Efke100

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've found that I can minimize scratching with these more fragile films by using more careful technique--more solution in the tray than I would otherwise use, surgical glove on my shuffling hand to prevent scratching from my fingernails, pulling the sheet straight out from the bottom all the way before lifting, working a little more slowly and deliberately, more sheets per batch so that each sheet is handled less--but there are still very fine abrasions sometimes that could become visible in an enlargement. So for 4x5" I use a Nikor tank and I've acquired deep tanks and hangers for 5x7", but I'll still be doing 8x10" and 11x14" in trays.

 

[unohuu]

Pre-soak

I agree with Francesco and David - Efke 100 is a great film! I have shot a lot of it as 120 roll film. I also shoot it in 4x5 and recently in 8x10 sheet sizes. I expose and process it the same way in all 3 formats. Like Francesco, I develop it in Pyrocat-HD. I also pre-soak in water for 2 minutes.

New to this film. What do you pre-soak it in? Same temp as the developer? I have noticed the softness as well and ruined a roll last week as i attempted to squeegee it after processing.

 

[James Bleifus]

I've found that I can minimize scratching with these more fragile films by using more careful technique--[snip] more sheets per batch so that each sheet is handled less--[snip] but I'll still be doing 8x10" and 11x14" in trays.

Thanks David. I've tried most of your suggestions already with no luck. The truth is I'm a klutz in the darkroom. The one thing I haven't tried is more sheets per batch. In fact, I've been trying to move the opposite direction and develop fewer sheets at once, but your approach makes more sense. I'll take some test pictures and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers,

James

 

[Doug Bennett]

Unohuu,

Pre-soak in water, and yes, it should be the same temp as your other chemicals. If I were you, I'd lose that squeegee. I just give my film a final soak in Photo-Flo, then hang it up. Occasionally I'll have to re-rinse it to get rid of spots, but that's rare, and IMHO it beats dragging anything over the soft emulsion.

 

[Aggie]

Unohuu,

Pre-soak in water, and yes, it should be the same temp as your other chemicals. If I were you, I'd lose that squeegee. I just give my film a final soak in Photo-Flo, then hang it up. Occasionally I'll have to re-rinse it to get rid of spots, but that's rare, and IMHO it beats dragging anything over the soft emulsion.

I agree completely on this. I was taught to do the final wipe of the negatives before hanging to dry, and have had countless rolls ruined by some dust particles being on the photo wipe strips. Since i stopped doing that final wipe, I have not had a roll become scratched.

As to the sheet film if you want to do more sheets per batch there is a trick of using a wire tray inside of a larger tray to hold the sheets. Gordon Hutchings uses one to do 4 sheets of 4x5 in an 8x10 tray. Some here have in the past talked about a slosher tray. I haven't seen one, but all who have used them swear by them.

 

[dr bob]

I agree completely on this. I was taught to do the final wipe of the negatives before hanging to dry, and have had countless rolls ruined by some dust particles being on the photo wipe strips. Since i stopped doing that final wipe, I have not had a roll become scratched.

I remember this from quite a while back. In addition there are many "method" books purporting the same non-sense. My mentor was very anti-squeegee and it certainly makes logical sense not to touch any wet film surface with anything other than liquids at that stage. I am about to test some 120 EFKE for the first time so I am very anxious to gain as much advice as possible. These pests (oops) posts have been quite helpful. Please keep them coming.

 

[c6h6o3]

I am about to test some 120 EFKE for the first time so I am very anxious to gain as much advice as possible.

Rate it at 50.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Yes! Lose the squeegee!

I process a lot of 120 Efke 100. I presoak in water at the same temperature as the developer. I follow development (Pyrocat-HD) with a water rinse, then alkaline non-hardening fixer. After washing I do a final rinse in deionized water with a drop of low foam wetting agent. Hang to dry. NO HEAT!

 

[unohuu]

Thanks, Aggie and Doug. I keep the water in huge cleaned detergent bottles so when I mix chemicals they are all the same temp. I will start that pre-soak today since I am taking the fall family photos tonight. Hope this works.

 

[dr bob]

Rate it at 50.

50 - really? I was planning to try the first roll at 80. OK, say I do 50, then can you suggest a development time? I was planning to use Rodinal 1:50 maybe 12 minutes at 20 degrees.

