Chihiro (red filter). Tri-X at 1250 in Diafine.
Recently I mixed up a fresh gallon each of Diafine solutions A and B. What better time to write about this wonderful tool?
Summertime. Adox CMS20 at 25 in Diafine.
UPDATE: I’ve linked each photo to a larger version so you can get a better sense of the grain. All negatives were developed by hand in a small tank and scanned with a high-resolution film scanner. I have wet-printed a few of these and they look remarkably similar (but naturally even better)!
I use Diafine a lot. It’s a very good developer, easy to use, and it gives consistent results. I mention it a lot in this blog, but I haven’t really given it a proper write-up. Perhaps that’s because it’s been my day-to-day standby for as long as I can remember, and I think it’s more interesting to write about the times I’m using/learning about other developers.
One salient feature of Diafine is its longevity. I have never had a batch of it go bad other than from contaminating it (accidentally pouring something that wasn’t solution A into the solution A bottle). What does happen is that solution A will lose volume slowly. Because A literally soaks into the film, a tiny bit is lost with each cycle. I keep a second bottle of A on hand (I label it A2) and pour a tiny bit into the A bottle every couple of cycles. In an emergency, I’ve used A2 as my primary batch, and then mixed up a new A2 replenisher. You will also see both baths change color over time. In fact, B will get downright mucky. Not to fear. It still works. If it bothers you, you can filter it.
Hats! Kodak Plus-X at 400 in Diafine.
Let me clear up a common misconception about Diafine: you cannot shoot at many film speed settings on the same roll and then develop in Diafine and expect wonderful results. It is not a potion that magically sorts out your exposure choices. What Diafine does is develop any given film exactly the same way, every time. You cannot push or pull with Diafine—you can develop to a different exposure index though (more on that next). You can’t develop for longer or shorter or hotter or colder and expect reproducible changes.
How Fiction Works. Kodak Tri-X at 1000 in Diafine.
On the side of the Diafine box is a table that shows the recommended exposure index for various films. If you look up 35mm Tri-X, it is suggested to shoot it at 1600. Plus-X is 400. TMAX400 is 640. The idea is that as long as you expose the film as if that were the speed of the film, Diafine will develop it properly. Mind you, the listed film speeds are starting points. Most people I’ve talked with agree that 1600 for Tri-X is underexposed, for example (I use 1000-1250).
The Dime. Adox CMS20 in Diafine.
When you mix up your first batch of Diafine, you may find that the A powder has a difficult time dissolving. In the several batches I’ve mixed, I’ve never had it dissolve completely. While you may be dismayed at the white bits floating in the batch you’ve just been stirring for 20 minutes, don’t worry. It will still work if you’ve made a reasonable effort to mix it thoroughly.
Using Diafine is very straightforward. Pour solution A into your tank, tap for air bubbles, agitate three gentle inversions every minute for three minutes. Pour solution A back into its bottle. Pour in solution B, agitate exactly as with A. Pour solution B back into its bottle. Don’t use stop bath–rinse with water for a minute. Fix and wash normally.
Gowanus bike. Ilford Delta 100 at 80 in Diafine.
Diafine’s usable temperature range is 70-85F, so you usually don’t have to mess with water baths to regulate temperature or cool down/heat up your bottles. And if you leave your film in for longer than the stated three minutes, you’ll be fine. Diafine is indeed a lazy person’s developer. Because it’s so easy to use, I’ve been guilty of screwing it up more than I have any other darkroom process. I’ve poured B back into A (a big no-no) a couple of times over the last decade, because the loose requirements of the developer give my mind license to drift. Don’t do it. Act as if it’s a mission-critical process and give your film and its photographer the respect they deserve!
I try to stay within the recommended temperature range, but in the dead of winter when nothing in our home seems to warm up beyond 68F, I generally do 4 minutes in each bath (or use another developer).
Canon VT Deluxe. Kodak Tri-X at 1000 in Diafine.
