Efke films

[merciful]

Any comments or suggestions about Efke 50 and 100 film? I know 400 is HP5, so I'm not concerned about that, but I wonder if Efke 100 pushed in Rodinal is not going to give me even more of that "old" look that I love.

 

[peter_n]

I have 4 boxes of Efke KB50 right here that I haven't managed to use yet. Everything I've read about the film makes me have very high expectations with respect to that "old" look. If you are developing it yourself read up on it, one of the issues is it scratches easily and you need to use a hardener.

I am going to try Fomapan 400 for a while. Been using chromogenics but I've started on a new project where I want the look of the old thick emulsion films. Got an email today from John at JandC Photo reassuring me about the "look" of Fomopan and also details of a lab where I can get it processed (I don't have a darkroom ).

I feel like supporting these small companies. It really worries me that a company like Ilford could go out of business. These liitle companies are niche players already and have a good track record, so they will probably be around in 20 years time...

 

[RML]

I've used Efke KB100. I shot with my J-8 and a yellow filter, developed it in Rodinal 1+50 for 7m30s at 24 degrees C. 1st minute stirring, after that every minute 30 seconds of light stirring. For a result see here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2762/password//sort/1/cat/500/page/1 .

I like the results with the J-8 and yellow filter better than the results I got from using other lenses and no filter.

Peter is right when he states that the film is scratch-prone. Don't drop it on the carpet like I did on one or two occassions; the scratching was horrendous!

 

[denishr]

All of the shots in my gallery were done on Efke KB100, souped in Rodinal 1+50, at 20 deg. Celsius, between 10min 30sec and 11min, with tank inversion every minute. Took me a while to nail down those times to get the results I like - for scanning mostly. You might get a bit of grain, though, for "less than perfect" exposures
I think that D76 would be better for Efke films, but I find Rodinal much more practical - no powder mixing, shelf life concerns, etc...
I use Rodinal as one-shot developer.

(Edited about pushing
As for pushing it, I have no experience with that, but a guy on apug.org said he accidentaly exposed KB100 at EI400, thinking it was HP5... He developed it in Rodinal 1+50 at 20 deg. C (68F), for 20 minutes, and it came out fine.
I think I'll try it that way soon, just to see if it's usable.

 

[KirkT]

I developed it in Diafine and didn't really like the results. I ended up with a slippery film over it all. I noticed it when I tried to squeege it and it put a huge scratch down the entire negative. I rinsed it well and rubbed it off with my fingers (took a long time). When I finished, the scratch was gone as it was apparently in the "film" over the negative. Now, I'm left with a negative that feel very 'plastic-y-ish' (new word made up by Kirk Teetzel ©2004 - All rights reserved)

Anyway, I don't think it's the film for me as it's just a little to troublesome in Diafine and that's the only developer I use.