Comments on: Discover X Films! Kodak 125PX in Diafine!

By: David

David — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:15:10 +0000

I shoot Delta 100 at ISO80 and develop in Diafine, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I don’t print though–I scan with a Nikon CoolScan 9000ED. No room in my apartment for a wet darkroom, but I can develop in a daylight tank in my kitchen. I go by the box instructions, and my chemical temperatures vary by season and the temperature under my sink, but my results are pretty consistent.

By: Thomas Bertilsson

Thomas Bertilsson — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:24:18 +0000

Hi Stephen,

I already knew the Tri-X / Diafine combination was a good one. Some of the best 35mm portrait work I’ve done is with that combination. I’ve also had really good luck with my Holga cameras, shooting in low light with Tri-X and using Diafine as the developer to give a couple of stops extra.
I do print optically in the darkroom, however, and am not very apt at scanning (frankly, I find it tedious, but that’s just me). But the same principles apply, but I give a little bit more exposure than you do for optimum results printing the way I do.

It is nice to hear about your results with Plus-X. For some reason it seems to be an overlooked film by many. I did try some in Rodinal a few years back, but couldn’t find any real advantage over Ilford FP4+. FP4 did not work very well in Diafine, however. The same batch of developer churned out Tri-X like a champ, while the FP4 came out with really severe mottling and uneven development. It was a very disappointing experience. Maybe I’ll give Plus-X a try, thanks to your research.

Thank you for posting your film developing results,

– Thomas

By: figitalrevolution

figitalrevolution — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:17:18 +0000

In my opinion it IS possible to overdeveloper in Diafine…but the results of the overdevelopment are different than with other developers. I had a roll of Fuji Acros that I ran at EI of 160 with A for 6 minutes and B for 11 minutes at 70F and the negs looked great but the highlights were blocked up and the shadows were VERY open…too open. The nice thing about Diafine is that a little over is just fine but too much is too much. I would not shoot at box speed as it will make your work in PS more and is really not necessary (for most films). I shoot TX at 1250/1600, Acros at 160, TMAX 100 at 160, 125PX at 320/400…this increase in speed is due to the extra long dev that the shadows receive due to the nature of Diafine. I have no info on Delta 100….I did Delta 400 in PMK and loved it.

Cheers-
Stephen Schaub

By: Michael Sebastian

Michael Sebastian — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:26:54 +0000

Stephen, nice post.

Is it possible to overdevelop with Diafine? In theory it would not seem so, but I’ve gotten results that looked overdeveloped.

I also shot at box speed, as I’d been advised that doing so would improve shadow detail over that obtainable with film “pushed” in Diafine. You’d not think exposure would make much difference at the highlight end, as long as development is correct, but….

Still searching for a developer that can make Delta 100 (at least the five rolls I have left) look good! I’m too cheap to toss it, but I’m buying only TMX, TMY, PX, and TX going forward.