Less grain in Efke 100?

[athanasius80]

Hello Apug!
I just tried my first roll of Efke 100 in 120. The only thing I don't like about it is the graininess. I just finished enlarging 6x6 cm negatives and was disappointed to find grain that reminded me of 35mm Tri-X. I develop everything in Rodinal (all I have at the moment) and I'm wondering if my problem is the developer or shooting medium format when I might be happier with LF. Thanks for continuing to put up with my ignorance, and I'm looking forward to all responses!

[pauldc]

What were your times, dilution and EI?

I have developed 120 roll Efke 100 in 6*9 format in Rodinal 1+100 for 16 minutes and had no grain to note but the negatives were very thin and needed printing at grade 5.

I have just developed a roll of 35mm Efke 100 in Tetenal Neofin Blau and I found the negatives grainy and way too contrasty. I think my time was too long (19.5 minutes) but I was using the lower dilution (half a bottle of developer in 300ml of total liquid) and multiplied the recommended time by 1.3 as the instructions suggest.

best wishes

[avandesande]

efke 100 is one of the grainier 100 films. Moving to large format is a big step. Why not learn to get the most out of the equipment you now have? Try it in d76 and then see if you cant get better results with a modern film like acros. You will end doing all these things in large format anyway, unless you stick to contact prints.

[titrisol]

I like EFKE 100, Rodinal 1+100 for 20-25 minutes.
There is some grain but is not bad, even for 35mm.

However DDX has given me much better results regarding graininess while keeping shrapness and tonality

[srs5694]

I've only shot one roll of Efke 100, and it was in 35mm. IIRC, I developed it in D-76 1:1, but I'm not positive of that -- I might have used XTOL 1:1. The negatives, though, were very grainy -- grainier than most ISO 400 films, in my judgment. I don't know if anything could be done to significantly reduce the grain, although switching from Rodinal to a fine-grain developer might give you some modest improvement.

Efke 25, OTOH, is a very fine-grained film. I haven't shot enough of either to know how they compare in other characteristics, but if you like the Efke 100 other than grain, you might give the 25 a try, or perhaps the 50 if losing two stops of speed is too high a price.

[avandesande]

I would agree with you but only partially. The grain is more apparent with efke 100, but the grains are smaller than a 400 speed film such as trix.

The negatives, though, were very grainy -- grainier than most ISO 400 films, in my judgment.

[P C Headland]

I've used Efke 100 and Rodinal for 6x6 and 6x9 and not noticed a problem with it being too grainy.

I use 1+100 dilution for around 17 minutes at 20 C, but don't agitate much (15s each minute for first three minutes, then one inversion every three minutes). Some people have also reported good results with stand development.

[pauldc]

There is a nice example of Efke 100 in Rodinal 1+50 just posted in the standard gallery. Might be worth a look - and no, it is not one of my pictures!

[rusty71]

You didn't say what Rodinal Dilution used or development time....
Someone told me to shoot Efke 100 at ISO 160 and develop in Rodinal 1:25 for medium format. I thought that sounded crazy, but the tonal scale was amazing and the grain not bad at all. Develop for 8 minutes at normal temp.

[battra92]

My experience with Efke films has been in the 127 size so it may be a little different. I develop it in HC-110 whice gives me fairly decent results.

Of course, the fact that I shoot it with an old Brownie might affect some of the results.