Tri-X @ 400 in Diafine?

[Harry Lime]

I just started to use Diafine for developing Tri-X @ 1600.

Last night I accidentally developed a roll of Tri-X that was exposed at 400 asa and upon inspecting the negatives and was very pleasantly surprised.

I have a series of shots that were taken on a beautiful sunny day, that have a gorgeous pearly tonality. The shadows are wide open and contain huge amount of detail. Same for the highlights. Nothing blown out and they roll off long and gently. Grain is tight and crisp.

Now, here's what confuses me. I was under the impression that Diafine developed certain types of film at a fixed asa rating. In the case of Tri-X it is about 1600 asa. So having exposed the film at 400, I was surprised that they came out as well as they did.

I do not have a lot of experience at pulling film, which is essentially what I did. Was the result a got a fluke or pretty much what should be expected?
Anyone else out there using Diafine / Tri-X in this matter on a regular basis?
thanks

HL

 

[Michael W]

From memory, when I tested Tri-X in Diafine the best ISO was 1,000. So it was just 1.33 stops under box speed. Also Diafine is a low contrast developer so it doesn't surprise me that your highlights are not too dense. I've never tried it at 400 but your results sound plausible.
When you refer to the gorgeous tonality, is this based on a contact sheet or enlarger print? For me, with any film/dev combo, the proof is in the printing.

 

[fschifano]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Diafine is very good at bringing up shadow detail without blowing the highlights, a characteristic shared by many two bath developers. Your negatives will be a bit flat, but that's not the worst thing in the world. I know a fellow who uses nothing but divided D-23, a home brewed two bath developer. He normally prints to a grade 3 equivalent on Ilford MGIV. I like my negatives to print to a grade 2 equivalent. Still, I can say without equivocation that his prints look good to me.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

On a lark, I exposed a roll of
120 TX at EIs from 100 to 1600
and developed it in Diafine. All
the frames were printable.

I find that TX in Diafine prints
well but scans poorly so I've
stuck with HC-110 and Rodinal.
But TX in Diafine is great for
shooting with Holgas or Brownies
where you are limited to one
shutter speed -- within reason,
you can shoot without worrying
much about exposure.

 

[Jersey Vic]

400TX in Diafine is my favorite combination for the Holga but this is also my favorite night photography combo for any camera
There's some minute + exposure Holga shots night shots of Venice in my gallery as well as some 35mm of the Fulton Fish market shot wide open at 1/60th of a second and in both sets the halos of the street lamps are basically the same size. All very printable with tons of shadow detail.
.

 

[Harry Lime]

Thank you gents. It's good stuff. I like low con negatives and this is really nice.