Going to try something different

[colyn]

I will be placing an order with Freestyle next week and want to try a different film.

Efke looks interesting. Anybody try the Efke KB 25, 50, or 100 films yet and if so what are your impressions??

 

[sojournerphoto]

Efke kb25 is the same as adox chs25 (and the others)

The 25 is orthochromatic - no sensitivity to red light, so looks very different to the other which are panchromatic. All have a very nice old school look.

Good developed in rodinal or (I am told) Beutler.I'm sure that xtol or d76 would be good too,

This is 25

Mike

 

[shadowfox]

Efke kb25 is the same as adox chs25 (and the others)

The 25 is orthochromatic - no sensitivity to red light, so looks very different to the other which are panchromatic. All have a very nice old school look.

Good developed in rodinal or (I am told) Beutler.I'm sure that xtol or d76 would be good too,

Mike, need to be a bit more specific 🙂
Adox ORT films are indeed orthochromatic.
The others are not exactly.

Here's a good summary on what are the different types of film that Adox is marketing these days:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/adox

Jan (HHPhoto) is a wealth of knowledge on these films. You may want to ask him, Colyn.

 

[timor]

Efke kb25 is the same as adox chs25 (and the others)

The 25 is orthochromatic - no sensitivity to red light,

Just out of curiosity, where did you get that ? Both; KB25 and 50 are sensitive to about 625 nm, KB100 up to 680 nm. It is reduced sensitivity, but never less. They are called orthopanchromatic. You can not expose KB25 to red safety light in the darkroom ..or can you ?

 

[DominikDUK]

EFKE 25 and 50 have a reduced sensitivity to red just like (supposedly) Fuji Acros they are part of the small family of panorthochromatic films, EFKE 100 is fully panachromatic grainer than other films has it's own special look. All Efke film look great. Beutler or Neofin Blue was designed for the Adox (Schleussner not Fotoimpex) line of films. The Efke 100 is not truly part of that heritage imho. Love Efke 50 not as slow as the 25 ASA film. The ASA rating is for indoor use, outdoors they are a little faster.

Dominik

 

[sojournerphoto]

Ach! you're right - CHS25/50 is sensitive to 600nm, so reduce dred sensitivity, not none. The ortho films are sensitive to 550nm only.

I wouldn't expose CHS25 to a red safelight, but if you try an orange or deep red filter the factor is very high and the red will likely give very thin negs.

In any case, I like these three films and have a box 4x5 and a box 5x7 to work through.

For a different, but still old fashioned, look I like Foma 100 and 400 in 120.

Mike

 

[timor]

In any case, I like these three films and have a box 4x5 and a box 5x7 to work through.Mike

I think EFKE PL 25 is made in two emulsions, version M is like KB and ORT is ortochromatic

 

[Nomad Z]

Adox CHS 25 is curly - not what I would call a joy to scan.

 

[Dana B.]

It would be great if someone could speak plainly about why anyone would want this film.

 

[Keith]

I've been very tempted to try Efke recently ... particularly for medium format! But then I look in the freezer at the MF film I already have and think maybe not!

Freestyle had some great deals a couple of years ago on some short dated 100ft rolls of Efke ... I wish I'd got some now because it really was cheap!

 

[sojournerphoto]

It would be great if someone could speak plainly about why anyone would want this film.

It has a very nice look. Fine grain, nice tonality and a slightly unusual spectral response.

Mike.

 

[Argenticien]

Adox CHS 25 is curly - not what I would call a joy to scan.

I have found the same with Efke KB25. (You can find various statements around the web about Adox being the same thing "but with better quality control"; I can't speak to that as I've only used the Efke.) I have also found the 120 size (R25 and R50) extra-curly. The film is beautiful -- great tonality, very very transparent base, but the curliness is annoying. Also you'll read much around the web about defects in the emulsion -- foreign particles, scratches, emulsion falling off, &c. -- and much debate about whether these are factory quality problems or injuries that this very fragile emulsion suffered at the hands of the user (by mishandling, failure to use hardening fixer, &c.). I've seen some problems that I can't readily explain through my own errors, i.e., do appear to have been manufacturing defects. I'm slowly, reluctantly resigning myself to switching to Pan F. (Added benefit: I can buy it locally.)
--Dave

 

[shadowfox]

It would be great if someone could speak plainly about why anyone would want this film.

