DIAFINE two-component film developer gallon (2 x 3.8 litres)

Diafine is an American developer that is considered by many (not only Americans) to be the best developer in the world. It is a two-component (pre-stage), very durable equalizing developer that has several unsurpassed parameters: it increases usable film sensitivity (=it's not pushing), ultra-fine grain, maximum sharpness, and resolving power.

Unusual: in Diafine you can develop films of different sensitivities at the same time.

Diafine is not expensive because you simply regenerate the solutions: you earn a stock solution (2 x 3.8 litres) and then pour off a working amount (as much as you need into the developer) and develop in this working solution until you have developed 25 films. Then you drain a little from the working solution and pour in some of the stock solution. You can work like this indefinitely, the solutions are durable, they don't spoil.

Diafine is a true two-stage developer, which leads to medium contrasts (Gamma 0.65 - 0.75) by default.

Another smoothed-out feature of Diafine is the increase in usable film sensitivity. Examples: the Neopan 1600 is exposed to 2400, the Ilford HP-5 to 600-800, the Kodak Tri-X even to 1250-1600.

A detailed Slovak manual for working with the developer, with developing times for perhaps all available and unavailable films, is included.

Two-stage developing (higher school B&W processes) means that the film is gradually immersed in two separate developing solutions during the developing process. The advantage is that a stop/end of developing in the shadows is achieved, while developing in the highlights continues. The result is balanced negatives with a tremendous range of halftones.

Two-step developing achieves a very fine-grained negative even at higher sensitivities. It is used where your basic negative comes out too contrasty and you need a levelling effect. It is very useful when processing films that have been shot in difficult lighting conditions (e.g. backlight).

In doing so, it is important that the equalizing effect (contrast limitation) occurs without softening the image. For scenes with low/normal contrast, the contrast limitation is very small. The two-stage development is particularly effective on high contrast images.