Efke 100 120 roll film - Semi stand development in Pyrocat HD

[pauldc]

Just developed and printed my first pyrocat negatives using Tmax 100 and semi stand development. Wow, they are amazing and print like a dream. A real wake up call to what these materials are capable of and the sharpness and tonality is lovely. I followed advice gleaned from this site and developed for 15 minutes in 1+1+100 with 1.5 minutes initial agitation then 10 secs every two to three minutes. Used an EI of 64. Temp 21 degrees C. Printing on variable contrast paper (MCC) at grade 3 on a colour head.

One learning thing for me was that the negatives looked to my eye as overdeveloped and contrasty but once I started printing them this was not the case. I guess this is a situation of me adjusting my expectations of what staining negatives look like compared to normal negs.

I now want to try Efke 100 120 roll - does anyone have experience of this combo in Pyrocat and what times would you recommend for semi-stand development similar to described above. Also, what temp and EI do you use? Printing will again be on VC paper.

I also want to try Efke 100 in 10*8 sheet film with Pyrocat in my Paterson orbital (constant, slow agitation) - again any experience with this combo much appreciated. Printing on VC paper.

Many thanks

 

[c6h6o3]

I now want to try Efke 100 120 roll - does anyone have experience of this combo in Pyrocat and what times would you recommend for semi-stand development similar to described above. Also, what temp and EI do you use? Printing will again be on VC paper.

If they sold it in 8" x 10", I would use the 50 speed instead. I like that 'orthopanchromatic' response.

For R100 roll film, though, I'd rate it at 100 and put the shadows on Zone III. Give it a 5 minute pre-soak and then 3 periods of 12 minutes each with 10 second agitation periods between them. Dilute 10:6:1200. Steve Sherman suggested cutting back on the carbonate to me, and that seems to work well.

BTW, if you're not going to print them Azo, 100Tmax is great for semi-stand development. Unbelievably sharp. I don't use it, but I've seen work done by friends with this combination that's razor sharp and absolutely grainless.

 

[noseoil]

Paul, you are using a technique called "mimimal agitation" if agitation cycles are at 3 minutes. I just posted a few pictures from a recent roll of 35mm that was about what you mentioned for development (three most recent uploads). Presoak for at least 2 minutes. Efke 100 at asa 40, 1:1:150 @ 70f, 1 minute of initial agitation followed by 10 second cycles for 20 minutes total time. I tend to prefer thicker shadow values, to squeeze as much as possible out of this film, but these print well and do not require excessively long print times.

This roll was taken in full sunlight here in Arizona, so if you are shooting in the U.K. on an overcast day, the time will be too short for you. SBR number at about 9 2/3. Give it a try and see what you think. It is a very nice combination to work with. Very sharp and robust films with lots of tonality and razor sharp edges. Best, tim

P.S. Use a tripod for best results! The shots I posted were all hand-held and could have been better. For Azo use asa 25 and back down 1/3 stop of development (8x10).

 

[avandesande]

Not a consideration for contact printing but I found the 50 to be quite grainy, about as much as the 100. The 25 is much better for enlargement.

If they sold it in 8" x 10", I would use the 50 speed instead. I like that 'orthopanchromatic' response.

 

[pauldc]

Thanks for the advice everyone - I will try some Efke 100 this weekend and report back with my experiences.

Best wishes

 

[pauldc]

For R100 roll film, though, I'd rate it at 100 and put the shadows on Zone III. Give it a 5 minute pre-soak and then 3 periods of 12 minutes each with 10 second agitation periods between them. Dilute 10:6:1200. Steve Sherman suggested cutting back on the carbonate to me, and that seems to work well.

As promised, reporting back on my experiences. In the end I decided to follow c6h6o3's advice as described in the above quote. Basically it has worked like a dream and gave me lovely, easy to print negatives with lots of detail. As usual with efke films, the negatives look thinner than other negatives (e.g. Tmax) but this has no impact on printing a full range of tones.

To fill in the details of above - I developed at 21 degrees C exactly as above but because I use sodium carbonate rather than potassium I used the following ratio 10:30:1128 - the total chemistry I actually used was 5ml A, 15 ml B and 564 ml water.

Used 120 roll film on a 6x9 back for an MPP mark VIII view camera. Used a hand held meter basically either metering grass as a mid tone or faces as one stop over a mid tone. I am not a zone person but I expose my contact sheets to maximum black to judge the exposure, contrast and shadow detail and I found the development to be very good by this standard. Light was hazy sun to bright overcast.

I am very pleased - thank you c6h6o3 and I recommend others to try.

As an end note - my original post was about the comparison with pyrocat and tmax. Clearly tmax and efke 100 in pyrocat have very different tonalities and it is nice to have the choice. But, I probably slightly prefer the tmax which is a surprise to me since I am generally not a great fan of new tech films. However, tmax and pyrocat just seems to glow. But, both are great though and well worth the trouble of mixing some pyrocat for.