$42 for a gallon of developer? Seriously?

[BetterSense]

I decided I should buy some new Diafine, not because my old batch died but because I'm down to about a liter from the original gallon.

Freestyle has it, but it's $42. What?

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I don't really relish paying that much for it, but...I like it. I don't know. I'm conflicted. No one knows the recipe, right?

 

[Worker 11811]

I was about to buy some in order to try it out on suggestion from a discussion in another thread but, after seeing the price, I figured it could wait.

 

[brianmquinn]

It is not just Freestyle but everyone. My guess is that BKA decided that the only way they were not going to discontinue Diafine is if they made a profit on it. Increasing the price from $12.99 a gallon (what I last paid a few years ago) to over $40 was a shock, but I paid it. When you consider the total number of rolls you can develop per liter (or gallon) Diafine is still a bargain.

 

[brianmquinn]

I was about to buy some in order to try it out on suggestion from a discussion in another thread but, after seeing the price, I figured it could wait.

If you want I can send you some of my liquid Diafine for you to try out. A gallon lasts me about 5 years and has never gone bad in storage. If I can get you to buy than maybe in 5 years they will still have it for sale. Send me a PM.

 

[brianmquinn]

Adorama has it for about $25 per quart (Liter) with shipping. That is the best deal I see now.

 

[brianmquinn]

A final note. Ilford DD-X is a fantastic speed increasing developer, like Diafine. However Ilford DD-X is almost $70 per gallon. DD-X will also yield far less rolls of film developed as it can not be reused as much as Diafine.

For others who care to comment, I do use BOTH of these developers. DD-X is best for Delta 3200, Daifine is best for Tri-X rated at 1250. The final image is all that matters. Pay what you need to achieve your vision.

 

[Athiril]

I've made home made 'Diafine' before, worked very well. I'll try to recall the recipe I used. Qutie cheap to mix up, first bath pH is fairly critical as there needs to be -some- development in there so that bath B can accelerate that faint low contrast image, if bath B only has the latent image to work with, you'll get poor thin negs.

Nowadays, I just cant stop loving Xtol (even if it wasn't one of the cheapest, I'd still be all over it).

 

[BetterSense]

I think I will end up switching to Xtol. I find I get the same shadow speed with Xtol as with Diafine, but the great thing about Diafine is that my regularly-exposed shots on the same roll don't get totally cooked.

 

[polyglot]

Don't look at $/gal, figure out $/roll - that's what really matters. I believe Diafine basically lasts forever and the only consumption is via carryover.

You can also mix similar 2-bath devs from scratch for pretty cheap.

 

[jim appleyard]

I don't really relish paying that much for it, but...I like it. I don't know. I'm conflicted. No one knows the recipe, right?

Right, no one knows the recipe for Diafine except the folks at BKA. There is a knock-off recipe in TDC. I've tried it and it doesn't work for me, but YMMV.

I have substituted carbonate for the metaborate and had better results. It needs further experiments.

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

I am a multi year User of diafine and also Xtol. Recently mixed my first batch of Barry Thornton two bath developer. The chemicals were about $40 shipped from PhotoFormulary and it will make six liters of both baths or about 100 rolls. Some people say that you can replenish and use it forever like diafine. There are several threads on this if you are interested to learn more.

 

[removed account4]

silver bullets cost a lot of $$

 

[Roger Cole]

Don't look at $/gal, figure out $/roll - that's what really matters. I believe Diafine basically lasts forever and the only consumption is via carryover.

You can also mix similar 2-bath devs from scratch for pretty cheap.

I agree. It lasts almost forever. In practice I found that it does eventually get "tired" and start producing thin negatives, or maybe this was because I never bothered replinishing a working bottle with fresh to top off per instructions, just kept pouring it back in the bottle. In any case though I found this limit was about 60-70 35mm rolls per quart. At the lower number that's eighteen cents per roll. I have a gallon I've been using for two years, and another gallon of powder on the shelf. As far as I know the powder should keep for many years since it's sealed in metal cans. I've been tempted to stock up since I saw the price going up. A couple more gallons would be a lifetime supply.

But if the price is really bothersome, Badger has it for $34.95:

https://www.badgergraphic.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=2865

Or $20.95 per quart:

https://www.badgergraphic.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=2864

Even though the price per unit quantity is almost twice as much a quart may be all you need for a long time.

 

[Harry Lime]

Diafine has gone way up in price, but...

- A gallon will process dozens of rolls, so per roll cost is actually quite low.
- It's really good and I can't think of an alternative.

It's still a good deal and I would rather pay a little more, than not have access to Diafine at all.

 

[Roger Cole]

Well said Harry. It's no longer my only or main developer but I keep it on hand and use it for what others just don't do.

 

[markbarendt]

silver bullets cost a lot of $$

Yes they do.

 

[pentaxuser]

I presume this is a U.S gallon which is 3.78 litres so in GBP that is about £11.50 per litre. What great value. The cheapest I have ever seen this in the U.K. is about £16 per litre

We in the U.K. have been here before in other threads about prices but how privileged you are in the U.S. to have these prices.

pentaxuser

 

[markbarendt]

I happily pay $18 per liter for my DD-X.

 

[Athiril]

TBH, if you're spending that much on Diafine, I'd go for Emofin.

 

[MARKNABIA]

Adorama has it for about $25 per quart (Liter) with shipping. That is the best deal I see now.

which would you buy? $25 per liter of $42 per gallon...

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

which would you buy? $25 per liter of $42 per gallon...

Get a gallon. With a liter you are restricted to only 2 rolls of 120, with a gallon you can do four rolls at a time. That's one of the biggest benefits of Diafine, being able to process different film types at the same time.

 

[luizjorgemn]

I presume this is a U.S gallon which is 3.78 litres so in GBP that is about £11.50 per litre. What great value. The cheapest I have ever seen this in the U.K. is about £16 per litre

We in the U.K. have been here before in other threads about prices but how privileged you are in the U.S. to have these prices.

pentaxuser

Here in Brazil we don't have diafine, microdol, rodinal, id11, just d76. 20 dollars 1 liter or 40 dollars 1 gallon... Trix 35mm 15 dollars, fuji acros 7 dollars.
An 5d mark II would cost 7500 dollars.
Now we buy everything on ebay from america an pay 60% at customs. Still a good deal.


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