I'll continue tests later. Right now I'm too excited to concentrate on science - more toward some ol' fashion snapping.

 

[c6h6o3]

50 - really? I was planning to try the first roll at 80. OK, say I do 50, then can you suggest a development time? I was planning to use Rodinal 1:50 maybe 12 minutes at 20 degrees.

I'll continue tests later. Right now I'm too excited to concentrate on science - more toward some ol' fashion snapping.

Sorry. I only use staining developers, and develop by inspection whenever possible. I know nothing about Rodinal and have never used it. I'd give it about 13 minutes in Harvey's 777 at 74F. Does that help?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

dr bob,

I've had some success with Efke 100 rated at EI50. But I use a developing time of 9min with Rodinal 1+50. If you need a dense neg for contact printing, I would probably go as far as 10 or 11min. To me, 13min sounds a little long. I guess it depends on how you develop. I use fairly gentle agitation patterns with a good stir of 15 seconds in as I pour the developer in, and then just 5 seconds every minute with one inversion and then tapping the tank on the bottom pretty hard a few times to get air bubbles out.

I've also used Efke 100 @ EI100, normal, but developed 1+100 for 15min. All this at 68*F/20*C. I presoak for 3min, by the way with one water change.

Hope that helps,

- Thomas
Saint Paul, MN

 

[Foto Ludens]

If it helps any, I used to rate Macophot UP100+ (same films as efke, though JandC had estimated this batch at ISO 50) at E.I 80, and developed it for something like 13-14 minutes in D-76 1:1. I got those numbers through testing with densidometers ('though my professor did all the math...), and aiming to print with a cold head.... You could probably slash the developing times by some 15% to print on condensers.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've had good results with Efke PL100 at EI 80 in PMK.

 

[jandc]

If it helps any, I used to rate Macophot UP100+ (same films as efke, though JandC had estimated this batch at ISO 50) at E.I 80, and developed it for something like 13-14 minutes in D-76 1:1. I got those numbers through testing with densidometers ('though my professor did all the math...), and aiming to print with a cold head.... You could probably slash the developing times by some 15% to print on condensers.

While Maco UP 100 and Efke 100 are the same film the Maco film we were selling for 79 cents a roll last year was from a run where the emulsion turned out slower than normal which is why it was so cheap.

 

[jandc]

50 - really? I was planning to try the first roll at 80. OK, say I do 50, then can you suggest a development time? I was planning to use Rodinal 1:50 maybe 12 minutes at 20 degrees.

I'll continue tests later. Right now I'm too excited to concentrate on science - more toward some ol' fashion snapping.

In non staining developers like Rodinal EI 50 really is overexposing and underdeveloping for this film.

 

[Donald Miller]

To give a further indication of the EI of Efke PL 100 based upon my work with Pyrocat, I have found that for the density ranges that I require for Azo the film will properly expose at EI 100. For the density ranges that I would use for silver enlarging I rate the film at EI 80. Again this is with Pyrocat and minimal agitation.

The choice of developer will have some bearing on the EI. For instance ABC Pyro will not give the same speed as Pyrocat. Also the degree of expansion or contraction will also affect the EI.

I have no experience with Rodinal.

 

[Denis P.]

I have no experience with Efke PL 100, but I use Efke R100 (roll film in 120 format) and KB100 (35mm). I've also tried R50 and R25.
I expose R100 at EI 100, and develop in Rodinal 1+50 at 20 deg. Celsius, for 10:30 to 11:00 minutes, depending on lighting conditions (shorter time for contrasty scenes, longer time for "drab" lighting). The contrast also depends on agitation: I use 30 sec. agitation for the first half minute, and then 1 inversion and about 10 sec. agitation every minute after that.
For R50, my dev. time in Rodinal 1+50 is about 9 minutes, and for R25 about 7 minutes. Everything is shot at nominal EI - i.e. R100 at EI 100, R50 at EI 50, and R25 at EI 25.
The "Plane" shot in my gallery was done on R25, developed in Rodinal 1+50, at 6:30 minutes - in Jobo CPE 2 processor, which is the reason for shorter dev. time. Hand tank would have been 7 minutes. Shot at EI 25.

PS: presoak is obligatory! 5 minutes in Jobo processor, or 1-2 minutes in hand tank. The water comes out deep blue (or something like that, I'm relatively colour-blind )

Denis