Whats the deal with new batch of Efke 25?

[mllanos1111]

I've been shooting Efke 25 for a few years now and it has always had a gray leader.
Now all of a sudden the new batch has a blue leader and it seems to process a little different in Rodinal.
It use to pour out clear and have a bit of a tinted backing now it pours out bright red and it is totally clear?
Did they change the film? It seems to take longer to fix now as well and it seems to be slightly under-exposed as compared to the old batch.
It reminds me of Tri-X when I use Rodinal.

 

[Graham Line]

Might be a good question to ask at apug.org, if you haven't done so already. They have a nice concentration of active B&W workers.

 

[mllanos1111]

Thank you! I didnt know about that site, I will have to check it out.

Thanks!

 

[sepiareverb]

apug is great. I'm reaching the end ofh a bunch of frozen Efke 25, so I'm curious...

 

[xwhatsit]

APUG is absolutely awesome. Some very, very experienced and active people doing very interesting things with analogue photography.

I bought my first Efke KB25 back 6 months ago I suppose, and it was like you say -- blue antihalation dye, almost entirely clear base. Pre-soak is obviously a good idea! I love the clear base. I know it won't give me more shadow detail or anything but it just plain looks nice hanging up there, all of the photos starkly floating there on the transparent base.

 

[ath]

IIRC they changed the base from triaceatat to polyester. Batch to batch variation can be rather high with these old style films.