Diafine problem.

[Stephanie Brim]

My Diafine says that it's enough to make a gallon of each solution on the front, but when I turn it over it says that I should mix the powdered solution A and B each with a quart of water. I have 176 grams of solution A and 320 grams of solution B. So which kit do I actually have?

[wlewisiii]

I would guess (as I don't have the box here) that they want you to mix the chems in a smaller amount of water and then dilute to working solution level. I just poured in nearly a gallon of water, mixed it up, topped up the jugs and then let them sit overnight before using it.

Hope this helps.

William

[Stephanie Brim]

Well, kinda. But it says "...to make one quart of Diafine Solution A." This is what is tripping me up. Does this mean one quart of full strength working solution or a concentrate?

[wlewisiii]

Urhm. I really can't say without being there to see the size of the cans. Sorry. I'd send an email to whomever you purchased it from to try and get an answer.

William

[Stephanie Brim]

T'is okay...I'm not mixing it up until tomorrow anyway. Someone here will know what's up with this. It's odd. :)

[Kin Lau]

Little tin cans right, each about the size of a single serving of yogurt? That would be 1 gal of each. There's is a "1 quart" kit out there also, so there is a possibility of a mis-shipment, or they put the wrong instuctions in the box.

[aizan]

if you got the little vienna sausage sized cans, you'll get a quart of diafine.

[Stephanie Brim]

ON the box, actually. And yeah, they're about the size of yogurt.

That makes me feel better. I can just buy my distilled water tomorrow and forget about it. :)

[wlewisiii]

Thank you gentles, I couldn't think of ways to describe the cans.

William

[ChrisN]

Thank you gentles, I couldn't think of ways to describe the cans.

William


Hi William - don you know what Gentles are, in the course fishing community? :D

I know that's not what you meant, but it made me laugh anyway. We fishermen are strange people.

[Roman]

Well, to confuse you further - I bought the quart package, which comes in a cardboard box that says: 'This package contains enough to make ONE QUART EACH Solution A & Solution B. Net Wt. A - 44 gms, Net Wt. B - 80 gms'. Inside are two tin cans, I guess the size of US yoghurt containers (European yoghurt comes in much taller cups...), diameter is slightly over 5 cm (or a bit more than 2 in.), A is 5.6 cm tall (again a bit more than 2 in.), B is 7.3 cm tall (a bit less than 3 in.)

Roman

[Roger Hicks]

Not only that: is it a full size Imperial quart (80 UK fl oz, approx 1.14 litres) or the short, American or wine quart (64 US fl oz, a fracrion under 1 litre)?

My wife (born and high school in upstate New York) still can't believe her teachers told her 'A pint's a pound the world around', as an Imperial gallon (used everywhere that still uses gallons except North America) is 8 pints and weighs 10 lb.

Roll on the metric system!

Incidentally, as I recall, Shakespeare used 'gentles' in the same way as William so he could hardly be in better company -- maggots notwithstanding.

Cheers,

Roger

[Roger Hicks]

Sorry, Greyhoundman. You are of course quite right about the short or US quart -- brain fade on my part -- but historically the short gallon was known as wine measure. A number of measures were not standardized when the colonies rebelled, and this was one of them. There's also the short ton, variously 2000 lb and 2200 lb, instead of the full Imperial ton, 2240 lb (20x 1 cwt @ 112 lb -- and don't ask me why that's a hundredweight...)

Intriguingly, too, some words diverged, such as 'haberdashery' which embraced both the US and English meanings until about 1760-1780.

But surely a 'fifth' (? of a 128-fl-oz gallon, = 25,6 fl oz) is a common term for a bottle of spririts?

Cheers,

Roger

[Doug]

Diafine is mixed directly to "working solution" without an intermediate "concentrate". The gallon-size box says, "This package contains enough to make ONE GALLON EACH Solution A & Solution B Net Wt A - 176gms Net Wt B - 320gms

Under "PREPARATION" it says "Dissolve the contents of can "A" in water (75° to 85°F) to make one gallon of Diafine Solution A. Dissolve the contents of can "B" to make one gallon of Diafine Solution B." They go on to suggest using distilled water.

Since this is a US product, assume US fluid measures, not Imperial. The Empire seems to have dissolved too. :)

Oh, and Stephanie... I think there was an error in the printing of the box, as mine has a replacement text sticker along the top of the side with instructions. This error may be the cause of your discrepancy. If your box says ONE GALLON EACH in orange on the front, then mix to one US gallon each regardless of the volumes mentioned in the fine print on the back!

[Stephanie Brim]

Yeah, that's what I'd guess. I'm going out soon to get water to mix it up with. And that also reminds me...I need to get another bag of fixer, or make one. Any suggestions as to good ones to use? I have some regular Kodak fixer at the moment.

