efke films

panchromatic · Mar 29, 2005

I poured over some older threads and I hear both good and bad things about the film, though i cannot help but want to try it. Any advice that you few gentlemen (and ladies) can offer would be much welcomed.

Silverpixels5 · Mar 29, 2005

Which speed are you interested in? I'm assuming you'll be using 135 format? I don't really use the 100 speed in 35mm anymore, but when I did I always got good results with it in Pyrocat HD. I also believe that the EFKE 100 has the best expansion/contraction capabilities...I currently use it in large format only. In 35mm I use the EFKE 25 in Rodinal 1:99 with very nice results.

noseoil · Mar 29, 2005

Ryan, both the 25 and 100 are great films. I haven't used the 50 at this point, but it is supposed to be pretty good as well. With the 25, make sure to do a couple of tests to get exposure and development correct. It is very touchy about getting things right, but is incredibly sharp when used properly, no grain to speak of, so enlarging is very good.

The 100 is a great choice if you have more difficult lghting. In roll film, it is much more forgiving than the 25, but you don't have the ability to tailor exposure and development as you would with sheeet film.

If you're using 35mm exclusively, try PMK pyro for good sharp negatives with smooth grain.

James Bleifus · Mar 29, 2005

Ryan,

I love Efke 100 which is the only film I use. Photowarehouse is selling rebranded FP4 for next to nothing but I can't bring myself to give up Efke. It has amazing tonal range and is very flexible if you're into expansion and contraction development. As pointed out often, the emulsion is soft during development, but if you're developing 35mm in reels that probably won't matter. Order some from J&C and give it a try.

Cheers,

James

Flotsam · Mar 29, 2005

I have been very impressed withthe Efke films that I have used from th get-go. Wonderful tone for still lifes and I've adopted the 100 as my "walking around" 35mm film. There are a couple of examples of my results in my personal gallery. I have tried Rodinal and D-76 1;1 with fine results.
APUG sponsor JandC is a good company to deal with too.

titrisol · Mar 29, 2005

I think that is an excellent point!
JandC are an excellent company, it is always a pleasure to work with them.

Flotsam said:
APUG sponsor JandC is a good company to deal with too.

Daniel Lawton · Mar 29, 2005

I just shot some EFKE 25 and developed in Rodinal 1+100. The results are very nice. Nice tonality and grain is barely visible in 35mm blown up to 8x10, even with Rodinal.

wildbill · Mar 29, 2005

Try efke 25 for low contrast scenes and long exposures. The Maple River shot in my gallery is Efke 25 in 4x5.
Just a note: the Photowarehouse film isn't rebranded Ilford. It may act like it but the representative i spoke with said it isn't and that their supply would continue if Ilford went under. Also, their prices on the photowarehouse site are a few years old so you must go to ultrafineonline to get the current quotes.

Claude · Mar 29, 2005

PL100 is a very nice film, developped in Pyrocat HD it can give a very large scale of greys. It's nice too for night shoots. I'm using it in 5x7 and 8x10 sheet films.
Claude

panchromatic · Mar 29, 2005

I know i want to try it in 25, but i was going to sample them all to see which i like best.

JandC has been given rave reviews and i would love to give them my business.

titrisol · Mar 29, 2005

efke 100 is a good film, good latitude, nice toanlity, feels like the old AGFApan 100
25 is very intresting due to its lack of red sensititity you have to try it yourself. It also scans real well, as opposed to most BW films.

James Bleifus · Mar 29, 2005

wildbill said:
Just a note: the Photowarehouse film isn't rebranded Ilford. It may act like it but the representative i spoke with said it isn't and that their supply would continue if Ilford went under. Also, their prices on the photowarehouse site are a few years old so you must go to ultrafineonline to get the current quotes.

Good information, Wildbill. Thanks!

Cheers,

James

Mongo · Mar 29, 2005

I shoot a lot of Efke 100 in everything from 35mm to 8x10. It's my favorite film, and developed in Pyrocat-HD it's by far my favorite combination for both enlarging and for contact printing. Incredibly long scale, great tonality, wonderfully fine grain, sharp...a real treat.

But beware that the emulsion is soft. You must handle the film carefully when it's wet; it's all too easy to scratch the emulsion with a fingernail (or a corner of the sheet if you're shooting sheet film). It's the kind of lesson that you only have to learn once to appreciate...but learning it that one time can be heartbreaking.

Still, I'll happily put up with the softness of the film in exchange for the images I get.

waynecrider · Mar 29, 2005

Claude said:
PL100 is a very nice film, developped in Pyrocat HD it can give a very large scale of greys. It's nice too for night shoots. I'm using it in 5x7 and 8x10 sheet films.
Claude

Anyone have reciprocity times for the 100 in 4x5?

