Diafine + what film?

Hi all

Ive been using Diafine for a while now and i like it. I am mostly using hp5 rated at 800. I think the negs lack contrast and ive been enlarging on grade 5 most of the time. I want to continue using diafine and I was thinking that switching to a different film might help improve contrast in my negatives. Any ideas?

Kim

Try increasing your developing time by 20-25%, maybe even 30%, to boost the contrast.

Ian

Shoot it at regular speed? Or try to find your own speed. I usually go for box speed because I find the contrast better then.

The thing with diafine is that dev time won't change the contrast (IME) only the exposure will. I'm not super experienced with this developer, I have been using it for a few months now and I have done some testing shooting the same scene with different EIs and you can really see a difference in contrast. I have tried prolonging the time too, but I can't really see any change.

For some films I even lowered the EI, fomapan 400 I shot at 200-ish, to get good contrast.

I like acros, delta and tmax with diafine. I'm a no-grain guy though.

I was forgetting Diafine is a two bath developer

There are ways to increase contrast with 2 bath developers but it's easier when you mix them yourself from raw chemicals. But there's something seriously wrong with the film developer combination if you need to print using Grade 5.

Ian

I have used Diafine with FP4+, rated at 250, with very good results --good contrast, tonality and grain. One of the most popular films to use with Diafine is Tri-x, rated at about 1250 or so. This combination definetly gives more contrast than Delta 3200 at 1250 in D-76, though not quite as much shadow detail. In fact, I've read some opinions that Diafine was created specifically to give Tri-x a speed boost, for press photgraphers back in the 60's.

Regards,

Dave

The reason to why I am shooting HP5 at 800 is because Diafine recommends it. Perhaps contrast could be achieved shooting at 400 or even lower? What is the reason for increase and decrease in contrast and tonality when shooting at lower speeds?

This is what got me experimenting: Dead Link Removed

I have no idea how and why diafine works. I have choosen a black box approach with it. I know what I put in, and I sort of know what will come out, the chemical details inside the black box is way beyond me. I don't know if the tonality is better at low EIs though.

If you're using #5 filter to get reasonable contrast, then there might be something wrong with the developer (almost dead?), or your workflow. It would be good to give exact details about what you do when developing.

I develope for 3 minutes in both A and B agitating very gently every minute for about 5 seconds. rinse in plain water and then fix.

The reason to why I am shooting HP5 at 800 is because Diafine recommends it. Perhaps contrast could be achieved shooting at 400 or even lower? What is the reason for increase and decrease in contrast and tonality when shooting at lower speeds?

Click to expand...

Just because Diafine recommends it, it might not be appropriate for you and your camera/process, etc. By exposing it at EI400 you will increase shadow detail and move the curve one stop to the left. Contrast will not be affected. It will stay the same as when you exposed it at EI800. Development time affects contrast. You will have to increase your development time. Try a test at EI 250, 320, and so on up to EI 800. Develop for about 25% longer. Print them and go from there.

I should also add that HP5 is a medium contrast film. I have used this film for years and love it as it gives beautiful shadow and mid tones. If more contrast tickles your fancy, then try FP4. But I would recommend seeing what you can do with HP5 first before moving on. Maybe Diafine isn't the right developer.

I thought with Diafine, to increase contrast, you decrease exposure? I can't remember. Shoot a roll of the same scene with exposures ranging from EI 200 to 2000 or so and then dunk it in Diafine. Obviously some of those will be pipe dreams, but you'll get a chance to what is the proper EI to use for those kinds of lighting conditions.

The cool thing about Diafine is that it's easy to run exposure tests compared to other devs since the times are always the same. And remember if you decide on one EI in one kind of lighting and another EI in another lighting, you *can* switch mid roll because all the times are the same in Diafine.

Try Tri-X though. You might like it more.

The most important thing for me is being able to have some more contrast than I am having at the moment using HP5 in Diafine. I would love to be able to keep on using Diafine as it is very practical and easy to use. I wouldn't mind using other types of film at all. Using red or orange filters could be the answer but I would love to do without. All the negs so far have been printed at grade 5 on multigrade RC and even on this grade they seem a bit dull..never really hitting the highlights. I dare say that I expose right, the paper is good and hasn't been the subject of accidental light and developer is fresh and in working order. I would love my negatives to be printet at around grade 2-3 and with the oportunity of making prints more contrasty at grade 4-5.

Robert: From what I am reading Diafine can't really be used for increasing contrast? did I read it right?

Try the Fuji Acros 100 combination with Diafine. It will give you a nice contrast.

Diafine can not be used to control the contrast by different developing times. The log D curve is fitted by the exposure of the film. A popular combination is Tri-X 400 due to the high push possibility.