Efke Film

[Uncle Bill]

Hi everyone,

I am intrigued with Efke film, anyone have experiences with this brand? I will have to mail order this film from the US of A which is no big deal for me. Toronto is Ilford, Kodak, Fuji country with Agfa stocks still around. I want to try something else to shoot with.


Bill

 

[peter_n]

I have 4 rolls of KB50 here which I haven't used yet and with it getting dark so early in the day I don't see that happening soon either. 🙁 I've seen quite a few pictures taken with Efke film, mostly the 100 and they are excellent. Very low grain, beautiful tonality. It is an old-fashioned silver-rich film which has the reputation of curling very easily after its developed so it might be interesting scanning it.

 

[Mackinaw]

I use Efke 25 speed film and like it a lot. Real nice tonality with smooth grain. Scans real nice too. I've been processing it in Rodinal 1:100 with good results. The attached were taken with Efke 25 (Leica MP with Canon 50/1.2).

 

[xayraa33]

I use Efke 100, nice film, I develop it in Rodinal or D- 76, I seem to like the shadow detail better in D-76 1:1 @ 9 min. 20 deg. C. The film does not curl any more than Agfa apx 100 IMHO.

 

[Doug]

Gee I have a Palm Springs tshirt too, but hers looks better for some reason. Mackinaw that second shot is amazing... The small devout nun, the large mean looking flasher in academic robe... wierd and wonderful! Um, could this have been on Halloween? 😀

 

[doubs43]

EFKE is the old Adox formulas and is excellent film. I have a bulk roll of the EFKE-25 and it's outstanding. EFKE uses a coating on their film and some claim that it's necessary to do a one minute pre-soak in order for the coating to be completely removed during processing. I don't know if it's true or not but I use the pre-soak which has always worked well.

Walker

 

[Jordan W.]

Uncle Bill -- I am in Toronto and am an Efke 25 user. I'm working my way through a 100' roll right now -- if you're interested in trying some let me know.

 

[Mackinaw]

Doug,

The faux nun and priest picture was taken in early September at a bicycle "drag race" in downtown Detroit. I believe the "nun" piloted one of the bicycle dragsters. Quite an assortment of characters at this event.

Regarding a pre-rinse, I can tell you that the pre-rinse pours out of the developing tank a dark blue which tells me the film is coated with something. A good place to learn about EFKE film is APUG.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Doug]

Regarding a pre-rinse, I can tell you that the pre-rinse pours out of the developing tank a dark blue which tells me the film is coated with something.

Jim, that's surely an anti-halation dye. I've seen grey, but now don't recall which film that was. It's just there to attenuate any light that might pass through the film, reflect off the pressure plate, and pass back through the film base again to affect the emulsion.

As far as I know, the dye does no harm to the developer, especially a one-shot use developer. In a developer that is reused, the dye will accumulate. I'm not sure if it would really hurt the developer, but it would make it pretty cruddy looking!

Diafine might be the worst, here, as it can be used virtually forever, so the A Bath would just keep accumulating dye... And you shouldn't use a water pre-rinse with Diafine due to the need for the A bath to soak undiluted into the emulsion.