bill_napper

Sounds like an interesting idea. Could you somehow make both ends "waterproof" and just invert the whole thing once a minute? If you mounted it balanced it would just take a flip and it would invert. Since timing is no real issue with diafine just make it a two or three barrel unit, load three rolls and go!

If not put a small rod in thru the top with a cam type arrangement. Turn it ever 30 seconds or so. Hang the film from the rod.

It would take three gallons of diafine to fill all the tubes but the stuff last forever! The batch I am using now was mixed in early 2004!

Just my $0.02.

Diafine is the best! My wife talked me into teaching photography to

her girl scout troop. (Bunch of 13 and 14 year old girls - 7 in all)

We ended up with 4 different types of B&W film from 125-400 ASA to be

developed quickly. I ran all of them thru a Diafine soup and every

roll printed just great. Don't think if would have been possible with

any other developer. Everyone should keep some around for "special"

uses! I normally use D-76 or HC-110 but I like my standby Diafine!

They all took portraits of each other that were really stunning! I

set up a single flash for them and they did the rest. Really

impressed by the negatives!

Bill

Specific gravity can be a very good indicator of solution concentration in binary mixtures. (i.e. Sodium Hydroxide in water) It is used extensively in industy as a indicator of concentration. It can only be used in applications where you know what you have! It is a quick and easy way to keep a check on solution concentrations.

By defination it is the ratio of the density of a substance as compaired to the density of pure water at the same temperature. Density being weight per volume.

Easy to measure with a hydrometer.

Sorry if this response is too long. I am a chemist by trade, photographer by desire!

Why do you need to measure?

If you want to make things as simple as possible just use Diafine.

You can develop all of your films at once!

Actually, Diafine will produce acceptable results with all of the films you have listed. It will reduce the highlights somewhat in low light but will still produce a good image.

I think maybe you should identify a good one film/one developer combination. That way if you use two to three types of film, 2-3 types of developer is not too much to keep up with.

Maybe D-76 1:1 is the REAL universal developer???????

Is there anything that it won't work with??

My $0.02 worth.

Bill

Shoot at 250 and develop in Diafine!

Best thing I know of to control contrast and prevent wash out.

Should have GREAT DOF. Like maybe F/22!

Have been using Diafine for a few months and have just discovered a

very good feature of this developer.

I have had a hard time with B&W photos (using flash) for people who

have very dark skin color. Seems it was almost impossible to control

contrast in photos when other lighter skined individuals are in the

same image. Diafine has proven to me to be an excellent choice for

this application. It has now become my developer for these

situations. Also, I rate film at "normal ASA" and do not change

rating as per Diafine instructions for these applications.

Works great for me. Thought I would pass it along!

Bill

I agree fully with Richard.

Do NOT even touch the camera until you read the instructions fully!

Simply changing the shutter speed could destroy the camera if the shutter happens not to be cocked! Simple to mess up!

I have made roll after roll of great images with these cameras. I have a great 88 body that has never given me any problems. Beware of used Ebay specials with bodies. Someone may be getting rid of their problem on you. Go with a good dealer like Kiev camera in Atlanta.

Once you get a good one you will love the images you can produce.

Bill

I prefer FP4+ for almost everything I shoot, especially "people shots". I find that it has been very good for couples shots. One of my favorite shots is of a couple of friends on mine on horseback. FP4+ was just best for entire scene. I have used some "T" films and the delta stuff but I find myself shooting almost everything with FP4+. I use D-76 1:1 for development. One shot, good everytime. I just mixed up some Diafine and am interested in trying my next roll of FP4+ with it. Also got Freestyle's catalog today. Saw they have a .edu film. Said to be FP4 but not plus? Am interested in trying this too!!!

Bill