I just bought a bunch of Efke ISO100 film. It was real cheap ($1.79 for 35mm x24 exp.) Does anybody know how good this is?

-- Ruben Contreras (rubenc@infolnk.net), February 25, 2000

Answers

Hope you have more luck than I did. The film was ok ,but the factory scrhatches. Poor quality control. It came with all kinds of scrhatches in all directions. when the factory cuts the film . The backing shavings or still on the film when they spool it, causing all kinds of problems.

-- Larrye Edye (WA4GMS@webtv.net), February 25, 2000.

I have used both the 120 and 35mm Efke ISO 25 film and didn't find any of the problems that the previous poster found. I developed it in D-76 and got very nice tonal range and I saw no scratches. I have just ordered a 100 ft. roll for bulk loading. Presumably the scratches the previous poster saw were not due to his own handling or he would see them on his other films as well. Possibly the Efke QC is somewhat spotty, making it a matter of luck whether the film is good or not. But I've used 8-10 rolls without any problems.

-- Stan McQueen (stan@smcqueen.com), February 26, 2000.

I have used 30 to 40 rolls of EFKE R25 so far. R25 and R50 have a reduced sensibility for red light. R25 ist pretty shard and has a fine grain. I like the tonal scale of R25 developed in Emofin, but the quality control by the manufacturer is rather bad. Some rolls showed scratches and dust particles on the emulsion.

-- Thies Meincke (meincke@uni-hamburg.de), February 28, 2000.

I haven't used it in 10 years or more, but it used to be very good film. The slow film (KB-14?) has an unusual color sensitivity that extends further into the green spectrum than that of most current films.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), February 29, 2000.

I have had very good results with the 25 iso. I'm using Edwal FG7 1-15 @ 68 for 8 min normal. Very fine grain and scans look great to.

-- Adam Michelena (voices@javanet.com), March 11, 2000.

I have used around 300 rolls of Efke film. R100/KB100 developed in D- 76, 20 degrees Celsius for 9 minutes gives great result. Just a little bit grainier than Plus-X.

Efke film is actually the old german Adox films using the same recipie as in the 1950s. The iso 100 film is Panchromatic, but the 25 and 50 films are orthopanchromatic films and are little more sensitive to blue and makes red a bit darker. Very useful for portraits with great skin tones using light bulbs as the light source.

I love the 25 and 50 films for everyday- and landscape photography. I get good results with D-76, Rodinal and Aculux 2.

The Efke R100 is available in 127 film, and I have sometimes fun with my Rolleiflex 4x4. A small camera that gives perfect pics!

Because Efke film is an older type of film, I like to use them in my older cameras for the special feeling. I have never seen any scratches on the film.

-- J Patric Dahlin in Sweden (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), March 24, 2000.

I recently shot a roll of the 127 R100 film in a Yashica 44 and developed in D-76 (1:1, 10 min at 68) and got very nice results. Good tonality and contrast, sharp, no visible grain in 8x10s from a 4x4cm negative. Will definitely try it again sometime in 127, but I see no reason to stop using Kodak and Agfa for my other cameras...

-- Michael Goldfarb (mgoldfar@mobius-inc.com), March 27, 2000.

Could anyone tell me where I can buy 127 EFKE film in Europe?

-- Dirk De la Marche (lamarchd@sebb.bel.alcatel.be), March 28, 2000.

Try http://www.photax.se (in Swedish). Efke iso100 in 127 is SEK210 for 10 rolls.

-- ulf noren (noren_ug@yahoo.se), April 14, 2000.