Just Developed My First Rolls of Efke Film

Travis Nunn · Apr 3, 2006

Efke R50 (120) to be precise and WOW is that a soft emulsion! Both of the rolls seemed a little sticky when rolling them, which was a little suprising. On one of the frames the emulsion actually rubbed off. When I saw it I rubbed it a tiny bit (the shot was ruined anyway) and the emulsion just rubbed right off. Anyone else experience this with Efke?

fschifano · Apr 3, 2006

Personally, no I haven't experienced that; nor have I used Efke films. An acquaintance of mine does use that film and described the very same behavior though, so your observation is not unique. I guess the recommendation to use a hardening fixer wiht this film is good advice.

butterflydream · Apr 3, 2006

I have simmilar experience when I used EFKE 127 format for Rollei Gray Baby. I suffered from the scraches on the emulsion side of negative. I don't know if the emulsion coating is physically weak or if I have processed the film in wrong way.

wildbill · Apr 3, 2006

Yep. I shoot mostly EFKE 25 in sheets though. Scratches like nobody's biz too. I have more problems with this than any other film but i wouldn't trade it for anything else. I hate processing roll film and that's one reason why i don't shoot much of efke in roll form. That and it hasn't been available for some time. good luck

Travis Nunn · Apr 3, 2006

I think I'll try a hardening fixer next time around. I have wanted to try Efke 25 for a long time, but like you said Bill, it hasn't been available for a while.

Tom Hoskinson · Apr 3, 2006

t_nunn said:
I think I'll try a hardening fixer next time around. I have wanted to try Efke 25 for a long time, but like you said Bill, it hasn't been available for a while.

I shoot a lot of Efke 25 and Efke 100 - 35mm, 120 roll and various sheet sizes. I process it in Pyrocat-HD or now in Pyrocat P which tans and hardens the emulsion. I never use a hardening fixer with this film and I don't have emulsion nicks and scratches.

People who have emulsion nicks and scratches with the Efke films usually create them before or during development. Hardening fixer won't help this - but lots of practice in film handling will.

Travis Nunn · Apr 3, 2006

That makes sense, Tom. Like I said earlier, it felt sticky when I was rolling it on the spool so I may have scratched it then. They weren't really that important rolls so no big deal there, but now that I know how easily it scratches, I'll be more careful.

I've heard of Pyrocat HD and Pyrocat P, but never used them. I don't have room to store lots of chemicals, can they be mixed in small quantities?

noseoil · Apr 4, 2006

Travis, use great care and you will be fine. Efke is very soft, but tonality makes it worth the effort. The 25 is wonderful stuff, but as Tom has said, be gentle. tim

Whiteymorange · Apr 4, 2006

I had the emulsion actually peel away from the base after processing. They told me I had used too much hardner. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Great look to this film - lotta problems. Worth it? I think that there will always be a place in my heart for it but I expect a very high failure rate. 'Course much of what I do has a very high failure rate.... I'm used to it by now.

Travis Nunn · Apr 4, 2006

Whiteymorange said:
'Course much of what I do has a very high failure rate...

Sounds like a lot of the work I do...

kaiyen · Apr 4, 2006

I just souped my first roll as well, but in 35mm. There are small scratches lengthwise on many of the frames. I bulk load, but I don't think they are from the cartridge, which was brand new _and_ cleaned before loading. It might be from the camera pressure plate.

However, is it possible to get base-side length-wise scratches just because the film is so soft? I have never scratched film while bulk-loading before, but is the base also soft enough for that?

allan

rshepard · Apr 4, 2006

t_nunn said:
Efke R50 (120) to be precise and WOW is that a soft emulsion! Both of the rolls seemed a little sticky when rolling them, which was a little suprising. On one of the frames the emulsion actually rubbed off. When I saw it I rubbed it a tiny bit (the shot was ruined anyway) and the emulsion just rubbed right off. Anyone else experience this with Efke?

I've developed about a half-dozen rolls of R25 in my Jobo and haven't had a scratch on any of them. It doesn't matter if I use the 1500-series tank or the 2500-series tank. I use ABC+ (Rollo) Pyro which I mix from the Photographer's Formulary kit.

Rich

Lachlan Young · Apr 4, 2006

rshepard said:
I've developed about a half-dozen rolls of R25 in my Jobo and haven't had a scratch on any of them. It doesn't matter if I use the 1500-series tank or the 2500-series tank. I use ABC+ (Rollo) Pyro which I mix from the Photographer's Formulary kit.

Rich

That's because Pyro developers 'tan' as well as stain, ie they harden the film emulsion during development - hence no scratching.

Lachlan

Tom Hoskinson · Apr 4, 2006

Lachlan Young said:
That's because Pyro developers 'tan' as well as stain, ie they harden the film emulsion during development - hence no scratching.

Lachlan

Quite true -

But, if you scratch the film Before you develop it, the Pyro tanning won't help you.

tony lockerbie · Apr 5, 2006

I have tried efke 25 and 50 and have the agree with above. I also tried efke 25 in 35mm and wow- contast! Might have to work on development with this. R.I.P Agfa 25.

Lachlan Young · Apr 5, 2006

Tom Hoskinson said:
Quite true -

But, if you scratch the film Before you develop it, the Pyro tanning won't help you.

Of course

Lachlan

Alicouscous · Apr 5, 2006

If you have scratches with this film, look if they are not scratched from factory .
I had many problems with a batch of Adox/efke 100 two months ago , the films was scratched before I use them .

Curt · Apr 5, 2006

Although I prefer Panatomic-X to anything I have found in recent times, I shot 25 rolls of Efke 25 120 roll film in Paris and developed them in Rodinal with pre wetting very dilute stop bath, and ZonalPro Rapid fixer as directed on the bottle. I have not had any scratches or sloughing off of the emulsion. I understand that it may be a soft emulsion, so I heard, but with care I don't have a problem with it. I am very careful in the loading, which I have done with Nikkor and Patterson tanks and reels, and have had fine results. If Kodak resumes production of Panatomic-X I will switch back because it is has the best fine grain emulsion and clearest base I have ever seen. Second up is Agfa Pan 25.

Curt

Travis Nunn · Apr 5, 2006

Well, I shot another roll today just to see how it would turn out. I took a little extra care when rolling it onto the reel this time and not one scratch or emulsion problem.

Curt · Apr 6, 2006

Sounds like you are using the right technique now. Maybe I adopted the careful approach when I first used it 30 years ago.

Regards,
Curt

Just Developed My First Rolls of Efke Film

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