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Efke Postitive paper!
So, I'm sure like alot of other people interested in photography, we've all at one point or another shot pinhole cameras (or regular large format cameras) with paper instead of negatives. I enjoyed doing this in college (pinhole cameras) but I never liked the negative image on the paper.
My interest in shooting paper has been revived when I saw Efke is selling positive paper now! I got mine from freestyle, here: https://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_search.php?q=positive+paper&catsel=all&
My only trouble so far, has been in dealing with the very high contrast of the paper! much more than one stop over and one stop under, goes to white and black. This works quite well for subjects of very low contrast, but is tricky for subjects of even moderate contrast range. I've been developing with Dektol, various dilutions don't seem to make much difference, though I've noticed as the dektol gets exhausted, I think the contrast seems to be reduced. I'm going to be trying Selectol developer soon, to see if a softer developer will yield less contrast.
In any case, here are some of my better results, scanned to match the prints as close as possible. all on 8x10. I was careful to meter for the highlights, to keep as much of the water detail as possible. I really hope I can find a developing solution that will yield a bit less contrast, working with this positive paper is so much fun!
Daniel Buck
in Daniel Buck, Efke Direct Positive paper, monochrome
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5 Comments
Reader Comments (5)
Thanks Daniel
Great stuff!!! I was inspired by your shots, and purchased some Efke positive paper along w/the Rollei low contrast dev. from Freestyle, and the Forumulary 130/Ansco 130 dev. from Formulary, after hearing what John Nanian had to say about the 130 dev.
I've talked w/the folks at Freestyle, and found out that the Efke positive paper and Krause Silver Gelatine paper as it's badged in Europe is the SAME paper. Freestyle to their credit sells it for WAY LESS, that what this paper goes for in Europe.
I think this paper will be a hit, and if it excites anyone w/the possibilities, then buy this paper, as it's continued manufacture is NOT a 'done deal'. If enough folks buy/use this paper, there's a strong chance there will be future runs.
Kudos to Freestyle for bringing this paper to the US.
Take care
please let me know how the rollei low contrast developer works!
Definitely!
Hi guys. Great stuff Daniel. I only have a slight knowledge of things chemistry but I was able to tame the APHS from the identical problems by using restrainers that were classically used in E6 formulas. They are cheap to buy and easy to mix. You can read about those at this page;
http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/FreestyleAPHS/DevelopingAPHSwRodinal.html
What they do is s*l*o*w things down to manageable times. FWIW
Hey folks
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! I smoked for 26yrs. and dev. a sensivity to darkroom chemicals, many, many yrs ago. Docs told me to swear off chemicals and smoking or die. So I did, and from then on, took my stuff to lab.............until today!!!!!!
The lab charging me $10.00 each to dev. either a 8x10 sheet of FP4 or HP5
was KICKING MY ASS. so when Jim Galli suggested that I do some paper, and I saw Daniel Buck's shots, I went ahead and got Rollei Low Contrast dev. from Freestyle to knockdown the contrast of this Efke positive paper.
Just dev. the paper and as soon as it's washed and fully dried I'll upload to the site.
I think you'll find it interesting, I'm sold.