Efke IR820 in 120 and 127

[ntenny]

I've just noticed that Freestyle seems to have normal availability for Efke IR820 in 35mm and sheets, but only short-date specials in 120 and 127. Does anyone know if this is just a routine hiccup (end of one production run and still waiting for the next one, or something) or a sign of an actual supply problem?

Thanks

-NT

 

[wildbill]

What did freestyle say? Probably best to get info from them instead of speculation here. Ask them for fresh stuff.

 

[Terence]

I believe there was talk when it first came out that they were going to do a run per year, similar to what Kodak and Konica used to do for their IR films.

For what it's worth, I've been shooting a fair amount of it's predecessor, the Efke-made-Maco-labeled film which is supposedly identical, and it hasn't seemed to age much. It's about 2 years past date and I have kept it refrigerated, but not frozen. Slightly less sensitive to IR and very slight increase in base+fog.

 

[Jason Mekeel]

I have always received non-expired Efke from FreestylePhoto. If you saw short-dated film I bet it is just a batch they're trying to get rid of. Ilford SFX and Rollei IR come in 120 size as well and they both work great with the Hoya R72 filter.

Jason Mekeel

 

[ntenny]

I rang them up (which I should have done originally, of course) and they confirmed that it's just the tail end of the previous batch, and they expect that the next batch will be in Real Soon Now Honest.

It's not the short dates per se I was worried about---I've used the Maco version of the same emulsion a year or so past its date and found it to be fine---I just wanted the confirmation that it wasn't a sign of a real availability problem.

-NT