Film Fun Folio #24: Balda Lisette and Efke 50R

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #22:

Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 with Meyer Trioplan 75mm f/2.9 lens.

Film: Efke 50R (Recently Expired)

Locale: Central Maryland and Washington DC.

Winter doldrums are never fun, and for me, they have tended to send any camera I own into a state of hibernation.  This year, however, with a new setting around me, I vowed to keep the shutters clicking as the days grew shorter, the temps got colder, and the palette grew increasingly more bland. 

Fortunately, I'd seen a lot of good black and white work online that became an inspiration for me to try to get the most from a medium that I too often downplayed.  It had been a while since I'd played with the creamy tones of Efke's 50R film so I loaded a roll in my pretty reliable little Lisette and shot through it over a period of weeks.  A few frames into the roll, I decided that I would do something offbeat and try and shoot the entire remainder of the roll wide open at f/2.9, trying to take full advantage of the Trioplan's fast lens and interesting bokeh. Doing this on a "guess focus" camera was quite risky, but I hoped for the best as I made my way through the roll. 

In addition, I decided to "tone" the results in an online photo editor, since I felt the originals were just a bit too bland.  I tried not to overdo it, and I think in that regard I did well, though the results are likely to be subjective.  

Washington, DC - One of my favorite classic signs in the Nation's Capitol for photos only comes out so-so in this image that is contrasty and uninspiring.

Fun with Film: Efke 50

Black and White films tend to be the broadest of the pack when it comes to variety in the analog film world.  Much unlike the selection of slide and color negative films, Black and White images can be shot on films ranging from ISO 25 all the way up to ISO 3200.  They come from manufacturers such as Kodak, Ilford, Fuji, Foma, and Rollei/Agfa.  One can easily view this as the healthiest part of the analog film market.

Still, this doesn't mean that it is all (silver) roses in the world of black and white film.  There have been a number of products that have gone by the way side.  Kodak Panatomic-X and Plus-X, Fuji Neopan 400, and Agfa Scala transparency film are among just some of the monochrome casualties that have occurred in the digital era.  

And then there is Efke. 

A product of Photokemika in Eastern Europe, Efke was pretty much the epitome of "old school" film production. Whereas other manufacturers had used modern technology to incorporate tabular grains into their emulsions, and had multiple coatings, Efke was much more traditional in nature. Unfortunately, it was this same tradition that ultimately cut its film coating and cutting days short, when in 2012, its 60-plus year old coating equipment failed, and the manufacturer called it quits.  The fans of Efke film snapped up what they could of its stock of films, and the supply of Efke film began to dwindle.

Though I was hardly in the mindset of shooting film at the time it was discontinued, I had the chance to pick up a few rolls of Efke 50 a few months ago from a gentleman who had some stocks of it.  It seemed like it would be a nice experiment, and I'd appreciate having an alternative to Ilford Pan F 50.  I took a few days to shoot one roll of this film in late March, electing to use my Balda Pontina for the purpose. This would be the Balda's first "assignment" for me in black and white. Below are some of the results. 

At the same time I took a color photo of this scene on a 122 format Autographic, I also captured this scene on Efke 50 using the Balda at f/5.6.  I do like how the Efke film left a somewhat magical lighting effect to this sunlit scene, and a nicely aged effect.