[aizan]

the regular kodak stuff is good.

[doubs43]

Roger, the "short" ton is 2000 lbs. A metric ton is 2204 lbs and the "long" or Imperial ton is 2240 lbs. My father owned a mill and I had to know my weights and measures. I once began writing a computer program to convert different weights and measurements but gave up when research indicated more systems around the world than I was prepared to tackle!

Walker


Sorry, Greyhoundman. You are of course quite right about the short or US quart -- brain fade on my part -- but historically the short gallon was known as wine measure. A number of measures were not standardized when the colonies rebelled, and this was one of them. There's also the short ton, variously 2000 lb and 2200 lb, instead of the full Imperial ton, 2240 lb (20x 1 cwt @ 112 lb -- and don't ask me why that's a hundredweight...)

Intriguingly, too, some words diverged, such as 'haberdashery' which embraced both the US and English meanings until about 1760-1780.

But surely a 'fifth' (? of a 128-fl-oz gallon, = 25,6 fl oz) is a common term for a bottle of spririts?

Cheers,

Roger

[titrisol]

I've been using the Clayton odorless fixer lately... very good stuff
Fixer is fixer, so almost any brand will do, I used to buy sprint because it was cheap

Yeah, that's what I'd guess. I'm going out soon to get water to mix it up with. And that also reminds me...I need to get another bag of fixer, or make one. Any suggestions as to good ones to use? I have some regular Kodak fixer at the moment.

[Stephanie Brim]

Is there a really cheap and not to mention environment-friendly (for the earth *and* me) recipe for fixer? I really can't afford to buy another 8 dollar bag of Kodak Fixer, but I know the life of it is going to be up rather shortly.

[doubs43]

Stephanie, may I suggest going to Freestyle's web site and looking at their prices? Paying $8 for Kodak fixer is awfully expensive. Chances are that you need more than just fixer so buying several items lowers the shipping costs per item. Shipping is quite reasonable and they ship FAST. I've used Freestyle for many years with 100% satisfaction. I have no financial interests in them whatsoever.

Link: http://www.freestylephoto.biz/

Walker

[Stephanie Brim]

I'd actually like to find a recipe for fixer that can be made for something like 3 bucks. :P

Edit: Actually, I may try the Arista odorless fixer.

[T_om]

My Diafine says that it's enough to make a gallon of each solution on the front, but when I turn it over it says that I should mix the powdered solution A and B each with a quart of water. I have 176 grams of solution A and 320 grams of solution B. So which kit do I actually have?



You have the gallon kit. There was a printing problem with some Diafine boxes and they left the factory with improper instructions.

The 176 gram A tin and the 320 gram B tin, only come in the gallon kit so that is what you have.

Tom

[jlw]

I'd actually like to find a recipe for fixer that can be made for something like 3 bucks. :P

How about this?



Two-pound bucket of sodium thiosulfate from this site (http://www.chemistrystore.com/sodium_thiosulfate.htm): $3.97
Water to make 2 gallons, using formula from this site (scroll down a ways) (http://www.farahmahbub.com/VirtualMatter/BWBacktoBasics.htm)

Not quite three bucks, but close...

[Stephanie Brim]

Also, another thing. I *am* going to be dunking some Pan-F in Diafine. What would be the best way to rate it? Rate it at 50 or rate it at 80 like it says on the back of the Diafine box? And how grainy is it? I've heard people say this, but I'd like to know what kind of grain I'll be dealing with. Scans of negatives to give me an idea would be nice. :)

[wlewisiii]

Don't. Buy the smallest bottle of Ilford's stuff that you can instead.

Seriously? Rate it at 25 and you _might_ get some usable negs.

It really is that bad in diafine. I love diafine, pure and simple, but Ilford does not play nice with diafine. If you intend to seriously use diafine, then use Kodak till the bas*@#ds kill the company and only then shift to Ilford. That's my approach - I'll buy Tri-X and Plus-X till the either the day I die or the day they can no longer be bought. Only then will _I_ switch to FP4 & etc. They are not the same, especially if your dev of choice is diafine. I can not say why Kodak plays so much nicer, but it does. Sometimes it really is that simple.

William

[T_om]

I love diafine, pure and simple, but Ilford does not play nice with diafine. If you intend to seriously use diafine, then use Kodak till the bas*@#ds kill the company and only then shift to Ilford. That's my approach - I'll buy Tri-X and Plus-X till the either the day I die or the day they can no longer be bought. Only then will _I_ switch to FP4 & etc. They are not the same, especially if your dev of choice is diafine. I can not say why Kodak plays so much nicer, but it does. Sometimes it really is that simple.

William


...and that is what makes horse races. :)

I happen to like the Ilford HP/FP films in Diafine. It all depends upon the look you are after.

Tom