efke 4x5in

I just got a 50 sheet box of 4x5in efke infrared. Has anyone
had any experience with it here? the sheets appear to be slightly too big to fit comfortably in a film holder, I've eased them in but I'm worried about flatness. The notches also appear to be slightly different from sheet to sheet.

I'm sure you tried searching "efke infrared". Also try maco ir 820. I've never had an issue with the film size.

I bought some of that Efke postive paper in 4x5 to play with.
I had the same problem, it was a tad to big for the holders.
I have never had that problem before.
They must use different inches to measure 4x5.
It is pretty difficult trying to trim 1/8th of an inch off with scissors in the dark.

Jarvman said:

I just got a 50 sheet box of 4x5in efke infrared. Has anyone
had any experience with it here? the sheets appear to be slightly too big to fit comfortably in a film holder, I've eased them in but I'm worried about flatness. The notches also appear to be slightly different from sheet to sheet.

Click to expand...

I've had this trouble with Efke 4x5, but just with a random sheet or two; never a whole box. I would not be surprised if there were slight variances in size that might affect a whole box.

I do know that a perfectly measured 4x5 inch piece of film is a bit tight. I think quote-unquote 4x5 film must be a tad smaller than 4x5. Freestyle makes 3.9x4.9 litho film specifically for the purpose of loading into holders. Maybe somebody at the factory decided to take the term "4x5" a bit too literally.

As far as using the film goes, you must absolutely bake it with light if using it filtered. It is very difficult to give it too much exposure and/or too much development. The highest EI I have ever got a decent exposure with using an R72 filter was 0.75 (if there is such a thing)! I have better results rating it two to three full-stop EIs slower than that.

Thanks. I noticed that when exposing the first two sheets 2f/2f. I've had some good success using efke rollfilm with a filter, taking an ambient reading at f/4 and adding an extra 2 stops and getting fairly consitent results with it. This wasn't enough exposure with the first few sheets of it though, it was pretty underexposed. I think another stop would've done it, maybe 2. I'm developing it for 7 mins in HC-110 dil B for 7 mins as suggested by the massivedev chart. I was thinking of switching to dilution H and giving it 75% or 50% less development depending on how contrasty the scene is because cranking up the exposure is gonna fry those skies.

oop, ISO 4 even. I just devved a further 2 sheets today, exposed 2 stops more than last time. That's 4 stops more than ISO 4, whatever that is! They're most excellent, the one processed for 50% time turned out the best. There's no problem with flim flatness by the looks. They just seem to be a bit tricky to get in there. GUD TIMEZ!

I LOVE the Efke IR film, you just have to be willing to work with its slowness

mwdake said:

I bought some of that Efke postive paper in 4x5 to play with.
I had the same problem, it was a tad to big for the holders.
I have never had that problem before.
They must use different inches to measure 4x5.
It is pretty difficult trying to trim 1/8th of an inch off with scissors in the dark.

Click to expand...

The efke paper wasn't initially sold in holder sized cuts. They have a separate size now just for 4x5 and 8x10 holders that easily fits. That's what's listed on freestyle's site. It's silly.

eye_of_wally said:

I LOVE the Efke IR film, you just have to be willing to work with its slowness

Click to expand...

Ooh, hi Wally! I love efke and I love your holga infrared shots. very inspiring stuff. I bought a holga cable release for the purpose of trying it out myself but so far have only put a roll of Rollie infrared through it and it turned out a bit crummy, too contrasty. Will try some efke in there when I get some more of it in rollfilm. I have more experience with exposing that.

I'm not sure of why Efke's film would be cut to paper sizes, but their direct positive paper is cut to the print size spec of 4"x5", NOT the film-size spec of the "4x5" format, which is actually in metric, and is a bit less than 4"x5". As one who uses a lot of paper negatives as film, and who has also used the Efke direct positive paper, I purchase the 8"x10" print paper and trim it in the darkroom with a rotary paper trimmer, setup with presets for the length and width cuts so it can be done accurately in the dark.

Remember: 4x5 paper is generally 4"x5"; "4x5" film is NOT 4"x5", but a bit less (an ISO spec.)

~Joe

Joe VanCleave said:

I'm not sure of why Efke's film would be cut to paper sizes, but their direct positive paper is cut to the print size spec of 4"x5", NOT the film-size spec of the "4x5" format, which is actually in metric, and is a bit less than 4"x5". As one who uses a lot of paper negatives as film, and who has also used the Efke direct positive paper, I purchase the 8"x10" print paper and trim it in the darkroom with a rotary paper trimmer, setup with presets for the length and width cuts so it can be done accurately in the dark.

Remember: 4x5 paper is generally 4"x5"; "4x5" film is NOT 4"x5", but a bit less (an ISO spec.)

~Joe

Click to expand...

Well, according to the current Freestyle catalog (page 15), the direct positive paper is sold in slightly smaller sizes for film holders. Item 22432 for 4x5 holders and Item 22472 for 8x10 holders. This info isn't listed on their website.

4x5 glass plates are really 4x5 inches. 4x5 film is smaller than that, because it was originally sized to fit in "film sheaths", which were aluminum plates designed to fit into plate holders in the place of glass plates. So particularly on the 4 inch size, 4x5 film is shy of 4 inches, since the film sheaths had their edges bent over to hold the film in place.