Efke KB400 - NOT HP5 anymore

[kmack]

I have shopping for a 400 asa film. I just auditioned KB400 from Ekfe. You will see a mentions that this is rebranded HP5, I can say that it is not.

First, the datasheet included with the film has the following starting points for development:
ID11 10min
Perceptol 12min
D76 10min
T-Max 8min

These times are closer to APX400 that HP5.

Two, I just finished a few rolls of HP5 and KB400 is thinner with greater curl than HP5, It does not feel like HP5.

Three It does not look like HP5.

I just finished developing a few test rolls in Clayton F76+ and Diafine.
I will post some results and times below.

See this thread on APUG for more argument and information.

 

[kmack]

KB400 in Clayton F76+ 1:19 12min rated at 400.
I may need to do some additional testing to get this combo dialed in. The initial results are encouraging.

 

[kmack]

KB400 in Diafine rated at 800

 

[kmack]

KB400 in Diafine rated at 1250

 

[Stephanie Brim]

You're reminding me that I'm out of Diafine.

This seems like a very nice film. After my stores run out (which will be soon if I can get out and shoot what I want to shoot the rest of this summer) I'm going to look into getting some Efke 50 and Efke 100 to replace all the slower film that I have. I may as well pick up some of this while I'm at it.

I'd actually be curious as to what this would look like in Rodinal. Considering the times are close to APX 400 for everything else, I'd assume that the times for Rodinal would also be close.

 

[kaiyen]

Grain seems pretty coarse to me, esp. in F76+, which is relatively fine grain. Are you shooting it at 400? Perhaps you are overexposing a tad?

allan

 

[Socke]

Interesting, the current fotoimpex cataloge states it as 100% HP5 compatible and in Mirko didn't mention anything in his forum.

Your results OTOH are promising.

Oops, sorry, Fotoimpex Addox CHM 125 and 400 films are made from Ilford material, Addox CHS 25, 50 and 100 are Efke.

 

[Socke]

Stephanie, try Addox CHS 50 @EI40 presoaked in D76 1+2, agitation 10 seconds per minute for gamma 0.55 (good for condenser enlarger and scanning). A hardening fixer is recomended, the emulsion is very delicate.

 

[kmack]

Grain seems pretty coarse to me, esp. in F76+, which is relatively fine grain. Are you shooting it at 400? Perhaps you are overexposing a tad?

allan

Shot it at 400, the meter on my Bessa is pretty good, so the exposure should be close. I suppect that it is over developed. The negitives are a bit thin. I am going to be running an EI test with my next roll.

 

[kaiyen]

Kevin,
You got that backwards, then. Overdeveloped, the negs would be thick.

You should get a bit of a speed boost on F76+, which means you could get a true 400 out of it, possibly 560. Of course, you need to be careful with your metering to get a real EI test out of the non-spot Bessa meter.

allan

 

[kmack]

Kevin,
You got that backwards, then. Overdeveloped, the negs would be thick.

You should get a bit of a speed boost on F76+, which means you could get a true 400 out of it, possibly 560. Of course, you need to be careful with your metering to get a real EI test out of the non-spot Bessa meter.

allan

Thanks for the correction, I do have a tendency to be confused.🙂