On the phone. Tri-X at 1250 in Diafine.
Diafine is also lauded for not blowing out highlights. This, and its effective “push” of Tri-X, makes it a great developer for on-the-fly or street shooters.
Chihiro. Kodak Plus-X at 320 in Diafine.
Once you get the hang of it, you might want to use it for everything. As long as you’re sticking to the film speed guidelines, you can mix and match films in your developing tank and trust that everything will turn out.
Splat. Ilford Delta 100 at 75 in Diafine.
Here are some tips to using Diafine, compiled from over 10 years of regular use:
Label your bottles and caps. I hope none of you reading this are as clutzy as I am, but marking your caps “A” and “B” with a Sharpie takes a couple of seconds and might save a batch.
Measure the temperature of your Diafine, then adjust your rinse water and fixer (if you’re feeling ambitious) accordingly.
Start with the box guidelines and then judge the results for yourself. Especially for beginners, instructions can be a crutch, even when useful. If you think all your photos turned out too dark or too light, act on that and don’t assume that you must have done something wrong. Try a different film speed next time. I have a lot of photos that turned out fine shooting Tri-X at 1600 for Diafine, but eventually I found that 1000-1250 gave me better results overall.
Night moves. Kodak Tri-X at 1250 in Diafine.
Don’t assume that just because you found a film listed on the side of the Diafine box or online that it’s going to work out well. Diafine’s a useful tool, but it isn’t a good match with some films to my eyes. Anyone can argue for or against any film and developer combination, so I’m not going to give my blacklist here. Trust yourself. If you don’t like the results, move on. Likewise, go ahead and try Diafine with a film that’s not listed. Be adventurous.
Rocery. Kodak 320TXP 4×5 at 1000 in Diafine.
Adox CMS20 (at 20?) in Diafine
Do experiment. I was told, unequivocally, that Adox CMS20 had to be developed with its associated Adotech developer. I tried Diafine instead with astonishingly good results. Now I have an expired bottle of once-used, expensive Adotech because I won’t use anything but Diafine with CMS20.
Kodak 320TXP (120) at 1000 in Diafine.
Do buy it. I fear the day when I won’t be able to reorder Diafine. While I’ve wanted to develop in larger quantities (I often use a five-roll Paterson tank), another reason I mixed up gallon batches of the stuff is because the quart size is increasingly difficult to find. I suspect the quart size has been discontinued (though I still see it on the distributor’s web site).
There’s plenty to read online about Diafine. I’m one of many moderators on a very friendly Flickr group dedicated to it here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/diafine/. You’ll see that people don’t just use it 3 + 3 (minutes) but also do things like develop twice or extend times in A or B, etc.
Consistent results, ease of use, longevity, wide temperature latitude—all great reasons to try Diafine. In my mind, any one of them is a good enough reason to try it, if you like the results you get. I’m especially fond of using it with Tri-X; I would say that the majority of frames I’ve taken in the last 10 years were shot on Tri-X, then developed in Diafine.
Now that I’ve bothered to write all this up, I’m looking forward to trying some films I haven’t tried in a long time (or ever) in Diafine. I’ll do my best to share the best and worst with you, in my opinion of course.
Feel free to ask questions in the comments, and please share your own experiences with this unusual developer!
David Shoots Film 
Perfect ? Not at all. Failproof ? By no means. Do I still love it ? Absolutely :)
My one and only developer so far, safe for a crazy test in wrongly made Caffenol. Best is, I see no reason to even try something different.
Yes, lazyness has something to do with that as well.
i found some 16mm film. It is panchromatic super xx from 1952. I am willing to take a chance on the old stock. It has been suggested that diafine might be more forgiving to develop older stocks.
Let us know how it turns out, Jonathan.
