Let me vent! / Developing EFKE KB50

[JPSuisse]

Dear all

Now that Kodak mega-irritated me by killing Kodachrome (Hell! I bought a 2nd MP body just to shoot Kodachrome 2 years ago!) and Fuji made me even mader by killing Neopan 1600, I'm looking at products from any other source.... If EFKE can make money on such small volumes, don't tell me that Fuji wasn't making money on Neopan 1600. I do understand that Kodachrome as a very particular product fell into a little different category here...

Now to the question:

I picked up a roll of EFKE KB50. (Maybe as a replacement to 125PX?) What does this film develop best in? Currently I'm using only Ilfotec DD-X and primarily shooting PanF Plus, 125PX and Neopan 1600.

Thanks for any feedback.

Kind regards,

JP

 

[Mablo]

Efke 50 is a phenomenal film if you like the classic b+w look. I develop it in Rodinal 1+25 for 6 minutes. Definitely one of my favourite classic films with PanF+. I'd use Efke 50 much more if only we'd have enough light for such a slow film where I live.

 

[JPSuisse]

Hi Mablo

Thanks for the feedback. The picture looks nice to my eye too. Nice contrast, great tonality and pleasant grain.

But, I'm thinking that this film might not develop well in DD-X. Although PanF does develop well in DD-X.

Guess I'll just have to give it a try, but I can find no recomended times for the developer.

Cheers,

JP

 

[-doomed-]

I'm not sure how different KB50 is, but I love shooting KB25 and souping in it Rodinal 1:100 stand developed.

 

[mfogiel]

I wonder why you don't try Tri X - it develops very well in DD X, I use 1+9 for 10 mins, you can substitute it with Arista Premium 400 - same film, lower price. BTW, you can easily shoot it at EI 800 for a minute or two longer dev time.

 

[sepiareverb]

I don't shoot the Efke 50, but shoot a fair bit of the 25, and Rodinal @ 1:50 is my preferred developer. Contrasty, but none of the latent image keeping problems of PanF.

 

[jbielikowski]

Adox/Efke 50 in Rodinal 1+50, Rolleiflex 3.5C

You gonna love it.

 

[JPSuisse]

Dear All

Thanks for all the hints about other film and developer combination. Unfortunately, I happen to have in front of me some EFKE KB50 and some Ilfotec DD-X, though...

The only thing I could find on the Massive Dev Chart was:

Efke 100
Ilfotec DD-X 1+4
7 Minutes
20C [n]
Note [n]1 inversion per minute

If this is true for EFKE 100, is there any guess what might be correct with EFKE 50?

Thanks for the tips!

Cheers,

JP

 

[Tom A]

I still have a couple of 100 ft cans of EFKE 50 in the freezer - waiting for sunny (and warmer) weather.
I shot a can of it some years ago and processed it in Pyrocat HD. Used the 7 min time - but I suspect it would work better at 8 - still rated at 50. Extremely sharp - almost tech Pan look to it. Some 'specks" in the emulsion though - but not too bad.
On Flickr under tag "EFKE 50" or "Pyrocat HD".

 

[calebk]

I wonder why you don't try Tri X - it develops very well in DD X, I use 1+9 for 10 mins, you can substitute it with Arista Premium 400 - same film, lower price. BTW, you can easily shoot it at EI 800 for a minute or two longer dev time.

Yeah, why not Tri-X? I was dismayed by the unavailability of Neopan 1600 over here so I resorted to shooting Tri-X at 1000 and developing at 1600. Sure it's a helluva push, and I'm still pretty new to all of this but I like what I'm seeing. Ymmv.

Here's a sample