Diafine and Sheet Films

**William Barnett-Lewis** · 17-Sep-2005, 23:27

Good Evening,

This could reasonably belong in either Beginners Questions or Film. I hope that film was the correct choice. I have very recently begun using a 4x5 Anniversary Speed Graphic with a nice 127mm/4,7 Ektar and a 5x8 B&L Zeiss Tessar (sweet but capable of amazing mega-flare. Then again it's at minimum 91 years old.) Having searched and read all I can, here and elsewhere, I am looking for film advice.

I prefer to use Diafine for my developer. There are several reasons for this, but the two most important for me are the fact that it produces negatives that scan well and it's lack of time sensitivity. I have a 3 1/2 year old son and being able to walk away while the sheets are in my patterson clone tank and come back to them 5 to 10 minutes later with no real problem is extreamly helpful. Given this, I need to learn which films "play well" with Diafine. My interests are a combination of people shots and landscapes, 75+% of which are handheld. Frankly I tend to use it as a press camera - which is to say as a large MF camera. I barely even notice what limited movements are available on this camera. I meter all of my 4x5 with a GE PR-1 selenium meter; it's nearly the age of the camera...

I have only been using this camera for about 2 months. I started with a partial box of expired (but freezer stored) Tmax 400. It does not "play well" and I ended up developing most of it in D-76. Then I got some FP4+ which has played very nicely. I currently have coming to me a box of Arista.EDU Ultra (rebadged Fomapan 100, IIUC), a box of Tri-X, and, wholey unrelated to this, Velvia 50...

I believe that these two B&W films should be fine, but I am interested in knowing what other films that the you good people would recomend, given the above. I also will admit to giving priority to cheap right now; both from a budget standpoint and from the fact that as a beginner I trash far too many sheets for sanity. (The Velvia mentioned above is going into the freezer for quite awhile I think. I just wanted to get some before the 50 disappears completely.)

Thank you in advance,

William

This is my first post here, so hopefully it's not too out of line.

**Dean Tomasula** · 18-Sep-2005, 09:09

I've used 4x5 TMax 100 in Diafine with good results.

**Brian Schall** · 18-Sep-2005, 10:29

Dean

I've shot just one sheet of 320 Tri-X in Diafine rated at 640. It looked good. It was only a shot of my back fence just to make sure the film was good so I've not printed or scanned it but, as I said, it looked good. I've shot TMax 100 at 160 EI in 35mm and was happy with the results. The great thing with Diafine is you can shoot just one sheet, develop it, and not waste any developer since it is reusable. Just remember, Diafine increases the speed of the film.

Brian

**Donald Qualls** · 18-Sep-2005, 11:27

I've used Fomapan 100 in 9x12 cm at EI 160 with Diafine and was very pleased with the results. I prefer HC-110 G for this film, but Diafine produces a nice, useful speed increase and, as you say, is largely insensitive to having to walk away from the tank for a while -- not to mention the reusability of the solutions makes it very economical, especially for a single sheet in a large tank.

The classic for this is TXT/TXP/320TXP -- the Diafine box calls out EI 1000 for it, though the above poster was probably closer to what large format would want with EI 640. Still, that's not bad for sheet film, maybe the fastest you'll get in terms of real speed, and would make a hand-held camera like a Speed or Pressman a lot more practical for action, street, or available light. I keep TXT loaded in ten of my single plate holders, figuring that at EI 800-1000 I'd be able to zone focus, stop down, and still hand hold my plate camera if necessary -- and wind up with a big negative even if the shot calls for 35 mm methods. And with a top shutter of 250 and f/45 on the aperture, I can still shoot in full daylight if necessary...