It turned out really experimental like a bleach speckled film
I switched to Kodak’s the 76 and this is how it turned out it was compared to the blown out gray stuff below below
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwrgI5MmtHQeM1ZXTlEzZWk0T0E
Do you pre-soak your film? I’ve read it done both ways. Since solution A is supposed to soak in, I would think that you wouldn’t want to pre-soak.
I usually don’t presoak the film, for the reason you mention. However, if you’re dealing with a film with a pronounced purple cast, you might try presoaking and then soaking in A for longer than normal, like 4-5 minutes. It will still work just fine.
Hi, Thanks a lot for this post. It help me a lot to move to Diafine. What’s the Iso setting on your camera when you’re using Adox CMS20 with Diafine ?
I think I shot it at 20 – box speed.
Thank you for your answer. Have you try a film at 400 iso with diafine ? I use Tri-X at 1250 but it’s good to know if there’s film for sunny days with this developper :)
Sure. You can shoot Plus-X (if you have any left) at 400, though I rate it at 320 or slower, myself.
FP4+ @250
Neopan 100/Acros @200 (5 minutes A, 5B)
Pan F+ @80
T-Max 100 @80 (4.5A, 4B) or 160 (3A, 3B)
Superia X-Tra 400 (color film) at 400 (yes, I did this once and it turned out fine)
Neopan 400 at 640.
Just noticed I have the photo of the side of the Diafine box up above here – you can see the options there as well.
Oh, yes. thanks for the photo. But as you say some film are better to shot at a lower iso than the one they wrote on the box like 1250 for Tri-X). Thanks you for tell me what you’ve tried. ( Superia ? a color film ? Just like a black and white film in the tank ??)
Yes, just like a black and white film. I think the negatives were pretty dense, but it was a long time ago. Here’s a link to one of them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbivins/58951730/
Also, my recommendations aren’t any better than the ones on the Diafine box or what anyone on photo.net or anyone else says. You have to try it yourself because you may meter differently, or you may prefer to overexpose regularly (like me) – or even if we meter the same, our meters may not match up. There’s nothing better than coming up with your own approach to a particular film and developer.
Thank you for taking the time. Yes, it’s seems it’s a developer for experimentation.
Just pulled my old Diafine out of the cupboard but solution A had become a cola brown color. Not sure what happened, other than oxidation. Mixed up a fresh batch, which is working fine. The unprepared Diafine was probably 40 years old, but as the chemicals are in tins so last forever. Good stuff.
I Tried on motion picture triX film but it turned out gray which I read is expected for diafine. Both super eight and 16 mm. It is a good effect if you want to gray scale image it’s not too bold in the blacks looks like a zone four
I think many people recommend Diafine for negatives that you’re going to scan, which makes sense. I rarely get to spend time in a darkroom, so I scan all of my negatives even if I’ll have the opportunity to wet print them later.
Do you mean since you can scan it you can optical scanner passes multiple times to make a better density ? Possibly with color? Ii’m only speaking of motion picture film where you can scan thousand feet at a time instead of 36 images. The bigger question is how many people shoot still images and how many people on this group shoot motion picture film. It’s exciting either way
There’s the 1952 I’ll try axle of panchromatic film that I was talking about
Is not been professionally transferred I apologize for the crudity of this model
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwrgI5MmtHQecjJ1M29jcTl6Mzg
Honestly it’s just something I’ve heard a lot of people say. There’s also a definite target exposure index for each film (e.g. shooting 400TX at 1250), and probably some it doesn’t go well with at all. For suspect film (very old) I usually do Rodinal stand development.
Is rodinal like Pyro
I take breaks that’s why I haven’t been on this website very often I really need to get shooting to get the experience to try different methods to try Rodinal and Pyro and diafine because I have two more boxes of it . I’m also really excited to have a fomapen papers and two darkrooms set up. It was because of you that I started processing instead of sending out
So keep on helping people like me with your website and short thank you
Thanks, Jonathan! Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile. I’ve been so busy and letting the rolls of film pile up. Also, I develop in almost exclusively Diafine, Rodinal, and HC-110, so I haven’t had a lot to talk about here. But I will make an effort, know that it makes a difference to other people!
