Recommendations for B&W Film

richardmellor · Jun 15, 2005

well apx 100 is sold by freestyle,adorama ,filmart and many others.
as far as I know jandc seems to be the sole importer of efke in the united states. a company in that position really wouldn't worry about there price point . kinda like a $8 dollar beer at the ballgame. take it or leave it

Mongo · Jun 15, 2005

richardmellor said:
well apx 100 is sold by freestyle,adorama ,filmart and many others.
as far as I know jandc seems to be the sole importer of efke in the united states. a company in that position really wouldn't worry about there price point . kinda like a $8 dollar beer at the ballgame. take it or leave it

Jensen Optical also imports Efke film into the US. So, there has been competition. I've never bought from anyone but J&C though, as J&C's customer service is simply amazing. Jensen's customer service might be just as good, but I've never had a reason to find out...John at J&C has treated me better than any other retailer that I've ever dealt with for any product.

Donald Qualls · Jun 15, 2005

Seems to me I've seen Efke (albeit not the whole line) at Film For Classics.

That said, Efke is good film, cheaper than Kodak, and fills a slow-film niche that no other company attempts to cover -- the only ISO 50 alrernative is Pan F+, and there is no alternative in ISO 25 (unless you're willing to spend time and money trying to get microfilm to behave like pictorial film -- I speak from experience in saying that's not easy). APX 25 is long gone, Panatomic-X even longer; Tech Pan will be out of stock by the end of this summer. The only other product of any soft left in that market is Polaroid's pos/neg films, Type 55 and 665, and those are rated higher than ISO 25 (665 is marketed as ISO 100 for the print, as I recall).

P C Headland · Jun 16, 2005

It all comes down to personal preference in the end, but...

So far, I really like the Efke 25 and 100 films. Nice smooth tones, and it scans pretty well too. I develop it in Rodinal 1+100. Another film that impressed me, and was in fact the first roll I developed myself, is Fuji Acros 100 - lovely smooooooth film, also scanned well. For a flexible classic, you have Tri-X 400.

You can try through http://www.fotoimpex.de - they have Efke and a wide variety of other films. Another option is visit one of the many old camera shows, as there is often a couple of tables selling film at quite reasonable prices (this is how I got into using Efke).

If you import from outside the EU you should factor in the VAT - on the total of the film PLUS shipping. You don't always get "caught", but it will depend on the amount.

Paul

Keith Tapscott. · Jun 16, 2005

jazzmechanic said:
Greetings,

What are your favorite 120 black and white films and where can you get them for a reasonable price. I am american but live in Germany with the $toEuro the way it is, looking for some stateside sources.

Thanks

You should choose some popular types of film from the well known brands and decide for your self. It`s not what we like that counts, it`s what you like that really matters. If you ask me my favourites, then I will give you my complete biased opinion.

medform-norm · Jun 16, 2005

Keith Tapscott. said:
If you ask me my favourites, then I will give you my complete biased opinion.

Always happy to volunteer biased opinions:

Fuji Acros - a panchromatic film used by lots of Japanese photogs. We like the tonality. Scans well too. But once again, we're biased.

Gerald Koch · Jun 16, 2005

J&C Pro 100 reminds me of the long extinct Kodak Verichrome Pan.

BTW, Pro 100 comes on spools the flanges of which are very thin. This enables this 120 film to fit in my Kodak Hawkeye camera which was designed to take 620 film. It may also fit some other 620 cameras. Doesn't fit Kodak Tourist II but this camera is a tight fit even for regulation 620 film.

richardmellor · Jun 16, 2005

efke buying sources

update on jensen optics . the owner has stated that he has not and will not
be selling efke film. so it has been confirmed that jandc is the sole distributor
in the united states for efke film . if you try to buy efke film from fotoimpex.de the german distributor of efke . fotoimpex links you the to the Jandc website . so if you live in the united states and you want to use efke film you have to buy it from Jandc.

avandesande · Jun 16, 2005

I am glad he is making some money. Hopefully he puts some of this money back in the business and have chec/chinese super xx and azo clones put in production.

richardmellor said:
I would also recommend apx 100 from film art .
Just ordered 20 rolls apx 100 for 1.99 each shipped .
I have never understood why efke is is 3.51 each shipped for 20 rolls. would think efke should be the cheap film.

Recommendations for B&W Film

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