Gast
Hi everyone,
I wanted to give the Efke 25 a go.
My standard developer is ID 11 at a 1+1 dilution.
I develop everything in a rotary processor.
Can anyone give me some advice on the development time at 20°C?
Oh, and the Efke had its exposure as normal at 25 ASA.
Many thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Georg
rhf
Hi Georg,
The Effke has very high speed and a very steep curve.
I don’t have any specific data, but I don’t think you’ll have much success with it. I’d start by performing heavy dilution of the ID, e.g. 1+3, and develop it by hand, with a maximum of a 1-minute agitation. I reckon the development times in the ID will be well under 5 minutes if you rotate it at 1+1, so you won’t have any leeway at all. The longer development times also allow the shadows to develop better, and with this film, you certainly don’t have any speed to spare :-))
Good luck
Gast
Hi Georg,
Here’s a quick tip for processing: don’t use the scraper on it – the Efke 25 gets scratches or starts to peel just from looking at it too closely...
Best wishes, Peter
Gast
Georg,
Over the weekend, I ran KB 25 in the processor (slowest setting, 20°C) at a 1+2 developer ratio in A49: 9 minutes, and the film was quite well developed without being too steep, with wonderfully fine grain.
Actually, our table says 7 minutes. So I’ll do a ‘counter-test’ next week.
I always strip the film and don’t use a guard either. I’ve never had any scratches or peeling, but it seems some people have problems with that. So it really is better to use a guard and be careful the first time.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Hi Mirko,
"I always peel off the backing and don’t use a hardener either. I’ve never had any scratches or peeling, but it seems some people do have problems with it."
So far, I’ve only experienced delamination at the exposed start of the film and on a negative that was really badly treated. The latter was subject to severe underexposure (I’d thought I’d loaded XP2 into the ADOX) and I tortured it with Amaloco C20, a potassium dichromate-based chromium enhancer. A 2x2mm patch of emulsion peeled away from the sky.
With normal handling, I haven’t experienced any difficulties at all, even without a hardener. The litre bottle is still largely full on the shelf.
I now only strip the film with my fingers, after running it through a final bath of a thin wetting agent solution (Mirasol at half the manufacturer’s recommended strength, using filtered tap water (from a Brita filter. Very important and highly recommended, even for coffee and tea!))
After years of limescale build-up, I haven’t had any problems at all for a good dozen films now.
“So it really is better to add hardener”
But then rinse for a correspondingly longer time.
“and be careful the first time.”
Exactly. #-)
