Cheap Arista Film

[Erik Ryberg]

Does anybody have any comments about the Arista sheet film sold cheap (37$/100 4 x5) by Freestyle? I am a beginner and so am too clumsy with development and too unpracticed with exposure to make any definitive judgments about it, but I'm on a very limited income and the low price makes it quite attractive to me. On th e other hand, I don't want to be pound foolish, either, and chase after problems or unsatisfactory images that are the result of the film and not my own novice mistakes. So far it seems to be working, though.

[Sean Billy Bob Boy yates]

I've used both HP5 & the Arista U.F.O. film in 8 X 10 and have no complaints on either. I have not seen a difference beyond the notch code. Arista paper seems to work well for me. If you look at the published processing times, you'll see they are the same for Hp5 & Arista 400. What is Arista 400? Ilford Hp5 that some how didn't pass quality inspection? Why would Ilford continue to manufacture HP3? Or is it the equivalent of a "short ends" that you can buy in the movie industry, unexposed stock that is left over and sold, sealed or re-sealed and within the expiration date?

Which ever way, the cheap stuff works for me and I greatly appreciate it's low cost. You can buy almost twice as much stock for the same cost.