erik_asgeirsson Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 Does anyone have any insight as to whether Arista 125 is the same film as FP4+? Data sheets on the Arista seem to be nonexistant on the web. I love FP4+, but then the Arista is quite a bit cheaper... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian yarvin Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 Of course, nobody with the hard facts will give you the real answer, but I will tell you that Arista films behave exactly as their corresponding Ilford films even in the most unusual processes. They are the same in EVERY developer I tried. They are the same in DR5. Even the same in intensifiers and reducers. They are both made in the same country and that country has only one film manufacturing plant. But I don't know if they're the same film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry_flynn1 Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 I use Arista 125 almost exclusively: 120, 4X5, 5X7 and some 8X10. If you read the very fine print on the label you will find numbers that match numbers on Ilford products quite closely. In addition, Ilford advertizes that they have a private label program. Some have suggested that Aristo is FP4+, some say it may be the old version of FP4. I have used FP4+ as a subtitute for Arista 125 have processed it the same and have gotten what to me apppear to be the same results. Some in this forum may have more scientific means of testing, but I'm concerned with results, so I'm happy. Freestyle lists developing times for Arista Products on their website. I use Xtol and am happy with the speed, scale and tonal quality of the negatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_kasaian1 Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 Erik, in a back issue of View Camera(sorry, don't know the issue no.) Gordon Hutchings did a comparison of Arista and Ilford and reaffirmed what a lot of folks had suspected all along: There IS a difference! Arista costs less! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_greenberg_motamedi Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 this might be a bit of a lame point to make a comparison, but the boxes which both Arista 125 and Ilford FP4+ are packed in appear to be identical, other than the labeling... I have only used Arista, so I can't comment on anything else, although I did once hear (here perhaps?) that Arista's base was thinner than that of Ilford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_rankin2 Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 When I asked Freestyle, they said it was the same film both via email and verbally - with no qualifications. I'm not sure why there is such a myth that 'no one will tell you'. The Film Processing Cookbook says to use the same times for processing and doesn't otherwise list Arista. All one has to do, probably, is compare the notches. I'll do that when I open my boxes...<BR><BR>Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_smith Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 One of the ideas of Arista being on a thinner base than Ilford came from me in a post a few years ago. I measured some & there was a microscopic difference in thickness. I wondered as the Arista seemed to curl more than the ilford of the same speed. Later had a friend measure thicknesses before the emulsion & whatnot was washed off & all was the same. Seems I probably measured the film areas that has been completely fixed clean on one and the other with dense silver areas on it. Finally found the difference in the curling too. The Arista had been with me in an area of 3-7% humidity for a few days before coming back into my darkroom where my already processed film was in 40% humidity. Once it all equalized it was fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_chinn Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 I have read from previous posts to this forum or maybe an article somewhere that Arista is cut from the beginning and end of a film run for the coresponding Ilford film. This would lead me to believe that Ilford believes there is the possibility of consistency or quality problems at these times (thus the lower price). I have used the Arista films from time to time and have never had any probelms with the quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob. Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 What is worrying me a little is that there are at least two Ilford people (one in the US and one from the mother-ship in the UK) who read this forum and neither has popped up. I hope the fact that this forum is now on a comemrcial server is not going to stop people like that offering their knowledge and advice. Alternately, the fact that Arista = potentially low grade FP4+ may be one of those commercial "secrets" that dare not speak it's name.... Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian yarvin Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 Everyone who's reported an objective test says that the films are identical but these statements do absolutely nothing to stop others from spreading rumors. I can't imagine that any of the Ilford staffers feel that they can do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_ellis3 Posted June 20, 2002 Share Posted June 20, 2002 The notches are different. Not that this really means anything. I'm sure Ilford rather than Freestyle cuts the notches and I wouldn't expect Ilford to make the notches identical, any more than I'd expect any Ilford employee who participates in this group to pop up and say "yeah, they're the exact same film." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_smith Posted June 20, 2002 Share Posted June 20, 2002 One reason we may not see Ilford folk posting is that Ilford film says "Ilford" on the box... that packaged for anyone else does not say "Ilford" on the boxes and as such is "not an Ilford film". It is another case of "that depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Bowes Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Hello everyone. Ages ago Freestyle's house brand was called Essex. The films (then) worked just like Ilford's (then). Guess where Ilford is located in the U.K.??? Today the film is called Arista and the only BIG differnce I have noted is that the Ilford films have a better tasting paper seal on the 120 (yum) than the Arista (Yuk!). Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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