Kodak PlusX / Efke 25

wschwetz · 2008-06-28T15:31:31+00:00

Hallo Ich habe mir einige Kodak Plus X gekauft und wollte die in einen meiner üblichen Entwickler packen: A49 oder R09. Für beides finde ich keine Angaben....

wschwetz

Hello I’ve bought some Kodak Plus X and wanted to load it into one of my usual developers: A49 or R09. I can’t find any information on either of them. Are these combinations not recommended (and should I use the standard D76 instead)? On the Dev Chart I also found Promicrol (which I have), but I performed an exposure at EI 125 with normal contrast. Has anyone tried this yet? What would you recommend for Efke 25 (architectural photography with relatively high contrast), R09 or A19 (dilution)?

uworischki

Hi Wilfried, I’ve never used Kodak Plus-X, but based on my experience with R09, you can roughly use the Rodinal development times as a guide (e.g. Rodinal 1:50, R09 1:40, etc.), Just have a look here: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html . With high contrast, I’d only use Efke 25 with an extremely compensating development. I’ve had good results with Efke R50 in very high-contrast situations using R09 at 1:80 for about 18–20 minutes, at a temperature of around 18–20°C.

wschwetz

Hi Wilfried, I’ve never used Kodak Plus-X before, but based on my experience with R09, you can roughly use the Rodinal development times as a guide (e.g. 1:50 for Rodinal, 1:40 for R09, and so on), Just have a look here: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html. For Efke 25, I’d only use it with extremely compensating development for high contrast; I’ve had good results with Efke R50 for very high contrast in R09 1:80 for about 18–20 minutes, at a temperature of around 18–20°C.

Thanks, I’ll give that a go. Back to Efke: isn’t A49 a balancing developer? Is that what you’re recommending, and if so, what dilution is recommended? I usually use 1+1.

uworischki

Hi Wilfried, A49 at 1:1 is fine, but A49 is really more of a ‘fine-grain developer’; it doesn’t produce the same acutance as R09 or Rodinal, though you hardly need that with Efke 25. I do have one tip for balanced development: the water method. You can use your standard developer and the development time (the time the film is in contact with the developer!!!) remains unchanged. The water method is relatively simple, though it does involve a bit more manual effort. Put the developer in the tank for 1 minute, shake three times, pour out the developer; put water in the tank for 1 minute, shake three times, pour out the water; put the developer back in the tank for 1 minute, shake three times, pour out the developer again, and so on. It is important that the development time is not altered; with this method, the development time is effectively doubled. It might sound a bit convoluted, but it’s actually quite straightforward. The results are roughly equivalent to using Emofin (does that actually still exist?....) Regards, Uwe