best developer for old style film (efke, foma)??

Haven't used Efke or Foma myself, but I have used a lot of Forte Pan, 400 ISO, in the past. Still have a box or two left in the fridge. For myself, 8 sheets 4x5" in a Jobo tank, 10ml of HC-110 pure syrup in 650mm water - that's about 1/2 strength of "Dilution B". I shoot at 200 ISO, presoak in water about 4 minutes, drain, add my developer, constant agitation/rotation on a unicolour base (can be done by hand too, back & forth) for about 9 to 10 minutes (depending on n-1, n+1, etc,e tc. Your mileage will vary), drain, water stop, fix, wash, photo-flow, dry.

Works very good for me.
good luck
joe

Another vote for pyrocat MC - as it hardens the emulsion and has a very nice look to it. I don't seem to have the emulsion issues as others perhaps due to pyro and careful handling.

I have a preference for Rodinal with Efke/Adox 50 emulsion since it gives a very Polaroid 55 feel to the tones. I believe the ISO25 version is fully Ortho, so I don't know how it would behave. K

alanrockwood said:

arealitystudios, what EI do you rate foma 100 at?

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I rate foma 100 and 200 at box speed if the light is nice and even. Here in Oregon it's pretty much overcast most days which means I hardly ever have super contrasty light.

The only Foma film I rate a bit lower is the 400 speed. I usually meter it at 300 or so and I tend to get better results that way.

danzyc said:

hello people could you suggest me how process efke film???

pmk pyro? pyrocat hd? or rodinal?


many thanks

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I mainly use Rodinal 1:50 for 10min. But have also used HC-110 1:50. However I think a good runner-up for Rodinal is ATM-49, basically Agfa's Atomal-49 developer now available from Adox.

This developer really brings out a "vintage" look, especially when shot with either Rolleiflex or Leica cameras.

Back in '94 I discovered Agfa's "Studional" aka "Rodinal Special" fine-grain developer, and switched to that exclusively for my APX films. Even Tri-X gave a spectacular look with it. And now that Fomapan is the closest look to APX, I'm going to try it with the "Studional" and see what happens.

Good luck to you, take notes on every roll you shoot/process and you should be fine.

Rolleijoe