Arista Films

[alan chin]

who makes the Arista B+W films that are sold by http://www.freestyle.biz?

it says that it's made in the czech republic. would this be rebranded Foma?

anyone out there with experiences?

[ImageMaker]

Depends *which* Arista film.  I've seen a complete listing somewhere, but the only two that matter are Arista .EDU (Made in Hungary) which is Forte (same as Classic Pan and Bergger), and Arista .EDU Ultra, which is Foma.  The others  were Ilford and Agfa; Ilford has terminated all or almost all of their rebranding agreements, and Agfa films are no longer being made.

FWIW, both Forte and Foma are pretty good films, IMO.  I've use Classic 400 and .EDU 400 (same stuff, different label) in 120 and 4x5, and Foma, aka .EDU Ultra 100, in 120, 9x12 cm, and 4x5 (as well as 828 and 127, cut down from 120) -- plus I've got some rolled up in 35 mm cassettes, though it hasn't been shot and processed yet.

[Dean Williams]

The Czech stuff is Foma.  The Hungarian is Forte.  Their top line Arista was Agfa, I think and before that, Ilford.  I don't know if they still have a "premium" Arista.

[MichaelHarris]

I don't know but one of them curls up like a curly fry on crack.

[alan chin]

as i thought! thank you.

now, how does arista / freestyle sell it for less than what the actual Forte / Foma costs when it is in its own packaging?!?

do they import huge rolls of it into the US and put it into cassettes themselves here?

or is it just that in this digital post-soviet age, Forte + Foma think they can charge a bit more for "brand name chic"?

[Jordan]

Re-branded film is pretty common. Usually it involves a bulk large purchase of film by a retailer, with a promise not to undercut the brand-name marketed material.

Ilford used to play that game, and Arista Pro B&W film was in fact Ilford in disguise. No longer.

I've been using a lot of the Arista EDU Ultra 200. The 120 and 35mm versions seem different. The 120 version curls like a #%Q!$ but the 35mm is pretty straight-ahead and not a bad film.

[ImageMaker]

Alan, you've pretty well got it right.  Freestyle buys either master rolls or "pancakes" (master roll length but precut to width, and perfed if for 35 mm or cine) and has it rolled or loaded for them (based on methods and crossover of errors, it appears the same vendor is rolling .EDU Ultra as rolls Classic 400 for J&C, at least in 120).  By buying in bulk, shopping around competitively for rolling services, and doing everything in container lots to keep overseas shipping costs controlled, they can do this for about the same actual cost as the manufacturer sees -- but then they cut out one to three levels of middlemen (distributors on a continental, regional, and local level), eliminate that number of markups, and sell their rebranded film (without officially admitting who it's made by, though it's pretty thinly veiled when they're required to put the country of origin on the packaging and there are only about nine B&W film manufacturers on Earth, with four of them in China) for 15-20% less than the manufacturer's label.

[LarryD]

Arista.EDU Ultra is my everyday film in both 120 and 35mm these days except for the 2  100 foot rolls of Agfa Apx400 and the 100foot roll of PanF I keep around. The Apx was free I payed 10 bucks for the PanF+

 Lucky 400 though is becoming a regular in my bag also these days.


Larry

[JRJacobs]

I have been using the Arista EDU Ultra (Foma) quite a bit now (Freestyle is close to my house - lucky me!).  I have been using the 100 and the 200 with Diafine with good results (they both rate at 200 with diafine).  I like the look of the 200 a bit more, but they are both nice films.  The base is different for the 35mm and 120 versions, and yes, the 120 is curly.