Arista films comments/thoughts??

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Any one using Arista films? In particular sheet film. Interested in your thoughts and comments.

-- Kreig (kmcbride@memes.com), November 03, 2000

Answers

Arista = Ilford (ssssshhhhhhh!)

-- Anon Y. Mous (nemo@nowhere.com), November 03, 2000.

I have used and still use Arista 125/100 in 4x5, it is a very good film and works well with Pyro developers, and HC-110 and is a lot less than other brands. It is not Tri-x, but neither is Ilford. But is does have a good price. Pat

-- pat krentz (patwandakrentz@aol.com), November 03, 2000.

There are various stories about Arista film. The one that seems most likely to me, since Arista is marketed as a "graphic arts" film, is that it uses the same emulsions as Ilford FP-4 and HP-5, but is on a thinner base, which would be attractive for use with vacuum backs, but less desireable with conventional filmholders.

Can anyone confirm or deny that definitively?

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), November 03, 2000.


Gordon Hutchings reviewed the Arista films in View Camera a while back. To quote Mr. Hutchings, re: is it Ilford or not, he said "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..."

Our own Dan Smith had this to say a while back in the archives....

"I thought I better update my answer on this one to reflect some testing I did with the films. View Camera magazine featured a short article one of the films & the conclusion was "it is an Ilford emulsion, in all respects the same as the Ilford named emulsion" when examined closely. After reading this I bought a few boxes of the Arista in both film speeds & compared them directly to Ilford HP5+ and FP4+. I found one difference in the negatives-in the 4x5 sheet film. That difference is not in the grain pattern or how the images look. It is in the thickness of the material the emulsion is coated on. The Arista seems to be a bit thinner, having a tendency to curl a bit where the Ilford named emulsion didn't under the same conditions. Other than that both films, back to back in the holder, shot of the same subject, processed in the same JOBO tank at the same time, look so close that I can't tell any difference. It looks as if I am one of those who got the info it was an older version. But on testing the stuff I think it has to be the same film, with the thickness of the sheet being the difference. At any rate, both films work fine and the images looked nice. Even with that I will continue shooting Tmax, why change what works?

-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), February 12, 2000. "

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), November 03, 2000.


Barry Sinclair of Ilford stated a couple of years ago that the Arista films definitely were not FP4+ and HP5+. However, he wouldn't say what they were....

My speculation is that they're FP4 and HP5, both older but fine films.

When I made the change from HP5 to HP5+ no exposure or development changes were needed.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), November 04, 2000.



Since an older post of mine is quoted above I better comment on what I am using now. I am using Arista 125 for a lot of my 8x10 work and have been working with the film buyer at Freestyle Camera to get it in the 5x7 format. They have told me that both the 125 and 400 films will be available in 5x7 shortly after the first of the year. The Arista film I get from Freestyle is very nice. Yes, I still use TMax 100 for some images but find myself shooting more Arista these days. It is better (for me) with shadow detail than I am able to get with the TMax films. Part of the reason is TMax red sensitivity which makes it harder for me to capture shadow detail under blue skies, especially when using yellow or stronger filters. For very long exposures I will choose TMax 100 any time I can as past about 2 minute exposures its reciprocity characteristics make it one of the fastest films available. By long exposures I mean meter readings from 2-5 minutes to 4 hours. TMax has the advantage here.

I like the Arista and will be using a lot more of it, especially in 5x7 when it comes out. As that hits the market I will do some testing and post results in direct comparisons if anyone is interested.

-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), November 04, 2000.


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