Chinese ERA 100 4x5

John Wiegerink · Mar 23, 2010

Here I go again! My 4x5 ERA film arrived and I'm going to load some holders later tonight. I just checked the Massive Developing Chart and only see four developing times for 4x5 sheet film. Two for HC-110, one for Pyrocat-hd and one for Rodinal. I want to use WD2D+ and would think Pyrocat-HD would be as close on the chart as I can get. Pyrocat HD calls for 9.5 minutes film rated at ISO 50. I have Rodinal also, but really wanted to try WD2D+ with this film as it says it has a double layer emulsion. Any suggestions or should I just go for it? JohnW

Colin Corneau · Mar 24, 2010

I say go for it -- I have a box of the exact same film and am curious to know!

paulie · Mar 24, 2010

its great film i use it exclusively

John Wiegerink · Mar 24, 2010

paulie,
I have heard nothing but good things about it and that's exactly the reason I bought some. I'll do some developing this weekend and will use WD2D+. I might soup a couple of sheets in Rodinal and DDX just to see how they do also. What do you use paulie? JohnW

Ektagraphic · Mar 24, 2010

Where could I find one of these offbeat chinese films?

Athiril · Mar 24, 2010

eBay.

Supposedly similar to Shanghai GP3 (120) and Shanghai sheet film (available in 4x5 and 8x10 on ebay), both Shanghai and ERA are very beautiful films.

Therefore I might suggest ERA in Rodinal 1+100, 1 hour stand, it works well for my GP3.

John Wiegerink · Mar 24, 2010

Rodinal 1:100 for 60 min stand develop and rate ERA at ISO 50. That's what the Massive Film Development chart says. Yes, I got my ERA on eBay from a seller in Taiwan with fast shipping and a very reasonable price. If this works out I'm buying a case of the stuff! JohnW

paulie · Mar 24, 2010

its the cleanest of the cheap three (foma, era shangers) nice tonality. i generally over expose a full stop, half a stop for a under develop and half a stop just to take up the slack in the film speed.

i too use stand with ro9 + d76 in a drum

50 sheets for 20 euro, now thats a good deal

bwfans · Mar 25, 2010

Some years ago ERA did not have sheet films productions but makes beautiful 120 and 35mm film. I was doing some business with them and suggested to them to produce 4x5 and 8x10 sheet film. They told me they are interested but don't have the size of popular sheet film. I had to express mail them a 10-sheet box of outdated Fuji 64T in 4x5 and a few sheets of 8x10. I also emailed them the specifications of the sheet films, from 4x5 to 8x10. The result is what you guys are using today.

I am told, ERA probably makes the best B&W films in China. Shanghai and Lucky could be the second and the third. They are not the same business, not even geographically close - ERA is at south nearby Canton, Shanghai is at the east, and Lucky is at the north close to Beijing.

Colin Corneau · Mar 25, 2010

Interesting!

I've shot a few rolls of Shanghai in 120 and it seems pretty nice (brutal curl and a very thin film base, though)

Don't shoot much 4x5 but will have to give the stand suggestion a try.

John Wiegerink · Mar 25, 2010

bwfans,
I don't know if I should praise you or curse you as I haven't tested the film yet, but I have a feeling I'll be giving you a slap on the back for a "job well done'. I'd love to see the Chinese get into making high-class photo products like premium FB papers. I'd even be happy with straight graded papers if they were of high quality. Of course, we need a distributor in the USA/North America and one that doesn't want to make a million dollars the first year by ripping off its customers. JohnW

el wacho · Mar 25, 2010

the rolls i've been shooting of gp3 are not curly like they used to be... they're kind of flat like the other films.

Colin Corneau · Mar 25, 2010

I did make some prints I was really intrigued with on some ERA (iirc) RC paper I picked up in Beijing at the Wukesong camera mall.

It was about 10x12 and in regular Dektol had some amazing qualities in midrange and darker tones...great subtlety. At first I thought images were printing too dark, and I'd bunged up my times, but no -- it was something else. Quite impressive and I wish I'd gotten more. They had FB too.

