Efke 50

Fotohuis · Dec 17, 2005

Some other suppliers of Rollei:

AP photoindustries (Spain), cassettes. But I suppose Ilford, Agfa, Tura a.s.o. had the same supplier because nobody else in Europe is making (metal) 35mm cassettes.
Ferrania (Italy) for their new one shot B&W camera, available in Januari 2006, loaded with a real B&W film (Retro 400).
Their wooden boxes: A manufacturer in Bavaria (Bayern), Germany, so not China or so......

But who cares?
If you are buying a car, BMW or Mercedes, most people are also not interested where the ABS chip controller is comming from. In this case Elmos in Dortmund, who is, by the way, also producing the controller chip for Leica cameras in Solms.

The most important thing is the quality check, during producing and at the end of the production chain. If that is OK., you have a reliable product and if most products are produced in Germany, you are allowed to put on a label: "made in Germany" , although "made in Europe" or "EU" should be more to the truth.
But that's the same with the German cars: A lot of products inside that BMW or Mercedes are also comming from Holland. If foreign people are thinking we are producing cheese and flowers only: WRONG...................

Robert

Tom Hoskinson · Dec 18, 2005

Hi Christian, I have been shooting Efke 25, and Efke 100 for the last 2+ years. I also occasionally shoot Efke 50, but prefer the 25 and 100 for most of my shooting. I shoot 35mm and 20 rollfilm and I also shoot sheet film in sizes from 2.25"X3.25" through 8"x10." In my experience these Efke films work very well in Agfa Rodinal, Agfa 8, the Beutler formula, Crawley's FX-2 (see The APUG Chemical Recipes Section)and/or Photographer's Formulary TFX-2. I have also obtained good results with ascorbate/phenidone) developers (Pat Gainer's and Suzuki's). As a consequence, I would also expect good results with Kodak XTOL and other pre-mixed ascorbate developers

My personal favorite developer for Efke 100 and Efke 25 is Pyrocat-HD diluted 1+1+100 and developed with either minimum agitation or Semi-Stand Agitation. I use a water rinse instead of a stop bath and I fix with a non-hardening alkaline rapid fixer (like PF TF-4).

Pyrocat-HD is a Catechol/Phenidone based developer (Catechol is also known as Pyrocatechol and as brenzcatechin) The formula for Pyrocat-HD has long been published in the open literature by its inventor (APUG Member Sandy King). There is an enormous amount of published sensitometric and other technical information available that describes the behavior of many current film emulsions developed in Pyrocat-HD.

Mark Layne · Dec 18, 2005

christian said:
Mark:

Read back through the thread, Robert has answerd your question.

Flotsam:

Have had a look. Very nice stuff you have there. I noticed there were some faint markings in the background, forgive me if I am being dumb but is this deliberate, emulsion, printing? I know the web does not do them justice.

many thanks again.

Christian

My apologies, but I have read through the thread and do not see an answer to the question -"who makes Rollei Pan 25?"
Mark

christian · Dec 20, 2005

Hi Tom

Many thanks for the info. As I will be heading to London tomorrow and will be picking up various things from the photoshop. I will have a look at what devs they have. So far I have tons of info to go on just by having this post and its thanks to the good people of AUPG and thier experiences.

I will straight scan the negs for all to see when I finally get to shooting and developing!

Have a nice Christmas all!

Christian

k_jupiter · Dec 20, 2005

christian said:
k_jupiter: Indeed over here (at the moment) can seem grey but with the correct film and dev combination, you can have superb pictures. In my opinion Brugge is a wonderful place at any time of the year, even if we have rain. Not sure wether you have been before but its pretty much like a biscuit tin town (like the old pictures) and every street you turn there is something interesting. At the moment we have an ice rink in the market square, which I will venture on this weekend. :S Is it Belgium you are comming to visit?

I'll be in Aachen the second (and maybe the third) weeks of January. Having passed through there many times when I was stationed down in the Eiffel Mts of Western Germany, I know it can be very wet and very gray. I'll deal with it. I am looking forward to spending some time shooting small central European towns.

tim in san jose

gnashings · Dec 20, 2005

k_jupiter said:
Lots of things to play with but I wouldn't get too involved with Rodinal if I were you. ...

