Arista compared to FP4+?

[Dakotah Jackson]

Am running out of PhotoWarehouse Ilford FP4+ film and have to find a replacement I can afford. Ilford is pricing me out of the market.

How do the Freestyle Arista EDU and EDU Ultra films compare to FP4+ in 8x10 sheet film? Delicate emulsion when wet isn't a real problem in my darkroom as I process individually using brush development. Am more interested in tonal characteristics, repeatability and how the final image looks compared to the FP4+ I have been used to for these past years.

[Dakotah Jackson]

Forgot to mention that the developer I have standardized on is Sandy Kings' Pyrocat HD. Since I first tried it I have had results that are excellent for my work. Any experience with these films and this developer are appreciated.

It is not that I don't like the Ilford film just that it is pricing me out of the marketplace. Retired fixed income just doesn't purchase what it used to and ever rising fuel oil costs are eating up the extra funds I should have been able to put into the film of choice. So it is a matter of spending less on another film or keeping warm the rest of this spring and next winter.

[Toyon]

I read that when Ilford was re-organized a prime desire was to out of the 3rd party film business. Hence, I don't believe that there is any re-badged Fp4+ around anymore. I like Efke film quite a lot and it is less expensive than Ilford. You might want to give it a try.

[Gene McCluney]

The least expensive current Freestyle distributed private label film is Arista.edu.ultra. It is made by Foma (not Efke) I have some, but haven't tried it yet. I have been using Arista.edu (made in Hungary) film in 4x5, but I think I got the last boxes of it. It is Forte 200. I like this a lot, developed in HC-110b. Not fine grain, though.

[Walter Foscari]

I've used the Arista edu ultra (Foma). Both the 100 and 200 are excellent emulsions. Compared to FP4 the images tend to be less smooth and a bit crispier.
I've developed them in Pyrocat (rotary process). Having been spoilt by FP4+ which is extremely easy to develop, I've initially messed up a few sheets with uneven development, but once I've straightened that out I've got good results with both films.
The only other problems I've heard had to do with batches that were cut to incorrect size. Search the archives at apug for more info on the characterstics of the emulsions.