Efke IR820 in 120 and 4x5

[Logan Group]

I’ve purchased some 120 format Efke films including their IR820 Infrared Film. Does anyone have any practical experience with this film? And just so everyone is aware I have pre-ordered their 4x5 IR820 (when they still made it I shot Kodak’s IR 4X5) and hopefully I should see it in about six weeks. I have read of emulsion problems with Efke’s 120 format R25 that can be solved (hopefully) by using a hardening fixer. Does the IR820 need a hardening fixer as well? Any suggestions on developers?

I plan to use a 87 filter when I shoot and I still have a Sunpak NOCTO 480 Infrared flash I last used in the late 80’s to play with as well. And just to make my experience more complicated I will probably shoot the 120 (and quite possibly fog the entire roll) through a 6x17 back.

Any practical advice form hands on experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Logan Group]

I thought about it a little more and the last time I used the Sunpak NOCTO 480 Infrared flash was the early 90's. That hole time period is a little hazy for me...

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

You wrote: " have read of emulsion problems with Efke’s 120 format R25 that can be solved (hopefully) by using a hardening fixer."

As a long time user of Efke 25 (with no emulsion damage): Yes the R25 emulsion is soft and you can damage it during processing. Best to spend some time with trial rolls of film, learning how to handle the film without damaging the emulsion!

If you must use a hardener, use it on the undeveloped film. Once you have scratched the emulsion, it is too late for hardener!

 

[wildbill]

The pdf info sheet for the new efke 820 is the same as the maco ir820 sheet i downloaded a few years back. I got decent results with and 89b filter 2seconds @22 in full sun with the maco stuff. You will have different results with that filter. Look up maco ir 820 and you should see similarities.

vinny

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I have had a couple of accidents with Efke emulsions, but since I started to use Pyro developers, which have a hardening quality, I haven't had problems at all, even with a non-hardening fixer such as Photographer's Formulary TF-4.

- Thom

 

[Lee Shively]

I really liked the old Macophot "Aura" IR film which, from some superficial research, appears to be practically the same as the Efke film but without the "aura". I always use a hardening fixer with every film I process. That is due to my tap water running around 90 degrees F during the summer months. The Maco film did not seem to be particularly fragile as compared to the regular Efke I've used.

The Maco film instructions said to load the 120 film in darkness but I loaded and unloaded it outdoors only shading it with my shadow. There was some slight edge fog but none of the negatives were fogged in the image area. I think I used an 89B filter--it was a Hoya IR filter--and the results were very pleasing. The speed of the film was really slow and the filter was opaque. Bracket a lot.