It does not look like any other "modern" film I've tried.

 

[Fotohuis]

It would be great if someone could speak plainly about why anyone would want this film.

Very fine grain
Orthopan characteristics
Very sharp negatives (single layer type film)
Retro look

Here an (35mm) example of Efke 25 (E.I. 25) in Beutler 1+1+10 for 7:00 minutes (20C).

 

[Argenticien]

Why would anyone want this film? Some examples.

Why would anyone want this film? Some examples.

All below souped in Ilfosol 3. (Yeah, not the best developer for this stuff.) All scanned with Epson 4490. Not great composition, but maybe helps you see the tonality of these films. All these are where the film had no problems; the minor defects are my dust/scratches (and, er, Newton rings obviously are my doing). I'll see if I can dig up some of my ones with what seem like defects in the film, if anyone cares.


Canon P and 35/2.5 Skopar, if I recall. Efke KB25.


Mamiya C330 with 80/2.8. Efke R25.


C330 and 80/2.8 again, R25 again. (At full size, there is absolutely no grain to be found in this one, at least to the limits of my modest scanner.)


Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Efke R50 ... the FAST film 😀.

--Dave

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I've used a lot of Efke 100 in 35mm and really liked the look, which is different than modern films. It is grainier then modern films (especially films like Tmax 100 and Acros) and it is not a sharp-looking film, but it has gorgeous tonality. It gives a vintage look.

Efke 100 developed in Rodinal 1+50

Efke 100 developed in PMK Pyro

Efke 100 developed in PMK Pyro

I think the look in PMK is incredible, looks like photos you see from 35mm cameras back in the 1930s when the Leica was the new thing in the photo world. A little grainy, soft rendition of fine details, even with very sharp lenses (the examples above shot with 1980's era Olympus lenses).

 

[Fotohuis]

You CAN even shoot Efke 100 in Orthopan. The Rollei Retro 100 TONAL is in fact an Efke 100 modified with an Agfa Ortho sensitizer.

Here an example (Retro 100 TONAL E.I. 80) in AM74/RHS 1+9 for 6:30 minutes. (6x7cm roll film)

 

[robklurfield]

I like Efke 25.

I also find myself in the mood to try some new film. So, I got two bricks of Tri-X which I haven't used in so long that it will feel new to me. I ordered a few rolls each of 35 Agfa Copex Rapid , Rollei Retro 80 and Ilford Delta Pro 100 for the first time and a few rolls of the Adox CMS 20 II (I've used the older version just a few times). Also got a box of Arista EDU 100 in 4x5.

I found the Efke 25 to be a nice film and not nearly as delicate to handle in processing as I thought it might be.

My reason for playing around with different emulsions is that I'd like to settle on two or maybe three and get really familiar with them, but I simply haven't been swayed by any particular ones lately. I'd like to have one very slow, very fine grain film and one medium speed film (probably 400 ISO) to make my staples.

 

[Dana B.]

Really cool. Thanks for the pics, and straightforward responses. I normally shoot Tri-X. I may give Efke a try.

 

[Argenticien]

BTW, for any of you just wondering what can be done with this film (as the OP was), never mind my rubbish pictures above. Instead (in case anyone had not already found these) there are some groups in flickr to follow, beyond the ADOX one shadowfox already recommended above. I'm subscribed to:

• Efke/Adox - for users of any of their films (Robert/Fotohuis, I see you're up there)
• Efke 25 Drive - obviously for just the slowest one (slowest film, not the slowest user 🙂)

In the discussion area of the Efke/Adox one, there is a recent thread, "Close to throwing away all my EFKE 25, 50 and 100 120 films," with lively point ("majority of films problematic") and counterpoint ("no problems") about the possible quality problems with the film.


--Dave