EDIT: I’ve never used Pyro, but I don’t think it’s much like Rodinal. I could be wrong.
I just tried some that is about 8 years old mixed and stored in an old brown beer bottle it’s still good.
That’s what I’m talking about! It’s the ultimate lazy person’s developer.
Due to scarcity I had to buy a gallon of Diafine. I am only using a quart. the remaining three quarts of solutions A and B are sitting in the jugs. I see the word “forever” used frequently in reference to the life of Diafine. From a practical standpoint, how long can the unused solutions sit in the jugs without deteriorating? If I am faithful in giving them a good shake every now and then, do I have enough to last for years? I understand the consumption thing as it is similar to that of developer in C41 kits. Is it just a matter of replenishing the Sollution A with that from the stored sollution A? Your experience is that the stuff continues to work until it is consumed by the negatives?
I just have my gallon each of A and B without worry that I’ll have to replenish them any year soon, unless I contaminate A. It really does last for years. I don’t even shake them, but I do have the working solution in one jug each (repurposed beer growlers) for A and B.
Hello, I shot a lot of tmax 400 35mm, i rated it at 320ISO and exposed for shadows, I would like to develop it in Diafine but I can’t find any guidlines for that particular EI. Any word of advice? much appreciated.
Hi,
What’s unique about Diafine is that it chooses the exposure index for you. I shoot TMY/TMAX 400 at 500 for Diafine. If you want to rate a film yourself, you do it with a particular developer in mind. That exposure index doesn’t travel between developers. So you might rate it 320 for D76 and 400 for Rodinal and 500 for Diafine. Best bet is to take a test roll: 12 exposures indoors in low light, bracketing; 12 in cloudy outside; and 12 in bright sunlight. Take good notes. Develop in Diafine and choose your best shots!
If you’re looking for better shadow detail, you might consider Rodinal at 1:50 dilution rather than Diafine. But you never know.
These were all shot at EI 500 and developed in Diafine: https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=21525734%40N00&sort=date-taken-desc&text=tmy%20diafine&view_all=1
Possibly of interest to others, and this may fall into the “each has his/her own tastes” category, but, I have found Diafine to be an extraordinarily good developer for use with long-expired emulsions out of the former Soviet Union. While nothing is capable of making some of these old emulsions render a perfect result, Diafine offers a level of consistency in result that makes it possible to know, ahead of time, exactly what will be rendered, which allows greater creative use of the films. Prior to use of Diafine I was using a 1/50 solution of Rodinal. While Rodinal is one of my favorite, use of it seemed very hit-or-miss with the expired Soviet stull.
Great article.
Thanks. I’ve used acufine and love it. I’m a one shot guy but I got A box of diafine cause I want chemicals that last longer than a month. Thanks for the good advice.
I feel like this falls into the stupid question category, but here it is. If you aren’t supposed to contaminate A with B and vice versa, what about the small amount of A left in the tank after you pour A back into its bottle. Isn’t B going to be a little bit contaminated with the residual A when you pour that into the tank? Do you try to pour every last bit of A out? I’ve only been developing with Caffenol, but after a year and half of being on backorder, I have some Diafine on the way!
In my experience, it’s not an issue. Don’t contaminate A under any circumstances, but if B gets a little A in it, you won’t notice. Maybe when you mix a new batch of A, you can replace B too, since the chemistry’s always packaged with a container of each. But I spent years just stacking cans of unused B powder on the shelf. A depletes over time, B not so much.
Also: not a stupid question at all, and good luck! I know it’s been a hassle to get Diafine, and I’ve been developing almost exclusively with HC-110 and Ilford films for the past couple of years.
Diafine quart and gallon mix is now in stock at omega brandess. Just bought 4 pkgs February 5. Of the quart size.