Subbing for TX in Diafine

[jim appleyard]

With a 100' roll of TX reaching $100, I won't be buying it anytime soon. What would be your favorite substitute for TX in Diafine? HP-5, Kentmere 400, or Foma (Arista EDU)? I used to get a good EI of 1000 with TX; probably won't reach that with other films, but should get close.

 

[BetterSense]

Tri-X and Diafine are synergistic. I have partially switched to HP5, but that's with Rodinal. I would be interested to hear how HP5 does in Diafine compared to Tri-X in Diafine.

 

[ntenny]

I feel like HP5 in Diafine behaves very differently from TX. It doesn't develop the characteristic "gritty" grain structure or the aggressively-high-contrast look; instead it seems to produce a long, smooth compressed shoulder, and generally a more "natural" appearance. I used to use HP5 at 800 a lot for nighttime street photography---it seems to match how the eye perceives bright lights in a dark setting.

I've never seen anything look quite like TX in Diafine. Fomapan 400 seems like a reasonable place to start looking, though I'd be surprised if it yielded EI 1000 in practice.

-NT

 

[jeztastic]

HP5 has great shadow detail in Microphen at 800 and acceptable at 1600 so I imagine regularly shooting at 1000 will be fine. Don't know anything about diafine. Do a search on flickr, that's what I do before I try a new combination.

 

[NedL]

You can still get arista premium 24exp rolls from Freestyle for $2.69 each, if that helps.

 

[Roger Cole]

Since I gave up bulk loading as too much PITA for the savings even at the old prices I don't much care - I'll keep using Tri-X when the combo suits.

I did try HP5, may have been without the plus, in it years ago. I don't recall details except that it worked well but got a stop less effective speed. Box (the Diafine box, not the film) speed for Tri-X was 1600 and for HP5 IIRC 800 and those were pretty good. Of course modern Tri-X seems to give me less, at least with tungsten light. I can use 1600 fine with daylight, say a heavy overcast day, but under tungsten I need more like EI 1000 so the difference now may be effectively less if HP5+ still responds like it did then. Or perhaps I'm just much pickier now.

 

[jim appleyard]

You can still get arista premium 24exp rolls from Freestyle for $2.69 each, if that helps.

Yes, thanks. I did order a bunch, but sadly, it will someday be no more.

 

[Xmas]

Double-x is another option especially if you can get recan or short end.
Formapan 400 does not have the dynamic range of Hp5+ or Double-x but it does have nice grain

 

[pschauss]

I shoot Double-X at 650 with Diafine. After Plus-X in Rodinal it's my second favorite film/developer combination. :-(

I have tried Diafine with Fomapan 400, but the best I could get out of it was box speed.