I kept one roll of Efke R100 127 film in the fridge for years, lamenting its discontinuation and waiting for something to try it in. It expired in there.
I promised some recent Portra 160VC would be the next Expired Film Day 2016 post, but I’d forgotten about this Efke. The developed negatives have been in an Edward Weston book with all my other photography books stacked on top of it for a month. It’s still curled and difficult to scan.
It’s been awhile since I’ve tested a 127 camera, in large part due to the lack of availability of film. There are a few options available from Blue Moon Camera in Portland, and from The Frugal Photographer, but they aren’t cheap.
When Expired Film Day rolled around, I loaded up a lot of uncertainty. One reason I loaded the Kodak Brownie Bullet was to give it a test, sure, but another was that the Efke film was brand new when I put it in the fridge, and I know the film well. It was my guaranteed success, frankly.
The results were exactly what one would expect from a 127 Brownie camera — no matter what the camera looks like, the exposures always seem substantially the same. Soft at the far reaches of the frame, sharper than you think in the middle. Easy to use, easy to load. The Brownie is magic.
The Brownie Bullet was apparently a promotional item, possibly a giveaway-with-purchase or something similar. It’s identical in every way except the name on the front plate to the Brownie Holiday Flash.
The Efke R100 expired in September, 2012. I bought it new in 2010. I developed it in HC-110H (1:63) for 11 minutes at 68°F.
Other Expired Film Day 2016 posts:
- Unknown Kodak Vericolor III VPS
- 2003 Kodak Plus-X 125 (Agfa)
- 2003 Kodak Plus-X 125 (Leica)
- 1977 Kodak Kodacolor II film
- c. 1955 Agfa Isopan FF 120 film
- 1956 Kodak Super-XX 616 film
