Forte, Efke, J&C, Freestyle - 100, 200, 400...?

[tim atherton]

Some time ago I used some Forte and Bergger 200 and quite liked them. Since then, with the growth of J&C, loss of maintsream films etc there seems to have been a growth in avaialbitly of these films and new offerings from the manufacturers in mitteleuropa.

But I've been wading through old posts now trying to figure out who is selling what and what the heck is what film...? Is Arista.edu Forte film?... is xyz film new Forte 400 or old Forte 400... Some Forte is made by Ilford etc and so on.

Anyone have a nice simple listing of which films are which these days? (perhaps with a few value judgments thrown in - eg old Forte 400, still sold as Bogwo Film, is akin to the terribel Royal-Hungaro film of WW1 vintage. But the new 400 is great - rather like old HP5 - if you see what I mean?)

thanks

[Nick_3536]

The only claims I've heard about Ilford and Forte was that Forte was buying full rolls of HP5 and cutting it down to size for 120. I asked if that was supposed to be HP5+ but nobody seems to know. Other then that I think all Forte film is Forte.

Arista.edu is supposed to be Forte but my problem with relabeled film is what stops them from switching film next week when they get a better offer?

[David Karp]

I was told by someone who works at Freestyle that its Arista.Edu sheet films are manufactured for them by Forte and that they are the same as Fortepan.

[David A. Goldfarb]

The current Fortepan 200 and 400 are the same as Arista.EDU, ClassicPan, J&C Classic, and by all accounts Bergger. I like the 400. It's kind of like the former TXT, but has its own look. Nice stuff in ABC pyro, both for Azo and I've even been using it for negs to be enlarged with a cold light head, and the tonality is great, but I don't print that big, so if you do, you might not like the grain with ABC.

Efke and Adox are the same emulsions. I've used Efke 100, and it's really nice. J&C says Adox will be inspected to a higher standard than Efke, but newer info suggests that eventually, it will all become Adox.

Maco doesn't manufacture films, but it seems that some of their film and paper is made by Efke, and some may be Ilford, and some might be from elsewhere. Maco Expo RF graded enlarging paper is really good and responds well to amidol. I've ordered some of their metallic paper as well and will be testing it when it arrives.

If you develop in trays, handle these films carefully. They can produce beautiful results, but are not as scratch resistant as films from the major manufacturers.

[Tony Karnezis]

Tim, I've spoken with customer service representatives at Freestyle. Arista Professional 125 & 400 are simply re-packaged Ilford FP4+ and HP5+, respectively.

[David Karp]

Just to make sure that there is no confusion for people reading this post in the future:

-Arista Professional films = FP4+ and HP5+

-Arista.Edu films = Forte 200 and 400

As told to me by an employee of Freestyle.

[John Kasaian]

Tim,

I'm as confused as anybody.

In the thread you refer to, JayDeFehr comments that J and C Pro is Chinese, so is J and C Classic Fortepan and J and C Pro ???

Then there is the mysterious issue of Photo Wharehouse Ultrafine being either FP-4 or FP-4+ not to mention the theory advanced that Bergger(French) is really Forte(Czechoslovakia.)

I'm not so concerned about brands per se except that I find it would be nice to know what it is I'm shooting because they mostly are packaged differently and I like to try new emulsions without committing to a 50 $heet box if at all possible.

At least I know Kodak Tri-X comes from a spankin' new factory in Rochester(or Canada? Brazil? Australia?France?) Has anyone actually seen this place?

In another thread, now Rollei has annouced a B+W film at Photokina, developed(ha-ha) or made by MACO(but we're told MACO dosen't manufacture its own film, so who? Where does it come from?)

BTW, just what the heck is "Lucky" film, anyway?

(signed) Confused and Bewildered in Fresno

[Dave Moeller]

Lucky is a large film manufacturer in China. Their home page is http://www.luckyfilm.cn .

J&C say, in posts on APUG, that J&C Pro100 is manufactured by Lucky but that it is not Lucky's standard B&W film. The recommended development times for Lucky B&W and J&C Pro100 would seem to bear this out.

I've shot some J&C Pro100 in 120 and 4x5. It's a nice film, with good grain and tonality. I haven't done any formal testing yet, but I think it's one heck of a deal given the price and the quality of the images I got just goofing around. I plan on ordering some 8x10 soon to try out for contact printing.

[Nature Photo]

John:
Forte is actually Hungarian, not Czech.

[Ray Denon]

Freestyle Arista Ultra Edu 120 - 100 has nice tones, fine grain and is sharp. There are defects in the emulsion, tiny black spots from silver nitrate that didn't quite disolve into the emulsion and ends up over-developed. The price is right and a very nice film. The prints will need to be spotted. You get what you pay for. 4x5 100 sheet box is $29.00. 35mm 100 ft roll $17.99