- snipped out of context, I know!

OH NO! I would avoid wide open spaces in order to avoid lightning strikes, or any wrath susceptible areas in general

The one thing I found from my limited experience with Efke films in general (mainly the 25) is that a) it curls like mad and b) it has a very, very soft, scratch prone emulsion. These are things to be careful of - but the results are well worth the extra care. I can only speak of Rodinal 1:50 personally, I find it looks gorgeous. Even though my experience is smaller than many folks' here, I find you would be hard pressed to find more "sharpness" than Rodinal will give you, along with a beautiful tonality. The simplicity and familiarity may also more than outweigh any adventages others may have. But, its so much fun to experiment - photographers are NOT exactly known as a bunch famous for leaving well enough alone

Fotohuis · Dec 21, 2005

I am looking forward to spending some time shooting small central European towns.

In that case I can recommend you a trip to the Czech Republic or Slovakia. Nice small central European towns. Special aera in Slovakia: Mala Fatra or Tatra.

Times are changing, borders are shifted, the East European border will be in the future Turkey or so if they enter in the EU.

In the link some examples under: Slowakije Mala Fatra-Tatra: http://home.hetnet.nl/~fotoclubschaijk/leden.html
http://62.166.18.36/PhotoManager/fotoclub.php?page=map&username=robert&map_id=19

Best regards,

Robert

Gerald Koch · Dec 21, 2005

gnashingsThe one thing I found from my limited experience with Efke films in general (mainly the 25) is that a) it curls like mad and b) it has a very said:
For soft emulsions like Efke I recommend the use of Kodak's hardening stopbath SB-3 in the formulas section.

Tom Hoskinson · Dec 21, 2005

I am a heavy user of Efke 100 and Efke 25 I use both the roll film and the sheet film. I have found that if reasonable care is taken in handling these films, scratches are easy to avoid - as is curling. I have never found a reason to use an emulsion hardener or hardening fixer with these Efke films.

Gerald Koch · Dec 21, 2005

Tom Hoskinson said:
I have found that if reasonable care is taken in handling these films, scratches are easy to avoid - as is curling. I have never found a reason to use an emulsion hardener or hardening fixer with these Efke films.

It's not only scratching that can be a problem with soft emulsions there is the possibility of suspended matter during processing sticking to the emulsion. I have seen small boulders in my tap water let alone smaller particles.

But then, if you are not experiencing problems there is no reason to use a hardener.

Tom Hoskinson · Dec 21, 2005

All my photo processing/mixing water goes through a millipore filtering chain. I have no problems with particulates.

gnashings · Dec 22, 2005

Gerald, Tom

Thank you for your advice, and let me just point out that most of the "faults" I find with these films were results of my poor technique. The improvement most needed here is in the photographer, not the film

On a different note, I always found the Eastern Europe terminology very misleading, misinformed and highly inaccurate - a product of the confrontational paranoia of the Cold War era. The geographic centre of the European continent is about 60 km south-east of Warsaw, Poland. The continent does not end at the Polish-Former USSR border - last I checked, it ended at the Urals which are the result of the continental plates butting up against one another - Asia and Europe meet there. That is, in fact, eastern Europe. Therefore, I think the Central Euopean description, as applied to Czech and Slovak towns is quite accurate.

fwp · Dec 23, 2005

christian said:
Robert:
Many thanks again. You have so much information in your head I am suprised you sleep! hahah

FWP:
What developer do you use?

Many thanks

Christian

Sorry to take so long to respond. For some reason I thought I did. The developer I'm using is tfx-2. I get it from photographers formulary. It's a modification of the fx-2 formulation.

christian · Dec 23, 2005

Hi fwp

No worries!

I am in London just setting up a friends new laptop and so decided to have a quick forum check.

Will be back in belgium tomorrow evening after 2 days of messy London (people running around like crazy!).

I hope everyone has a superb christmas and you all get the toys you wanted!

Merry christmas!

Christian

Efke 50

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