I shot some Plus X at 125 and am thinking of trying to develop it in Diafine. The box indicates that an EI of 400 is optimal for development of this film in Diafine. What I'm wondering is whether I'll end up with blocked highlights if I develop the film as rated (125). Any suggestions, warnings?

-- Chris Hargens (ldmr@cruzio.com), November 02, 2001

Answers

I've done exactly one roll in Diafine. The 400 speed is correct. It looks quite good except that I found the grain excessive. Base fog seemed high. Please email me your opinions after you doit. Thanks.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), November 03, 2001.

Chris:

I've never used Diafine with Plus X, but quite a few years ago when I used to work for a newspaper, we used Diafine regularly to push Tri X. It worked quite good, giving good speed without the highlights getting too contrasty. Tri X has for years been considered a good pushable film, so its performance might be different from Plus X.

-- Ken Burns (kenburns@twave.net), November 03, 2001.

Bill is right about the high base fog with this combination, but it prints through. At EI 400, it is very nice. I wouldn't use diafine with PX at EI 125, though.

-- John Fleetwood (johnfleetwood@hotmail.com), November 04, 2001.

Thanks for the suggestions and information. I think I'll go with Rodinal, I've had reasonable results with Rodinal and Plus X before -- just wanted to try diafine to get more predictable results.

-- Chris Hargens (ldmr@cruzio.com), November 04, 2001.