I decided I should buy some new Diafine, not because my old batch died but because I'm down to about a liter from the original gallon.
Freestyle has it, but it's $42. What?
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I decided I should buy some new Diafine, not because my old batch died but because I'm down to about a liter from the original gallon.
Freestyle has it, but it's $42. What?
I don't really relish paying that much for it, but...I like it. I don't know. I'm conflicted. No one knows the recipe, right?
I was about to buy some in order to try it out on suggestion from a discussion in another thread but, after seeing the price, I figured it could wait.
It is not just Freestyle but everyone. My guess is that BKA decided that the only way they were not going to discontinue Diafine is if they made a profit on it. Increasing the price from $12.99 a gallon (what I last paid a few years ago) to over $40 was a shock, but I paid it. When you consider the total number of rolls you can develop per liter (or gallon) Diafine is still a bargain.
If you want I can send you some of my liquid Diafine for you to try out. A gallon lasts me about 5 years and has never gone bad in storage. If I can get you to buy than maybe in 5 years they will still have it for sale. Send me a PM.Quote:
Originally Posted by Worker 11811
Adorama has it for about $25 per quart (Liter) with shipping. That is the best deal I see now.
A final note. Ilford DD-X is a fantastic speed increasing developer, like Diafine. However Ilford DD-X is almost $70 per gallon. DD-X will also yield far less rolls of film developed as it can not be reused as much as Diafine.
For others who care to comment, I do use BOTH of these developers. DD-X is best for Delta 3200, Daifine is best for Tri-X rated at 1250. The final image is all that matters. Pay what you need to achieve your vision.
I've made home made 'Diafine' before, worked very well. I'll try to recall the recipe I used. Qutie cheap to mix up, first bath pH is fairly critical as there needs to be -some- development in there so that bath B can accelerate that faint low contrast image, if bath B only has the latent image to work with, you'll get poor thin negs.
Nowadays, I just cant stop loving Xtol (even if it wasn't one of the cheapest, I'd still be all over it).
I think I will end up switching to Xtol. I find I get the same shadow speed with Xtol as with Diafine, but the great thing about Diafine is that my regularly-exposed shots on the same roll don't get totally cooked.
Don't look at $/gal, figure out $/roll - that's what really matters. I believe Diafine basically lasts forever and the only consumption is via carryover.
You can also mix similar 2-bath devs from scratch for pretty cheap.