Developing Fuji Acros in Diafine - seeking feedback / tips and tricks

I very much like Acros in Diafine.

I expose it at 160. Conditions I’ve shot it in have mostly been overcast, so performance in open sun might be too contrasty - but contrast has been perfect for my needs. The characteristic curve seems straight, so there’s lots to work with when adjusting contrast in scanning and printing.

I process in Diafine at temps between 17 and 20 C. So you may want to try it a bit cooler.

Processing times are 5+5.

Agitation is continuous rolling. I get the best tonality and no bromo drag when I do this. I seal my Paterson super system lid (burped like Tupperware) and put the tank on its side. I gently roll the tank bank and forth on the edge of the table from one hand to the other.

Thanks for your feedback @filmamigo !
Would you mind posting some images?

Contiuous rolling 5+5? Wow.. would have thought that's way too much movement for Acros, but then again I'm new to the stuff.
Did just develop another roll shot @200 but developed at 19°C this time; will post results later..

So as you can see the sunny one is really contrasty, the overcast one is pretty much ok, and the third one shot with flash as well.

Still quite a lot of punch, considering they havent't been edited at all.

Am shooting the next roll at box speed and see how this goes..

ITKI said:

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So as you can see the sunny one is really contrasty, the overcast one is pretty much ok, and the third one shot with flash as well.

Still quite a lot of punch, considering they havent't been edited at all.

Am shooting the next roll at box speed and see how this goes..

Click to expand...

Those are way too contrasty. The development times may be too long. Use intermittent agitation with full tank, gentle inversions for 5 secs/minute.

I do believe that some people have never seen a properly exposed and developed B&W photo. Here is an example.

The question is not to see a properly exposed and developed B&W picture, it is to give some hints to the OP. You post does not help at all.

First, Diafine is not that picky with temperature: Between 70-75 F is OK.
Second, agitation in bath A like in bath B needs to be gentle and of course don't rinse between A and B.
Third, The range of exposure can be important with Diafine. I suggest you expose the exact same scene @ 50, 100, 200 and 400 ISO and see which one turns the best.

Diafine usually gives pretty flat negatives by taming contrast so I am an bit surprised by your pictures...

Dali said:

I suggest you expose the exact same scene @ 50, 100, 200 and 400 ISO and see which one turns the best.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your feedback.
I'll do the current roll at ISO 100 and develop as before, if this also results in high contrast I will indeed shoot the next one with various settings for the same scene..

Dali said:

Second, agitation in bath A like in bath B needs to be gentle and of course don't rinse between A and B.

Click to expand...

Technically, no. The first bath is the developer which has to saturate the emulsion as much as possible. To that end, agitation doesn't hurt. In fact, some users employ constant agitation for bath A, and stand for bath B (the accelerator). I've found this works great except for drag marks. So I use constant for A, and the prescribed agitation for bath B.

But this is a sidebar. Stick to the directions when starting out with Diafine.

Is there a chance that the "A" solution is contaminated? Possibly with some of solution "B"?? I have it in mind (from years ago!) that this can lead to overdeveloped, contrasty negatives... Just a thought... T

Thank you for the feedback @tomkatf I appreciate it.

Always took good care to not contaminate A with B.
What I did do is developed a few rolls of C41 film in that Diafine batch. Didn't have any effect on the other b&w rolls I developed with it afterwards though!

Another one from that last roll..

I’ve had my best results shooting Acros at 200 in Diafine 4+4, very gentle 10 sec agitations at 1:30 and 3:00 only (just turn the tank over very gently 3 or 4 times). Otherwise,it gets very brittle contrast.
I never worry about temperature with Diafine.

Thanks for your feedback @Oldwino !

Developed the next roll: this time shot @ ISO 100, dev again 5 min A and 5 min B at 20°C, and one gentle agitation every minute.

Images are not as brutally contrast-y as before but still have quite some punch. Bit much I think.

Also tried various different ways of scanning these (using a dedicated 35mm scanner (Quato IntelliScan 5000) and SilverFast 6ai) -
settled on using the T-Max profile with some tweaking.

Anyways here's a photo of some kale, will post more later..

Bumping this thread as I'm still looking to get some feedback -
basically would like to shoot Acros until it's gone (which might be pretty soon according to the latest announcements) - so trying to mae the best out of it.

Had a look at the digital truth dev chart and there the 35mm is listed shot @200 and developed 5+5 @22°C - which seems ridiculous compared to my experience.

Anyone else on here actively shooting Acros and developing in Diafine at the moment?

Interesting discussion.

I’m developing dozens of TriX in Diafine during the past five years. I like this developer when contrast should be reduced or 1250 ASA is needed, but not under “normal” light conditions. Because negatives are becoming a little bit grainy and a little flat (I correct this in LR if needed).

When reading the questions and comments here, I just walked in my darkroom and developed an Acros 100, 5+5 and 23 degree (Celsius) in my about 18 month old Diafine. My method is to shake (!) the “small tank” each minute for about 5 seconds.
Now the results: the negs seem to be one stop overexposed. Film was (a roll of 120 6x9) exposed at 100 ASA (I did the metering by a Nikon EL2). So I will expose Acros at 200 ASA next time.

Under all other aspects the negs got very nice. No burned out highlights, fine structure in the shadows, low grain, high sharpness. My motive was our house with bright white walls and dark green trees in front of it, while the sun was shining at a “hot summer afternoon” with lot of hard contrasts.

IMO, the described problem seems to be not the temperature, nor the time or metod of developing, but some pollution in the developer or the tank.

I can highly recommend Diafine for Acros 100 in situations as described.

I had my best luck using undiluted Fuji Microfine. I had friends bring it back from Japan or I had it shipped from Japan. I also got good results with undiluted D-76 and undiluted Ilford Microphen. I rated it at 100 with Microfine or Microphen and 64 or 80 with D-76.

This is way off-topic, but how would you compare your Acros/Diafine results with what you've experienced using Rodinal (1+100 semi stand)?