I did some development experiments with pushing TX to 3200 (mostly in medium format), and ended up liking a concoction that Don Qualls posted to APUG a number of years ago, to which he gave the vague moniker "Super Soup": see http://silent1.home.netcom.com/Photography/Dilutions%20and%20Times.html#Super_Soup for the recipe. I think the claimed EI of 6400 is a little ambitious, but at 3200 it actually looks pretty reasonable.
I like Tri-X in Diafine (at 1250), but it has a strong characteristic look that may or may not appeal to you. It's not as expensive as it seems, because Diafine is practically immortal.
okay well knowing diafine lasts forever certainly makes it more appealing. I will see if anywhere in Canada will ship it.
I am confused by the claims I have seen that you can rate your film at different EIs on the same roll and process them in diafine and they will all develop relatively normally. How is that possible?
Acufine and Tri-X at ISO 1600. 7.5min@70F with very gentle agitation, following Acufine directions. This was the standard for years for AP, UPI, Washington Press corp, many many newspapers ... the industry standard.
As for different EI ratings in the same film, well, I had shot a couple of ISO 400 frames in the beginning of the first roll - I've attached one, shot at f/11 & 1/125 on a kinda-overcast day, following the Sunny F/16 rule. On the same film I shot the dimly lit "backstage area" where I couldn't even focus the Leica, and the lightmeter was advising ISO 3200, f/2 and speeds as low as 1sec (which I couldn't do, so I kept to 1/4-1/8sec and prayed). Both portions of the film came out as expected.
okay thanks very much. I have ordered some Diafine (though it is back ordered) from Calumet camera, which is one of the few places that will ship it to Canada. So fingers crossed it arrives soon.