Acid stop bath with Efke/Adox 100

haziz · Nov 13, 2005

Does anybody use acid stop bath with Efke/Adox 100 PL 4x5 sheets? I find the use of acid bath more convenient with my HP Combi-tank. I realize the emulsion is very soft; in fact I am already getting pinholes even with the use of a water rinse for stop.

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Hany.

Donald Miller · Nov 13, 2005

I use acetic acid stop bath mixed at 25 % of the strength that I use for paper. No problems with pinholes. I develop in BTZS tubes.

srs5694 · Nov 13, 2005

I've only shot three 35mm rolls of Efke films (two KB25 and one KB100). I used Kodak Indicator Stop Bath with all three rolls and had no problems. Of course, it's conceivable that sheet films are more sensitive or that I just got lucky....

rrankin · Nov 13, 2005

I was getting pinhoes in my Efke 100 with a water bath. Once I was more careful with the water temps, i.e. no sudden changes in temperature between developer, water, fix, and wash, I stopped getting them. There may be other reasons for the pinholes, but that seemed to be my problem. Cheers, Richard

Papa Tango · Nov 13, 2005

I have found the Efke's to be great films, but very delicate. I am using a working solution of Kodak Indicator further diluted @ 1:6 with them and Bergger 200. Make sure that the temperature is the same as the developer and fix, and be sure to bump bump bump after agitation. For some reason these thicker emulsion films like to hold bubbles more than other films. All of the trouble I had in the past with pinholes was caused by different temperatures between solutions, particularly cooling in the water stop and heating at the fix. It may be an expansion and contraction issue in the emulsion. A sample check showed that the pinholes appeared during the fix process, not in the stop. Still, I would beware of full strength acid stop.

Gerald Koch · Nov 14, 2005

If you are having a problem with the soft emulsions of the Efke films you might consider using a hardening stopbath such as Kodak SB-3. This consists of a 3% solution of potassium chrome alum. Immerse the film for 5 minutes with agitation every minute. This bath does not keep and should be made up fresh before use. I provides significantly greater hardening than ordinary hardening fixers.

chiller · Nov 14, 2005

Gerald Koch said:
If you are having a problem with the soft emulsions of the Efke films you might consider using a hardening stopbath such as Kodak SB-3. This consists of a 3% solution of potassium chrome alum. Immerse the film for 5 minutes with agitation every minute. This bath does not keep and should be made up fresh before use. I provides significantly greater hardening than ordinary hardening fixers.

Just following on from your post -- are my people using a herdener in their fixer for the Efke films and if so has this helped or hindered in anyway?

The note about temperature is valid as many years ago it was essential to keep all solutions tightly controlled.

dphphoto · Nov 14, 2005

I use a water stop with Efke 400 and have had no problems. Dean

Mongo · Nov 14, 2005

Efke 400 is actually re-packaged HP5+, so it is not as fragile as the other Efke emulsions.

I use a water stop with my Efke film, but only because I use a water stop with everything. I've not had pinhole problems at all. My temperatures are always tightly controlled because that's how I was taught oh-so-long-ago.

I haven't used hardening fixers in quite some time, and don't find the Efke emulsions to be particularly delicate once they're dry. Since I do all of my sheet film processing in a Unicolor drum I don't have any problems from handling the wet film during the development process, but I did once destroy a very nice 8x10 negative with my thumbnail when removing the film from the drum. It only happened once, as I'm now extremely careful with the negatives until they're dry. But once they're dry I don't handle them any differently than any other negatives, and have not had any problems with damaging dry negatives.

Curt · Nov 16, 2005

I use water and keep the temperature the same throughout the process. I use rapid fix and the negatives are very clean.

Acid stop bath with Efke/Adox 100

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