Comparison of Efke 50 vs. Efke 25 ??

[KOG]

Have recently shoot some Efke 50 in 35mm. The lower red sensitivity seems to give more contrast in the red and yellow soils that are around Amarillo, Texas.

Even with all the posts about bad quality control with Efke films, I'm willing to try some more Efke (including 4x5).

The question is - how much difference is there between Efke 50 and Efke 25? Not just grain and film speed, but spectral response, sharpness, etc.

 

[Colin Graham]

Are you shooing in Palo Duro canyon? (I was born in Amarillo, brings back memories)

Jeez, I really liked the pl25, but couldnt get it in odd sizes; plus it is pretty slow for larger formats. What are you developing it in? If you want brute numbers, J&C probably has the charts still up at their site, but resolution drops of a bit from the 25 to the 50 then 100. But yeah, you shouldn't hesitate to try it, when it's good, it's very good. Hopefully they'll get the problems sorted out.

edit- here's the link to the spec. sheets.

 

[KOG]

Palo Duro Canyon is the place. As you might remember, there's lots of light red and yellow soils that need some tonal separation. Hardly any big puffy cumulus clouds, so I need to add drama to the earth. Tmax film (and I) just don't do it justice.

Thought ortho or Efke films would give better separation, and the Efke 50 does look good enough in 35mm to order some 4x5. I'm rating Efke 50 at ISO 25. If Efke 25 looks almost the same as Efke 50, I'll stay with 50 (I have west Texas wind to worry about). Can anyone describe any noticeable differences between Efke 25 and 50?

I don't have a direct comparison between Efke and Tmax yet, but Efke does give some extra snap to the canyon formations. A green Cokin filter makes the reds darker, and even makes trees and blue sky darker as well.

After trying Rodinal and D-76 1:1, I am currently using Xactol Lux. I will also try Pyrocat and 777 before settling on a developer.

Kevin

 

[mmcclellan]

I shot quite a bit with the 25, developing it in the old-formulat Rodinal from J&C (R-09). The results were absolutely amazing! Unbelieveably small grain, sharpness to die for, tonalities that were unmatched, gorgeous shadows, detailed highlights, etc.

But you have to test it yourself. After testing, I shot it at E.I. 16 and had a totally different developing time in distilled water. This is the only film I've found that matches or surpasses the old Agfa 25 film and I never had a quality control problem with it, in spite of shooting many, many rolls of it over the years.

The 50 was junk in my opinion, but the 25 is unsurpassed.

 

[KOG]

The 50 was junk in my opinion, but the 25 is unsurpassed.

What exactly did you not like about Efke 50?

Kevin