My Last Two Sheets Of 8x10 Efke 25

[Andrew O'Neill]

 

[koraks]

Cool, interesting to see that the gamma difference between BTZS and tray development was so small. Personally I'd find it negligible, but I guess purists would disagree. Did you use the same developer dilution and development time for both sheets?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Cool, interesting to see that the gamma difference between BTZS and tray development was so small. Personally I'd find it negligible, but I guess purists would disagree. Did you use the same developer dilution and development time for both sheets?

Yes, same dilution. The time in tray was a bit longer.

 

[koraks]

Alright, thanks. Looks like your guesstimate of the extended tray time was very close to perfect indeed.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Alright, thanks. Looks like your guesstimate of the extended tray time was very close to perfect indeed.

Actually, it wasn't a guess. The time was drawn from curves that I generated years ago.

 

[Tel]

Sigh. I'm coming down to the end of my Efke stash too.

 

[Pioneer]

I am NOT looking forward to the day when I run out of Efke film. It curls like crazy and is frustratingly easy to damage but I have never found another film to replace it. I do like a couple of Adox and Rollei options but they still are not the same.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Sigh. I'm coming down to the end of my Efke stash too.

Thankfully I have a 50 sheet box of 4x5 to play with... I think I'll be more upset when my last box of HIE is gone... Oh and the few sheets I have left of Type-55!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I am NOT looking forward to the day when I run out of Efke film. It curls like crazy and is frustratingly easy to damage but I have never found another film to replace it. I do like a couple of Adox and Rollei options but they still are not the same.

It was a remarkable film. I loved using a #25 filter with it. I think it's look had a lot to do with it being an orthopanchromatic film... but then again, Acros looks nothing like it! It also had excellent reciprocity characteristics.

 

[braxus]

Andy. Have you used any sheets from your 4x5 box yet? If so, how did they turn out?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Andrew, I used my last of it in 120 roll film on a very long backpack trip a decade ago, using 6X9 backs on my little Ebony 4x5 folder. The orthopan sensitivity handles up to a 25 red filter fine, but anything stronger like 29 just acts a neutral density, and puts shadow values on the guillotine. And given the very high quality lenses I use, I was even able to get some exceptional 20X24 prints out of these, though my goal was just 16X20.

My companion on that trip was a Tech Pan addict who brought a fancy 6x6 with expensive Zeiss lenses. He wanted to improve his print tonality, so opted for Efke R25 too. At the start of the trip, he hid his van key in a little magnetic Hide a Key behind his front bumper. When we got back a couple weeks later, it was missing. Some chipmunk had apparently gotten in there, and it was already after dark. So we put on headlamps and started looking around, and about half an hour later, eventually saw something shiny back in the bushes. So we could finally start unpacking certain things and putting them in the van. ...
He was a machine-gunner type and had shot about 24 rolls of film. But he apparently forgot my warning that Efke roll film needs to be handled with extra caution and kept from strong direct light. And then I spotted him sorting out his exposed film spools end-on in a storage box while wearing his halogen headlamp. Two weeks of walking over a total of eight high altitude passes in stormy weather, half of it off trail, and him with a bandaged foot all the way back out, plus a couple damaged Zeiss lenses, and for what? Nearly all the rolls were fogged.

As for ACROS, shot my last 8X10 sheet about four years ago, and am now shooting my last box of 4x5. Their new ACROS II version, which I've tested in 120, has certain minor but distinct improvements, namely, a little more steepness in the toe, providing better deep shadow gradation, plus reduced blue sensitivity for sake of better sky rendering. But of course, the cost has gone way up too.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andy. Have you used any sheets from your 4x5 box yet? If so, how did they turn out?

Nope. Eventually...

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andrew, I used my last of it in 120 roll film on a very long backpack trip a decade ago, using 6X9 backs on my little Ebony 4x5 folder. The orthopan sensitivity handles up to a 25 red filter fine, but anything stronger like 29 just acts a neutral density, and puts shadow values on the guillotine. And given the very high quality lenses I use, I was even able to get some exceptional 20X24 prints out of these, though my goal was just 16X20.

My companion on that trip was a Tech Pan addict who brought a fancy 6x6 with expensive Zeiss lenses. He wanted to improve his print tonality, so opted for Efke R25 too. At the start of the trip, he hid his van key in a little magnetic Hide a Key behind his front bumper. When we got back a couple weeks later, it was missing. Some chipmunk had apparently gotten in there, and it was already after dark. So we put on headlamps and started looking around, and about half an hour later, eventually saw something shiny back in the bushes. So we could finally start unpacking certain things and putting them in the van. ...
He was a machine-gunner type and had shot about 24 rolls of film. But he apparently forgot my warning that Efke roll film needs to be handled with extra caution and kept from strong direct light. And then I spotted him sorting out his exposed film spools end-on in a storage box while wearing his halogen headlamp. Two weeks of walking over a total of eight high altitude passes in stormy weather, half of it off trail, and him with a bandaged foot all the way back out, plus a couple damaged Zeiss lenses, and for what? Nearly all the rolls were fogged.

As for ACROS, shot my last 8X10 sheet about four years ago, and am now shooting my last box of 4x5. Their new ACROS II version, which I've tested in 120, has certain minor but distinct improvements, namely, a little more steepness in the toe, providing better deep shadow gradation, plus reduced blue sensitivity for sake of better sky rendering. But of course, the cost has gone way up too.

I'm still kicking myself for not buying a box of 8x10 Acros when I was in Japan a few years ago (a year before Acros was discontinued). Luckily my wife was over there just when Fujifilm announced discontinuation, and bought 100 rolls of 120 at a very good price. Then Fujifilm brings out Acros II! I have a few 4x5 sheets left that I need to use...

 

[DREW WILEY]

I was at the local camera store when they were closing out 120 ACROS at $2.50 per roll, based on a special volume buy. I still have a few rolls of that. They also got ahold of a huge case of the last run of 4x5; but one of the store employees bought the entire thing for himself.

I loved ACROS Quickload sleeves for backpacking, which were more reliable than Kodak Readyload sleeves, so got very familiar with its characteristics, especially at high altitude. Alas, now I'm more interested in just getting my two feet to still work at high altitude.

I put three rolls of Efke R25 in my freezer "obsolete film museum" bag. These were from their own last run, and have a fair amount of embedded grit and specks in the emulsion, making these otherwise useless. I never had a quality problem before that.