Efke B&W Film

[Silverpixels5]

Does anyone here have experience with Efke B&W film, particularly PL25 and R25. I'm about to try a few rolls of R25 in 120 and was just wondering what other folks experiences may be, and also what developers you may have used with it. Thanks for any info you can offer.

 

[Silverpixels5]

Just ran a search on it here in the forum and found some good info. Thanks anyway, and sorry for the repost of a past question.

 

[Ole]

The EFKE 25 film are great! They are what's called "orthopanchromatic", which means the red sensitivity starts at slightly shorter wavelengths than most other films. This does not mean that they have reduced red sensitivity - but they are completely insensitive to the longest wavelengths of red light.

When I first used this film it was called EFKE R14. I developed that (and R17) in Neofin Blue, getting exellent results with about 20% more development than recommended (I like dense negatives with lots of contrast).

I haven't tried the "modern" PL25 yet, but PL100 is still a great film. The eclipse photo in the technical gallery was shot on this, developed by inspection in Maxim Muir's compensating pyrocatechin.

 

[c6h6o3]

Films I have used:

Tri-x
Plus-X
PanF+
FP4+
HP5+
Bergger BPF 200
TMax 100
TMax 400
JandC Classic 200
Efke R25
Efke R100 (PL100 is better because of the nice, thick base. R100's is too flimsy)
Fomapan Classic 100
SFX 200

 

[Silverpixels5]

Ok I just bought 3 rolls of R25 in 120. Any suggestions on exposure rating and development? I usually always use Rodinal and the temperature in my home stays at 75F.

 

[Ole]

EFKE film generally hold their stated ISO - by a good margin. I'd start with 25...

Rodinal should be a good developer, but I can't give any times since I've never used it.

 

[magic823]

Love Efke 25 in 4x5. Its my favorite film. I use WD2D+ Pyro developer at 8mins 20C - ISO 25.

 

[clogz]

A good source of info: www.frugalphotographer.com.

Also: www.digitaltruth.com (Massive B&W Development Chart)

 

[baronfoxx]

if my memory serves me right, efke film ysed to be known as Adox r14 andr25
and I used to develop in Neofin red for high speed and Neofin blueblue for fine grain.
can any out there confirm my memories.

 

[r-brian]

Go to:

jandcphotography.com

The sell Efke and have info on developing times.

 

[Doug Bennett]

Rodinal is a good choice, but I'll agree with magic823: WD2D+ is superb with Efke.

 

[Ole]

if my memory serves me right, efke film ysed to be known as Adox r14 andr25
and I used to develop in Neofin red for high speed and Neofin blueblue for fine grain.
can any out there confirm my memories.

I can't confirm the Adox bit, but I used to develop EFKE R17 in Neofin Blue.

 

[Jimmy Peguet]

I developed some days ago my first 4 sheet of 8x10" PL 25, exposed at 12. 6'30" in ABC 2:1:1:15 (standard dilution will be too strong) are a bit too long for my N-1 negatives. The film is less yellow sensitive than current panchro films, a yellow filter might be standard for outdoor use. Be very careful with the emulsion, it's very sensitive, I've got two films slightly scratched, it almost never happens with other films.

If I remember, Aaron Van de Sande tried Weston's formula.

 

[avandesande]

Pl25 is the only available film that will expand normally in weston pyro. I didn't really see any difference between Weston pyro and straight pyro, except that Weston pyro is much slower, so you have more control, and you lose 1.5 stops. One of these days I will order the stuff for pyrocatechol hd, a little slower and more controllable without loss of speed.