/4 full these days and B is down a few OZ.

[thomas_sullivan]

I assume you are using Tri-X for this? If so, Tri-X pushed to say 800, in my opinion, is much better handled by HC-110...I would say the same for HP5+. HC-110 does a fine job of handling a 1 stop push. Then after that, I use Acufine...or the designed one stop Acu-1. Now I haven't actually compared the two developers at 800......but I'm extremely happy with both above mentioned films pushed 1 stop in HC-110

[gnashings]

Acufine is beautiful stuff! I use it specifically to shoot TriX @1000. I don't think I get a true 1000 out of the film, but I LOVE the look of the combo - it glows, its positively magical (I can hear some old-school photogs out there smirking at the kid that just found what thye already knew:)). I re use it as per manufacturers recommendations without replenishing, full strength and I find the look I get out of it be very specific but very much to my liking. I am sure it would be great for other films too, but I love the TriX in it so much that I just keep that combo togethere whenever I can.

 

As a side bar, I did some "semi-pro" work for a family friend that required me to use 400 speed film. It was all last minute, available light stuff...I only had one roll of 400 spedd film and it was HP5+ (which I am not crazy about). And then I realized I had nothing but Rodinal and Perceptol at home - and the Acufine. Well, it was a bit of a mental adjustment - I have come to totally equate Acufine with pushed triX. I found a time for HP5+ @400 in acufine, and to be honest, it was the nicest roll of HP5+ I ever got from 35mm! Its pretty cool stuff. By all means try it with TriX @1000, but don't discount it for other high-speed film. Just be aware that it seems to actually decrease the box speed of some new-tech films. I am not smart enough to know why, but it does (and the dev times on the web-sites reflect that).

[patrick_gainer]

I used it in the 70's with Tri-X, replenished, for photos taken at rehearsals of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra of Norfolk, VA. Flash was not allowed. In fact, I was the only photographer the orchestra members would tolerate. I was also their principal oboist. I have a number of photographs autographed by famous guest artists. Later, I used a concoction of my own. IIRC it was 1/4 tsp (about 0.65 grams) phenidone, 8 or 10 grams of hydroquinone, 4 tbs sodium sulfite in a quart of water. I used this without replenishment for as many as 10 rolls per quart.<div></div>

[gnashings]

Wow! And I thought I had nice results from the combo, Patrick! Wonderful shot - its obvious that you new what to look for, had an intimate knowledge of the workings of the place to get such insightful captures! This is exactly what I am talking about - there is a glow, a striking rendition of shadows and highlights, I think its my favorite fast film/dev combo.

[al_kaplan1]

Harold (I think) Bauman formulated a speed enhancing developer for Ethol which was called UFG. UFG stood for Ultra Fine Grain. It really wasn't very fine grain but conventional developers were granier at those "pushed" speeds, and UFG managed to retain fairly even grain structure. It was optimized for Tri-X and gave the biggest speed boost with that film.

 

After a few years he started the Bauman Photochemical Company and introduced Acufine. This was generally considered a tweaked UFG formula and gave a bit of additional speed boost. He then came out with Diafine, the two bath developer, about the same time that he changed the name of the company to Acufine, Inc. Diafine also seemed optimized for Tri-X. They also made a nice paper developer which brought up the highlight detail faster than the shadows, an ideal situation for knocking out last minute prints in a big hurry.