One-Minute Reads about Film Photography

The fool-proof two-step black and white developer. Three Minute Read to Simplicity.

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I’m an aficionado of black and white photography and have used a number of developers including HC110, Xtol, Microphen, and D76. But my all-time favorite is Diafine. This two-step developer is super easy to use and produces excellent results. It is available from BH Photo and Video among others. Diafine, as a compensating developer, adds about a 1-stop exposure, but I get excellent results just shooting box speed too. Tri-X 400 shot at ISO 800 is great as an example.

Diafine evidently lasts “forever”. I have been using the same batch now for over five years! I mixed up two 1-quart batches, and used one batch as my primary developer, and the second batch as a “replenisher” just adding to the bottles as they go down due to use. This is a two-part developing system with Part A and Part B.

Diafine is not sensitive to temperature (just use at room temperature) or time (as long as the minimum time is used) and is reusable (versus one-shot).

Here is a summary of steps I use:

1. Have a couple of quarts of room-temperature water ready. I use tap water and fill the containers an hour or two before I plan to develop.
2. When I am ready, I first load my reels (see my tech tip on using Patterson reels trouble free.)
3. Mix some hypo clear using the room-temp water. This significantly reduces the need for lengthy wash time.
4. Start the process with Part A with a 3 1/2 minute cycle, using agitation for the first 1/2 minute then every minute. DO NOT PRE-SOAK the film. After time is up, pour back into the bottle.
5. Pour Part B into the developing tank. DO NOT RINSE between steps. The Part A has soaked into the emulsion and Part B reacts with it to develop the film. After time is up, pour back into Part B bottle. Important note: if any Part B gets into the Part A bottle, it is ruined so be careful.
6. Use some water from bottles to rinse the film for about 30 seconds. This step is just to help the fixer last longer (I use Kodak fixer).
7. Pour fixer in the tank and agitate regularly for about 3-4 minutes. Pour back into fixer bottle.
8. Pour Hypo Clear into take and agitate about 1-2 minutes. Do NOT pour out.
9. This next for washing is important to prevent reticulation from large temperature shifts (my tap water is usually quite warm). With the hypo clear still in the tank, start adding tap water from the faucet very slowly (replace the hypo clear with the tap water in about 2-3 minutes) to allow the temperature to adjust to whatever temp your tap water is.
10. Finish the washing cycle by filling and emptying the tank 5 times.
11. Use Photo Flo or other wetting agent to finish the process, then remove film from reels and hang up to dry (dust free environment is best!)

From the start when I load my film reel in a dark bag, to hanging the film up to dry, the entire process takes about 20 minutes.

• gregory gammon / www.vinylfye.com