I was looking for Arista 400 8x10 film on Freestyle but could not find it. Is it being made? I did a series of photographs with tri-x 8x10 in 2007 where I shot something like 600 sheets of film. Trix 8x10 now is only available in 10 sheet boxes, I plan on continueing that series of photographs (Thai Sex Workers) next year and need to get more film so I wanted to play with the Arista 400 8x10(read it might be Tri-x or HP5 at a cheaper price) to see if works for me. I could then buy 10 boxes of 50 sheet Arista 400 and avoid the more expensive 50 boxes of 10 sheet trix 8x10.
Arista 400 (Ilford HP5) is no longer sold...it has been a few years. Freestyle has a 200ASA -- Arista.edu Ultra (Foma film, I believe)...50 shts @ $110
As far as I know, the only 8x10 400-speed films available are Tri-X, HP5 Plus, and Tmax 400. Foma (Arista.EDU Ultra) is marketed as 200-speed but I get best results at 125. If there are other 400 speed 8x10 B&W films available, I'd love to hear about it.
Kodak has repackaged their 8x10 films into 10 sheet boxes; Ilford still sells theirs in 25 sheet boxes. Foma sells in 50 sheet boxes. Who know what tomorrow will bring?
Your choices for an ISO 400 speed film in 8x10 are HP5+, and TMY. Foma does not market Foma 400 in sheet film sizes in the US, and I don't believe that they even make it. Tri-X in that size is Tri-X 320. OK, it's not a whole lot slower, but it is a very different film from the Tri-X 400 that most folks are familiar with. The toe is longer, and the slope of the curve is steeper through the mid tone areas.
In the past I used the 320 Trix and liked it, the thing that pisses me off is the 10 sheet box thingy...Think I will have to buy 60 boxes, wonder what the shipping cost on that will be!