(simple) efke IR emulsion question

[kaiyen]

<p>Hi all</p>

<p>I know that there have been many problems with efke IR820's emulsion (specifically <a href="../black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/00QlYH">this thread discusses it quite a bit</a> ). However, I just want to check that what I'm experiencing is likely the same cause - just poor QC.</p>

<p>The first time I developed it, all distilled, it had crazy dust, was curly, and had this strange...texture to it. It wasn't smooth. This time, taking extra, extra precautions with dust, I still have the rough texture. </p>

<p>Has anyone else seen this? I do not want to start another discussion on Efke's QC, just seeing if anyone has seen this re: the emulsion.</p>

[beasleyglb]

<p>It would help to post a picture of this texture if you can. It could be grain or reticulation, I haven't seen much else cause that reaction.</p>

[kaiyen]

<p>Oh, it doesn't really show up in scans - the...texure is clear, I guess, or close to it, so it doesn't produce white (or black) spots. It is visible, but I meant texture as in tactile, not visual. </p>

<p>Not reticulation, and it's very different than grain. </p>

<p>This is from the first roll I shot, which has crazy dust, too, and I'm sorry it's only 800 on the long end, but if you look at the darker cloud right about in the middle top of the image, you can kind of see it, I think. There's a lot of dust there so it's more of a kind of changing tonality. You'll note that it's not everywhere in the cloudy area so that might not actually bit it. But perhaps it's more visible in the lighter grey tones.<br>

<a title="stone benches by kaiyen, on Flickr" href=" title="stone benches by kaiyen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3486/3464280459_0ef2123f56_o.jpg" alt="stone benches" width="784" height="632" /> </a><br>

I know that's an awfully dusty picture.</p>

[lynn_washington]

<p>I haven't got any answers for you re the texture issue, but I just wanted to say that, dust and all, it's a nice shot, very well composed.</p>

<p>Later,</p>

<p>Lynn</p>

[kaiyen]

<p>Lynn - oh. Thanks :-).</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Allan, it is really neat film, but the curling drives me nuts, as does many other films from that region of the world (I don't know why, but they probably all use a polyester base). It is virtually unscannable until it's been pressed in a book with weight on it. The older emulsions tend to be stickier than newer stuff from Kodak, Fuji, and Ilford, and you need to take care you don't over-wash it. I find a wash aide and photoflo is imperative with these films. While I've not experienced dust, I can well imagine that the sticky emulsion (when wet) would be a dust magnate. So be very careful where you dry it (I use a film drying "closet" that's actually a zip up hanging shoe bag without the shoe shells). Also, I forgot to mention, are you presoaking the film to remove the anti-halation layer, as recommended? The sheet also mentions a two step fixing bath, and strong fixer. They also mention that it is critical not to use PhotoFlo type product for too long, and the film's sensitivity to attracting dust (probably because it is relatively thin). I would make sure you re-read the technical bulletin for the film. There are a lot of areas where things could go wrong.</p>

[kaiyen]

<p>Michael<br>

Trust me, I know. Many of those things that could go wrong did with that first roll :-). </p>

<p>I was very careful with development and drying this time. I didn't use a wash aid but did use photo flo. I also did an all distilled water process. So it was about as clean as could be. I dried in my shower, but I ran the steam up for a bit before developing, then halfway through, then again while it was in the photo flo for the 1 minute. This helped bring the dust down. </p>

<p>The weird thing is that if I look closely at it I really don't think it's dust. I've made the mistake of letting dust try on the negative before, where it's almost embedded in there. This is different. I will look more closely again and I'll see if my next roll goes like this, too. I might also break out the old hair-dryer...dryer. It makes the film curly but is dust free every time I've used it. And it's not like I can make it any curlier...</p>

[beasleyglb]

<p>The older emulsions sound like they are not hardened like a lot of newer emulsions are. Be sure you are using a hardening type fixer and not that used for C-41 which is more a neutral ph. I've seen some soft emulsions take on a pebbly texture prior to washing completely off the base. Some processes require hardening as a first step, if you find a pre hardener you will likely need to adjust the processing times to compensate for the different rate of developer penetration.</p>