Poor quality B&W Film or??

[lenser]

I'd say go back to the scene and take a very close look at the concrete. Those really look like reflections off of small bits of quartz that might be in the matrix.

[Gem Singer]

Sorry Robert, I thought I was looking at a negative image. Your thumbnail image is a positive. Therefore, the spots are round dark spots on the print and not clear spots on the negative

Could be silver precipitant specks in the hypo. Was it freshly mixed, or had it been used previously?

If it was a fresh mix of hypo, perhaps you used it before the powder was completely dissolved.

[RmFrase]

I'd say go back to the scene and take a very close look at the concrete. Those really look like reflections off of small bits of quartz that might be in the matrix.

It's not concrete.
This is the image
4x5 BW Negative
Scanned at 3200 DPI. Once image has been enlarged the 'specks' are very obvious.

[jp]

I had the same problems with that film. I didn't get it figured out. I didn't have the problem with caffenol-c developer and that film though. It's a nice combination.

I also had similar problems with arista-edu-100/fomapan100 with various developers. I corrected it by switching to tf-4 fixer. I'd tried different developer/stop/fixer choices and nothing corrected the problem like switching to the tf-4 fixer, which I was trying based on it's high regard anyways. Perhaps that change would be good for the efke film as well.

[SergeiR]

Sorry. Just like other guy - i thought you had section of concrete or something like that with quartz/sand/glass deposits and you were catching reflections of sun.

However i guess we looking at the sky, are we not?

Its odd.. i use Efke quite a lot, and i do get occasional spec thingies but not a lot. But then i never do scan at 3200, b/c i just overdoing limits of scanner..

[RmFrase]

Sorry. Just like other guy - i thought you had section of concrete or something like that with quartz/sand/glass deposits and you were catching reflections of sun.

However i guess we looking at the sky, are we not?

Its odd.. i use Efke quite a lot, and i do get occasional spec thingies but not a lot. But then i never do scan at 3200, b/c i just overdoing limits of scanner..

No worries.
And yes, it was a selection of the sky.

I'll try a lower resolution and see how that works out.

Thanks!

[papageno]

I never used Efke large format films, only 35mm format. Just wanted to experiment a little bit and bought a few rolls. On the last roll developed in Pyrocat HD (didn't have anything else at the moment) I get the same effect, maybe a little less pronounced. I never use stop bath other than water. I don't remember well what kind of fixer was used, most likely Ilford Hypam. It was Efke 25 ASA however.
On two other rolls (50ASA), one developed in Rodinal the other in W2D2, white dots are visible here and there, but are easy to correct in PS. This emulsion is delicate and therefore you may expect some scratches also.

[Brian C. Miller]

I don't remember seeing this the last time I used Efke, but I've bought some more and I'll look for it. I used a citric acid stop bath, and

I'm sure this isn't a scanner issue. While a lower res scan may hide the issue, I'm sure that this is a problem with the chemicals. I used Ilfosol 3 the last time, and I do remember that the grain was more pronounced than TMax. I bought some Diafine developer to try this time around, and see if the grain improved (but of course I know the voids won't).

My current favorite in the "no grain" category is Fuji Acros 100. It has great reciprocity characteristics, and the grain is between TMax and Techpan. So far I haven't used anything that beats Techpan.

[Axon990]

I get exactly the same thing when I shoot Efke 25 ORT. I've always put it down to dust on the film/scanner (I have a very makeshift setup, getting a clean scan is like chasing Bigfoot), but that looks a lot like what I've gotten before. I'm sorry that I don't have any examples for you, because I always spot those speckles out in Photoshop. I use D-76 as my developer as well and I scan at 2400 DPI. With a second glance at your sample image, it looks like you're pulling just about the maximum detail you can out of the image. I suggest scanning at a slightly lower DPI, like 2800. That will still give you incredible detail but might help with those smaller specks.

[Gary Sommer]

I have a box of Arista EDU 100 that gives the same white specks on prints. Looking at the neg with a loupe against the light. It is covered in tiny black specks. I believe this is defective film. Switch back to your regular film, and this problem will go away. Try another batch of Efke film. I have a box of Efke 100 that gives good results without this problem.

You'll drive yourself batty trying different chems, or processes, change your film (or get a different batch) and solve your problem.

Good luck,
Gary