Diafine for Portraits/Street Photography

[wayne_crider4]

This is basically a portrait question when shooting in customers

homes and out in local parks. I threw in the street photography

question as I am shooting quite a bit more film to be developed with

my Graphic handheld. My current developing regiment isn't fast enough

for alot of sheets; I look to speed up the process and get good

printable negs. I currently use 4x5 HP5+ with some HP5+ & TX in 35mm

in XTOL. (I will be additionally shooting FP4+ starting this week.)

My temps and dilutions carry me into the 10 to 12 minute range. It

seems Diafine is a faster less intensive procedure. From what it

seems, and I am going out on a limb here, it doesn't need agitation?

I like the idea of popping a bunch of negs into 4x5 tanks and letting

it sit, whereas if I agitate I use alot less film as I don't lift and

dunk. I addition, what can I expect in speed for the three emulsions

and what is the difference if I don't push the film over pushing it?

[keith_baker1]

Hi Wayne,

I have used TMX in 4x5 and TRI-X (pro) in 4x5 with Diafine (I used hangers and tanks). I have been so displeased with the result that for the moment I have stopped using Diafine. My problem stems from unevenness of the development. I follow the directions properly and get swirls in the skies and so on. I think that I underagitate the negs and think that I should be a bit more aggresive than the directions indicate. It does bring the highlights down and controls contrast quite well.

Keith Baker

[mark_nowaczynski2]

I use HP5 for hand-held 4X5 shooting, either rated at 400 and developed in PMK Pyro or rated at 1600 and developed in Microphen. Development is beautifully even thanks to JOBO processing.

[dave_karp1]

Wayne,

 

I use Diafine for my 4x5 HP5+ or Arista 400 (not to open up another can of worms, but same same as far as I am concerned). I use an EI of 200. For FP4+ or Arista 125 I use an EI of 80 or 100, depending on how I feel that day. (You can tell that I am not overly technical about these things.) The instructions call for 5 seconds of agitation each minute. I use a processing panel (similar to John Sexton's "Slosher") devised by Phil Bard (see www.philbard.com). I agitate by lifting the top and bottom of the panel once minute, and either side the next. The instructions call for 3 minutes in each solution. I use 4 minutes. I love the Diafine. The negatives are very nice. I don't have to get too excited about time and temperature. If I need to go to N+1 I can dunk the neg in selenium for intensification. I have not had to go to N-1

 

You can't really go N+ or N- with this developer. It is an inherently compensating 2 bath.) I think that is why I like it. So many of the subjects I photograph usually need some compensation, and Diafine seems to handle these situations beautifully.

I don't know what will happen if you do not agitate. It might be worth a try to experiment. Please let us know how it turns out.

[scott walton]

I like Diafine also and have been using it, as well as Divided D76 for years. You do need a little agitation but I shoot my TXP at 400 and love the high acutance of Diafine! When I need any manipulations (N+/N-) I use HC110 but usual shooting is Diafine. Your film will be snappy with sharp grain and a very easily printable neg that has a great contrast range!!!

[wayne_crider4]

I did a little thread reading and caught a couple of responses about it (Diafine) not working very well in low contrast situations, so I'm wondering if my portrait photography would suffer in this developer. I could see any outdoor stuff in bright light OK, but the portrait is the question.

[dave_karp1]

Wayne,

 

It is true that Diafine does not give you a contrasty negative. I tried an experiment this weekend to see if I could increase contrast by increasing the frequency of agitation. After developing a set of negatives that I was pleased with, I took the "back up set" and tried agitating them once every 45 seconds. The negatives are somewhat denser, but I doubt that you would find that it would satisfactorily raise contrast in a low contrast situation. I also noticed some uneven development on a few negatives, the first time I have seen this with Diafine.

 

I would still try using Diafine as an experiment. I think you might be surprised by what you can do using it and perhaps intensifying the negatives with selenium from time to time to gain contrast.

 

I hope this helps.