Eke 100 Help

[catalinajack]

I am having a terrible time getting a good negative. Perhaps the problem is outdated film that was not kept frozen. I exposed one sheet at box speed using Rodinal 1:50 for 10 minutes, rotary processed. Very thin, unacceptable. I then exposed two more, compensating by two f-stops (ASA 25) and three f-stops. "Overexposed" by three f-stops yielded a negative that approaches acceptability but is still a bit thin to my eye.

Anyone care to comment on the results I have encountered? Outdated? What am I missing? I do not have this problem using T-Max or HP5+.

[vinny]

efke 100?
how outdated? a couple years won't make much difference other than base fog but heat may be another story.
Assuming your meter is correct, I'd make sure the developer is good. If so, throw the film out and get some fresh stuff.

[Daniel Stone]

were you taking a shot that req'd bellows extension @ closer than infinity?

lack of bellows extension exposure compensation(there's an app for that ;)) would yield a "thin" negative like you're describing.

I've found the Efke 100 when souped in Pyrocat HD 2:2:100 worked well for Azo/Lodima printing @ ISO 50(so a 1stop over-exposure over box speed). Highlights still retain wonderful tonality, but shadows have a luminous quality and when metered properly, and zones set correctly, a negative that prints easily, and scans very easy too :)

-Dan

[Ron Stowell]

I have used EFKE for the last few years, rateing it at ASA 50 and developing it in Rodinal 1:100 ( because I'm cheap) the only time I 've had a problem with thin negatives was when it was time for a new meter.
Once I bought a new meter everything was good once again.

[SergeiR]

A bit odd.. I had very nice results with Efke 100 in 1:100 Rodinal, using Jobo. Quite rich tones.

[jcoldslabs]

I struggled with Efke PL100M for a while. I finally settled on an E.I. of 32 developed in HC-110 dil. H with a reduced (slightly compensating) agitation scheme for around 15 minutes. I use a JOBO tank with six sheet reel and invert the tank by hand.

Jonathan

[Lenny Eiger]

A couple of years could make a huge difference. That's because a couple of years ago they had some bad batches and there was really nothing you could do to make that stuff work. I had to simply throw out a few boxes.

I know that some people like Rodinal. I can't understand why. It's grainy as all get out. I've been scanning some old negs I shot and developed in it and the grain structure is just downright awful. The stuff that was done in Microphen and D-23 is sweet, very rich by comparison. Now maybe there is some quality that Rodinal has that some people like, and everyone is free to like whatever they want. However, I don't know that I would suggest it to someone without them stating what they are after in the first place, and having that criteria match. (And OP's almost never let on what they are after.)

These days, I am very partial to XTol, and I have always appreciated Pyro. I think they are the two best all-around developers. They aced my recent tests, albeit very subjective ones, up against about 15 different developers.

I used to use Efke 25, I think this is an excellent film. I wouldn't say their higher speed films are up to the competition, however. I like Delta very much. I would recommend it without hesitation. There are other excellent films. I found Efke to be slow enough to be annoying when just another couple of stops made things reasonable. I like buying film from Ilford, they seem to be committed to b&w.... more than the other manufacturers...

Hope this helps,

Lenny

[Eric Rose]

I've been using PL100 rated at asa50 for a number of years. The soup of choice is PyroCat-HD semi-stand. Great negs. Before I went to PyroCat I had the same problems you do.

[SpeedGraphicMan]

This sounds like more of a developer/development problem than anything else.

Remember that ISO only serves as a guide or starting point... We each have to determine our effective film speed as it pertains to our equipment, and developer/development preferences...

[Rick A]

I've found that I lose one full stop in speed no matter which film and format when developing in Rodinal. If you couple that with forgetting bellows extension factor, you can get very thin negs. Go ahead, ask me how I know...

[Jim Andrada]

@ Lenny

I live in Tucson (just like it says on the left of the post - duh!) Lack of illumination is not often a problem.

I usually have the opposite problem - ie not having a fast enough shutter or a small enough aperture or enough ND filters. or maybe I want a long exposure or less DOF For much of what I do slower film rules.