Removing Magenta Stain on Efke 25

rusty71 · Nov 13, 2005

Tonight I developed a 120 roll of Efke 25 in Rodinal 1:100 for 20 minutes.
Nice looking tones, but after fixing for 5 minutes there was a heavy magenta stain. So I fixed for another 3 minutes and washed with running water for 20.
Much improved, but I can still see a faint magenta cast. Is this normal for Efke 25 in 120? Can it be removed by more fixing and or washing?

Thanks

jim appleyard · Nov 13, 2005

Try a pre-soak in a solution of 1/2 tsp. of sodium carbonate in a liter of water. I do a soak of 5 min. This gets rid of a lot of the stain in other films; can't say about Efke, but it should help.

photomc · Nov 13, 2005

Try a soak in sodium sulfite (HCA), this will get rid of some of the color. Also, try a pre-soak in water before processing for about 2 min, as this seems to help also. It will not affect the printing, unless it is a very pronounced color.

jim appleyard · Nov 13, 2005

I forgot to mention that you should add 1 min. to processing times if you do a pre-soak.

Photomc also has a good suggestion, sod. sulfite works as well.

jandc · Nov 13, 2005

photomc said:
Try a soak in sodium sulfite (HCA), this will get rid of some of the color. Also, try a pre-soak in water before processing for about 2 min, as this seems to help also. It will not affect the printing, unless it is a very pronounced color.

The combination of a pre wash and HCA removes all the dyes and eliminates the pink cast. However, the slight pink cast that typically remains by not doing this has no affect on printing.

rusty71 · Nov 13, 2005

Thanks everyone. I did a plain water pre-soak for about 2 mintues. I'll try the HCA next time. I did not use a sodium sulfite washing agent, just rinsed in tap water. so I'll try that as well. This film seems to work really well with Rodinal 1:100 and stand development.

dancqu · Nov 14, 2005

rusty71 said:
Tonight I developed a 120 roll
of Efke 25 in Rodinal 1:100 ...

Give this a try. Use distilled water for your
Rodinal, rinse, fixer, and at least FIRST after
fix rinse.
For fixer use 20ml of your favorite A. Thio.
concentrate in the solution volume needed.
In dim light check after three minutes of
constant easy agitation. After clear
agitate another 2 or 3 minutes.

Let us know. Dan

fwp · Nov 14, 2005

rusty71 said:
Tonight I developed a 120 roll of Efke 25 in Rodinal 1:100 for 20 minutes.
Nice looking tones, but after fixing for 5 minutes there was a heavy magenta stain. So I fixed for another 3 minutes and washed with running water for 20.
Much improved, but I can still see a faint magenta cast. Is this normal for Efke 25 in 120? Can it be removed by more fixing and or washing?

Thanks

Does anyone know if this will be different between the Efke sheet film and roll film? I've been using Efke25 for a couple of months. I've been using TFX-2 which I get from photographers formulary. The temperature I've been using is 73F and after 30sec of initial
agitation with 5sec every three minutes after that for a total of 20min. When I pour the developer out it's a real nice purple but the film comes out clear.

rusty71 · Nov 14, 2005

fwp said:
Does anyone know if this will be different between the Efke sheet film and roll film? I've been using Efke25 for a couple of months. I've been using TFX-2 which I get from photographers formulary. The temperature I've been using is 73F and after 30sec of initial
agitation with 5sec every three minutes after that for a total of 20min. When I pour the developer out it's a real nice purple but the film comes out clear.

I have developed Efke PL25 in sheets and have not noticed the pink stain to be as pronounced as the roll film. In fact I don't see it at all on sheet film.
I went back and checked my records. The Efke 25 I developed over the weekend was from an old batch in the deep freeze. Possibly as old as 1999!
No evidence of any fog. The more recent batches do not seem to have as much magenta stain. This is wonderful film. Is there any difference between EFKE 25 and the new ADOX 25 JandC is now selling?

fwp · Nov 14, 2005

rusty71 said:
I have developed Efke PL25 in sheets and have not noticed the pink stain to be as pronounced as the roll film. In fact I don't see it at all on sheet film.
I went back and checked my records. The Efke 25 I developed over the weekend was from an old batch in the deep freeze. Possibly as old as 1999!
No evidence of any fog. The more recent batches do not seem to have as much magenta stain. This is wonderful film. Is there any difference between EFKE 25 and the new ADOX 25 JandC is now selling?

That may explain it. I've only used the sheet film and know nothing of how the roll film behaves. As far as I know adox is efke.

Quinten · Nov 15, 2005

I normally presoak 120 film for 10 minutes in water, yesterday I forgot to do this for the first time and even after a long fix there was purple stain on the negs.

I first thought it was the fixer that went fatigue, but it can well be the presoak.

cheers!
Quinten

noseoil · Nov 15, 2005

As John from J&C has said, the slight cast to efke 25 doesn't affect printing. I see it more in the 35 & 120, not so much in the sheet film. It is a great film for fine grain and sharp contrast. If you work with it for a while, everything else looks too flat at printing time. tim

JHannon · Nov 15, 2005

noseoil said:
As John from J&C has said, the slight cast to efke 25 doesn't affect printing. I see it more in the 35 & 120, not so much in the sheet film. It is a great film for fine grain and sharp contrast. If you work with it for a while, everything else looks too flat at printing time. tim

Will the purple cast increase the film base+fog value very much?

Fotohuis · Nov 15, 2005

Try a soak in sodium sulfite (HCA), this will get rid of some of the color. Also, try a pre-soak in water before processing for about 2 min

: Correct!

1 or 2 minutes pre-soak is OK. There is a lot of dye in this film (anti-halo).
If you don't do this, yes your base fog will go up.

Because the emulsion of Efke is very soft, it is recommended to use a hardener for this film. Using a whiper is indeed certainly a risc with this film.

Robert

Tom Hoskinson · Nov 15, 2005

Fotohuis said:
: Correct!

1 or 2 minutes pre-soak is OK. There is a lot of dye in this film (anti-halo).
If you don't do this, yes your base fog will go up.

Because the emulsion of Efke is very soft, it is recommended to use a hardener for this film. Using a whiper is indeed certainly a risc with this film.

Robert

I shoot a lot of Efke100 and NEVER use a Hardener or pre-Hardener. with careful handling of the film pre and post processing hardeners are not needed. In addition, hardeners can interfere with film washing. My recommendation is to fix the film in a non-hardening (ammonium thiosulfate based) rapid fixer (like TF-4) this should also remove any residual antihalation dye.

Regarding removal of stubborn residual antihalation dye, a bath in a 20 gram/liter sodium sulfite solution should do it. If the dye remains stubborn, try soaking the fillm in a 20 gram/liter solution of sodium Carbonate.

rusty71 · Nov 15, 2005

noseoil said:
As John from J&C has said, the slight cast to efke 25 doesn't affect printing. I see it more in the 35 & 120, not so much in the sheet film. It is a great film for fine grain and sharp contrast. If you work with it for a while, everything else looks too flat at printing time. tim

I will get a chance to print them this weekend. I'll be using a graded paper, so I'm not sure if the increased magenta will make a difference. After washing a long time there is only a faint cast. I will try sodium carbonate.

I agree that after using Efke 25 nothing else seems quite like it. It's a really great match to Rodinal....which luckily I have a good stockpile of.

Removing Magenta Stain on Efke 25

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency