Developer for Arista Film

[Kevin Crisp]

I picked up a box of the 400 speed Arista film yesterday. From prior threads it is (probably) repackaged Ilford HP5+. (Which the sales clerk at Freestyle did not deny, though the development times on the box are different from what I've s een for HP5+) I would appreciate recommendations from people using it on develo pers (I have on hand HC110, Rodinal and D-76, but will try something else) and s tarting times for a film speed test. Thanks for your help, and have a safe New Year.

[Kevin Crisp]

Development would be in trays, sheet film 5X7. I could just pick one but I was hoping for advice which would make my starting point more than random. (I have, for example, tried HC110 with TMAX 100 and was never happy with it. D-76 1:1 works very well. I'd rather not just pick a combination and start off on the wrong foot.) I am aware that my water, dilution, and temperative may have an effect on development time.

[Jennifer Waak]

I've been developing HP5+ in HC-110 and have been happy with it. I do tank development with my 4x5, so my processing times won't help you. But, all I did was follow what the bottle of HC-110 says for Dilution B plus some minor mods from Jobo for tank development and it's been working for me. So, I would start with what the bottle says.

[David Karp]

Kevin,

I have used Arista 400 in roll film with XTol 1:3 and have obtained beautiful results. I always treat Arista 400 as HP5+ with excellent results. T-Max and D-76/ID11 also give good results.

[Brian Ellis]

I develop HP5+ (actual HP5+) as well as Arista in D 76 1-1 in tanks (220 film), BTZS tubes (4x5), and trays (8x10). I've been using this combination of film and developer for about 6 years and have been pleased with the results. I've also used both films in 8x10 with PMK pyro in trays. After extensive and very time consuming testing that involved making identical negatives under varying circumstances and developing one set in D 76 1-1 and the other in PMK, I determined that there was no visible difference at all in prints made from negatives developed in PMK and negatives developed in D 76 1-1 so I won't be using PMK any more once I've exhausted the supply of PMK I unfortunately have on hand.

[Jim Billlups]

FreeStyle has a film development chart on their site. Here's the link:

http://freestylesalesco.com/developchart2.html