FilmIs4Ever · Mar 29, 2005

I've always been interested in giving Efke's 25-speed film a try. What is the latitude like with a film like this? Or is there NO latitude? Also, what sort of contrast range does this film give?

Regards.
~Karl Borowski

Claude · Mar 29, 2005

For nights shots I use roughly 3 times 15, 30, 60 minutes two examples :
a one hour duration
http://www.revelateur.com/scripts/photos/photo.php?ID=450
15 minutes
http://www.revelateur.com/scripts/photos/photo.php?ID=552
For less then 15 minutes I follow the reading of my olf Lunasix 3
Sorry for the english... I'am french
Claude

Mongo · Mar 29, 2005

waynecrider said:
Anyone have reciprocity times for the 100 in 4x5?

The J&C site (jandcphoto.com) has all of the information you'll need for this film. Reciprocity failure is pretty standard: 1 sec = 1 stop, 10 sec = 2 stops, 100 sec = 3 stops.

Thomassauerwein · Mar 30, 2005

I have 16 rolls of 120 sized Efke 25 I'd be happy to donate to someone wanting to try it out. bought about 1 1/2 yrs ago from Jand C while they where trying to get it together. it expires 2006. I tested it, but did not find a balance I liked as well as my current films. That does not mean anything except that I hate to see it go to waist. It has been in the refrigerater the whole time so I'm sure it is perfect.

Ole · Mar 30, 2005

I really like the 25 and 50 - in acutance developer. Neofin, FX-2 or possibly Rodinal (though I haven't tried that yet). The tonality of this combination is different from everything else I've seen, and I really like it!

Incroyable · Mar 30, 2005

Isn't the Efke 50 film a facsimile of the original Adox formula?

Ole · Mar 30, 2005

Incroyable said:
Isn't the Efke 50 film a facsimile of the original Adox formula?

They all are. Until a few years ago they were called EFKE R14 (25), R17 (50) and R20 (100) - same in KB and PL. These were direct descendents of the original ADOX films with the same designations.

Facsimile? No - same production plant, same recipe, just moved to a different country.

haris · Mar 30, 2005

As I know, all EFKE films are basec on Adox formula.

It is intersesting for me to read this thread. I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as you maybe know, my country, and Croatia, which is maker of EFKE films (company called Fotokemika), were untill 15 years ago parts of one country, Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. So, EFKE films were "standard" films (and papers and chemistry) for us, and still are (more or less) avaliable here. Interesting thing is that photographers here allways ran as far as they could from EFKE products. There were horror stories about emulsion faling off the base and like. Or, maybe that was "everything from west is better than things we have here..." way of thinking. I never heard that Fotokemika had different products for domestic maket, and for export. Yes, I use EFKE 35mm films too...

Flotsam · Mar 30, 2005

I have yet to have any but the smallest physical problems with the Efke roll films that I have used. I have started using a hardener in my fix for the first time both to toughen up the emulsion a bit and make it less suseptable to temperature changes between the fix and drying.

Pete H · Mar 30, 2005

I really like the tones of Efke 25 in Neofin Blue (5x4 and 120). Yes the emulsion is soft and the 120 has quite bad curl, but it's worth persevering with.

rjr · Mar 30, 2005

You can control the curl by adapting your drying setup - control the humidity, if the air is too dry the film will curl. Hang it in the darkroom just after a shower and it will dry flat.

Emulsion defects were known in the past - that changed in 2000-2001, but a 2004 batch of R50 had bad specks and scratches in the emulsion, a friend of mine decided not to use that particular batch anymore ("Use before date": 09-2006, batch #310555).

I love R50, dev´d in Rodinal 1+50, used with technical and architectural motives. Nice thing.

One thing that continues to bother me is the backing paper used for Efke and the Adox-labelled Ilford films - it seems to be cut with high tolerances and spooled rather loosely. I haven´t had a single roll -out of 40-50 within 3 years- that wasn´t fogged at the edges. The fogging rarely ever reaches into the image, but it´s still a danger to the final negative.

The black rollfilm cartrigdes may change that - but they are not yet available in Europe! :-( I just received a pack of Efke in "old" disguise and some CHM400/HP5 without these last week.

efke films

panchromatic

Silverpixels5

noseoil

James Bleifus

Flotsam

titrisol

Daniel Lawton

wildbill

Claude

panchromatic

titrisol

James Bleifus

Mongo

waynecrider

FilmIs4Ever

Claude

Mongo

Thomassauerwein

Ole

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Incroyable

Ole

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haris

Flotsam

Pete H

rjr

efke films

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