February 12, 2012

Efke 25 - Caffenol-C-L

I was waiting for a large format contri, but it didn't arrive. So here we go with another story. The Efke R 25 was exposed with EI 50. Caffenol-C-L with 6 g/l iodized salt, agitation 1st minute continuously, let stand for 60 minutes. No prewash. Lot of uneven development, this one is the best and shows the potential. Maybe prewash and some more agitation will help, also some pot bromide. Almost no grain, beautiful tones, 6x6 neg here. The Efke is a rude film, curls like hell and attracts dust like a vacuum cleaner, the film base is like an optical fiber. I hate PET film base. As the wet emulsion is very scratch sensitiv I didn't wipe the film before drying. Result: littered with small white drying marks and dust, dust, dust...

Tones are nice, but what a pain in the a.. the darkroom and scanning handling is.

6 comments:

vl42 said...

try aqua dest. for final rinse- 16 min should do- then add Tetenal mirasol2000 1+800 (not 1+400 as stated on the bottle). this should cope at least with the drying marks.

imagesfrugales said...

Yes, of course you are right, vl42. I use to wipe my films with a cellulose paper (Zewa wix und weg) and get super clean negs, but didn't dare to do this with the Efke. Having no A. demin I rinsed with tap water and added Agepon wetting agent, but with bad result.

D. Matthew Dair said...

My first shot with Caffenol http://silverlightalchemy.blogspot.com/2012/02/caffenol.html there will definitely be more. This site has been a great resource. Thank You!

ibo said...

Due to the points you mentioned (curling, PET film base and sensitive emulsion) I decided not to take such film brand anymore. I used aqua dest. and Mirasol too, but it didn't help. There are much more Easy-to-handle films available. :)

Nice location - and so close to my home. :)

Rick said...

What is a contri?

imagesfrugales said...

Rick: contri = contribution = post from another Caffenol-friendly human beeing.