Ilford FP4+ in Diafine... any experience/advice?

[Leigh]

Hi All,

I'm shooting FP4+ in 8x10 and will be developing in tray.

The wide time and temperature latitude of Diafine seem well suited to tray development.

Has anyone done this, or used Diafine in other development methods with FP4+?

TIA.

- Leigh

[Tim Layton]

Leigh, I use Diafine as my standard b/w developer. I normally shoot Tri-X as my standard film but I have used FP4+ with excellent results in Diafine. FP4+ runs at about EI 250 as a general rule, but also works well at box speed. I like Tri-X because I can rate anywhere between box speed up to 1600. I use a 4 minute A and B bath regiment with no agitation other than making sure the film is fully in the developers. I fix at 5 minutes with full agitation and wash for 10 minutes. Just water for your stop bath. Just use your chemicals at normal room temp and you will be fine and will love the results. If you have specific questions let me know and I will be glad to help.

Tim

[Leigh]

Thank you very much, Tim.

That's very much in keeping with my hopes for the process.

I appreciate the info.

- Leigh

[Geoffsco]

How does Diafine react to rotary processing? I use it a lot with roll film, but minimise agitation as much as possible. I process LF in a Jobo expert tank which I roll by hand, would this be less than ideal with diafine?

[Roger Cole]

How does Diafine react to rotary processing? I use it a lot with roll film, but minimise agitation as much as possible. I process LF in a Jobo expert tank which I roll by hand, would this be less than ideal with diafine?

Don't. Or do try it with a test but don't expect much.

Disclaimer - I've never tried it, but I do know that Diafine is very susceptible to over agitation. I love Diafine for some things (notably pushing Tri-X) and my Jobo for others, but not together.

I've used FP4 (don't recall if they called it + yet) back in the old days with fine results at 320, which was the recommendation on the Diafine box at the time, but preferred Plus-X which the Diafine box pegged at 400 but I found a tad better at 500. (And #$%^ Kodak for canceling Plus-X in 120!)

[Leigh]

Thanks for the info re the Jobo machine. I have one, but had not considered it for sheet film processing.

I've used FP4 (don't recall if they called it + yet) back in the old days with fine results at 320, which was the recommendation on the Diafine box at the time...

The speed recommendation on the yellow Diafine box for FP4+ is 200 for sheet film and 250 for 35mm and roll films. I believe this is the latest info since I just got these from B&H.

- Leigh

[Tim Layton]

agitation and diafine is not a good combo. you want to agitate your a and b developer baths as little as possible. For example, when I process my 120 roll film my process is as follows:

A bath for 4 min. Fill tank and let stand for 2 min. invert once and stand until 4 min.
B bath for 4 min. repeat above
wash for 2 min.
Fixer for 5 minutes with constant agitation
wash for 10 min.
done!

[lbenac]

How does Diafine react to rotary processing? I use it a lot with roll film, but minimise agitation as much as possible. I process LF in a Jobo expert tank which I roll by hand, would this be less than ideal with diafine?

In an article by Sandy King in View Camera Jul/Aug 2008 about used of two-bath for compensation and scanning, he tested Diafine with rotary development dilution 1-1 and normal time. He was quite positive about good result for a flat negative sharp and easy to scan.

Cheers,

Luc

[Juergen Sattler]

I've used Diafine in trays and in Jobo drums - I have not seen any negative impact from agitation. I really think it is a myth that Diafine does not work well with rollers. I've hand rolled it and I even used it in my ATL 2+ processor - all negs were just fine and printed and scanned well.

[Nathan Potter]

Luc and Juergen, I agree that you can use agitation with a correction for time (minor). I use Diafine with Tmax in a single 4X5 roller (slow continuous rolling) for making masks for Ilfochrome. I also use it for developing 4X5 in SS hangers in SS tanks using very slow rocking of the hanger in the tank. Plus the two solutions, kept separately, have great storage properties if you are an intermittent user like me.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.