Arista.EDU sheet film: worth it or not?

[Philippe Gauthier]

Has anyone tried the new Arista.EDU line of film "for educational purposes" offered by Freestyle? With prices about 40-45% cheaper than equivalent Ilford film, I wonder what are the trade offs. Does it work well? What does it look like? Is it good for all/some/no jobs?

[darter]

Do you like Fortepan? These are older style emulsions without the quality control of Western European and U.S. film. Results can be very good, though.

[domenico Foschi]

I use it all the time , and i really like it . I like the latitude , , the only drawback i can find is the thinner support, but once you get used to it , you forget about it . Has been said repeatedly on this forum that they are the same ilford emulsions ( FP4 & HP5 ), on a thinner support . I tend to agree. Try it and see ...

[David Karp]

Domenico,

The Arista.Edu films are not the Arista Ilford emulsions, which I think are labeled Arista Professional. The Arista.Edu films are an additional line of films that Freestyle is importing to give their customers an even lower priced option. It is directed toward students and the educational market. My understanding is that the film is manufactured by Forte and is identical to the films marketed under the Forte brand. I have not yet tried the .Edu film. By the way, I don't work for Freestyle.

[Philippe Gauthier]

I rarely used anything but FP4+ and HP5+. Good products at a good price. But I'm planning to buy a 8x10 camera and film doesn't come by cheap. I wondered how this film would do, especially with alt processes (cyanotype, Vandyke) where high definition is often less important than the ability to get high contrast.

[Philippe Gauthier]

To be more precise, I was thinking of perhaps loading my holder with both HP5+ (for the silver print) and cheaper Arista.EDU for the high contrast version I need for the alt processes. I would therefore have a high quality film for the high quality negative, and a (hopefully) fair film for the contrast boosted alt process neg. Does it make sense to you?

[domenico Foschi]

My apologies... : - )

[jantman]

I'm going to be buying some film for my 8x10 in the next few weeks. There's a chance I might buy Ilford, but one of the Arista brands is more likely, due to budget. I'll get back to you guys once I give it a try.

[emilygreen]

The film is great for my uses which are generally educational. But through my contacts with freestyle I found out that their edu line is not ilfors equizelint but instead it is forte. I have had no problems what so ever. good luck. i think that the money saved is a wonderful thing with no detail loss.

[Joel Sutton]

My wife and I both use Arista.edu film. She uses the 120 in her TLR, and the 35 mm in her bulk loader for SLR's. We have no complaints what-so-ever, and have noticed no loss of quality in negatives or prints. We also use the Arista.edu paper for printing and in my pinhole cameras. We are, by no means, professionals. However, we've shoot a lot of film in several different format and will definately stick with the Arista.edu line. Try it, I think you'll be pleased, and the price is an extra bonus.