John Wiegerink · Mar 25, 2010

Maybe we'll see it in the U.S. someday! I'm going to pick up some ERA in 120 to try in my Rollei's and my old Ansco Titan. I was just on B&H's site and looked over their selection of B&W papers and was surprised to see "out of stock" on so many papers. Must be there are a lot of "closet" printers out there. Or should I say "bathroom" printers! JohnW

bwfans · Mar 25, 2010

John Wiegerink said:
bwfans,
... Of course, we need a distributor in the USA/North America and one that doesn't want to make a million dollars the first year by ripping off its customers. JohnW

The reason ERA, Shanghai 120, and Lucky 35mm are usually sold through that auction site proving there is not much profit as a distributor of those b&w films. With dollar value stays on the depreciation track vs Chinese Yuan on the appreciation trend we probably won't see those b&w films being imported into USA very soon. For now I am glad there is someone selling the film via the internet.

Athiril · Mar 25, 2010

Funny thing Ive never had much curl on my GP3, have had much more on Fuji Pro 400H

M.A.Longmore · Aug 20, 2010

.
Any updated developing info for ERA 100, using D-76 ( Only ) ???

Ron

From The Long Island Of New York,
And The Macro Management, and Long Island @ Large Format APUG Groups
.

Athiril · Aug 20, 2010

Athiril said:
eBay.

Supposedly similar to Shanghai GP3 (120) and Shanghai sheet film (available in 4x5 and 8x10 on ebay), both Shanghai and ERA are very beautiful films.

Therefore I might suggest ERA in Rodinal 1+100, 1 hour stand, it works well for my GP3.

Yeah I LOVE my GP3

Shanghai comes in 5x7 too I think.

Ektagraphic said:
Where could I find one of these offbeat chinese films?

Search ERA 4x5 on ebay or Shanghai 4x5

Craig Swensson · Aug 20, 2010

FYI. I have been getting ERA 135 from an ebay guy called `issacchen'. No problems and the postage was about 10 days, he does 4x5 also and GP3. Int.Postage included in cost, 135-36 = US$20.00 per brick.
regards

olleorama · Aug 20, 2010

John Wiegerink said:
bwfans,
I don't know if I should praise you or curse you as I haven't tested the film yet, but I have a feeling I'll be giving you a slap on the back for a "job well done'. I'd love to see the Chinese get into making high-class photo products like premium FB papers. I'd even be happy with straight graded papers if they were of high quality. Of course, we need a distributor in the USA/North America and one that doesn't want to make a million dollars the first year by ripping off its customers. JohnW

I have used ERA papers. They are very good. The weight makes the shipping expensive and not really worth it sometimes. I love that both fiber and RC comes in 50cm rolls. Perfect for making semilarge square prints.

Athiril · Aug 20, 2010

Havent used ERA, but Shanghai is my fave b&w film atm, and it works so very well under or over box speed. I wouldnt mind ERA in 120 but afaik there is none.

John Wiegerink · Aug 23, 2010

I haven't played with this film as much as I want, but find it very good for the price. Truth is, I have only started testing it for film speed and have developed only six sheets in DDX so far. It seems to be fairly easy to work with, at least in 4x5, and grain is pretty uniform as well. I haven't tried to print any of the test shots and probably won't, but looking at them on the light table does tell me that this is not a "garbage" film. I would have worked more with this film and my batch of WD2D+ developer, but I spend summers at my cottage and my darkroom/densitometer are at home. Next year I plan on having a working darkroom here at the cottage. The only problem with that is I might never go home. JohnW

prumpkah · Oct 21, 2010

Shanghai GP3 ISO 100 (120 roll) is a beautiful film. I haven't had any QC or curl issues with it, and it develops nicely in Rodinal. Good value when ordered in quantity from HK or Taiwan via Ebay. The only drawbacks I've encountered are that it has no frame numbers on the film rebate, the backing paper is black which makes the frame numbers hard to read if you have a red window camera, and the paper tab for the sealing the exposed roll has no glue on it. But it's cheap and I get gorgeous negatives from my Rollei, Autocord and Diacord.

thicktheo · Oct 21, 2010

I've been using the ERA 100 in 4x5 size for a while now, and I'm quite happy with it. Tonality is nice, contrast good, I haven't noticed any kind of scratches, etc, on the emulsion, the film stays flat and scans easily.

Examples:

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...the first one was developed with Rodinal, the other two with HC-110(B).

Chinese ERA 100 4x5

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