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Arista APHS Ortho Litho film discontinued

Barry S

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I was just checking on the availability of APHS film in a few odd sizes and noticed that Freestyle has discontinued APHS and replaced it with Arista II Ortho Litho film. The price has gone up, and there are only a few sizes of APHS left. Has anyone tried the new Arista II yet.
 
Last I checked, the higher-end Arista GA film ("Supreme") was made in Japan (that means by Fuji, I assume), and the lower-end one was made in China. Perhaps the Chinese maker went out of business or the contract expired. Perhaps the Chinese variety is simply costing them more now, and they are using a renaming so that people don't freak out over a big price jump on the same product.

Or is it the "Supreme" that is on the way out? In that case, apply everything I said above to the Japanese maker instead of the Chinese maker.
 
They have a note that APHS was discontinued by the manufacturer and mention that the new film is different in speed and tonality, so I think they're sourcing a new film. Both the previous APHS and the less expensive version are being replaced.
 
Oh dear,

I just discovered the Arista is discontinued. Please update with new ideas if any of you have discovered an affordable source for making enlarged negatives. I teach alternative printing techniques and this is a huge blow to lose an inexpensive source of film.
 
Again: Freestyle just switched suppliers. Arista II ortho litho on the .004" base is the replacement.

You can also get ortho litho film from ultrafineonline.com.

 

I have not tried out the Ultrafine products yet as I still have a stock of the Arista II Ortho Litho. But this is where I was going to try when my stock runs out.

They have an ortho-litho that is similarly priced to the Arista or they have the
Ultrafine Continuous Tone Duplicating Film
 
David William White said:
Again: Freestyle just switched suppliers. Arista II ortho litho on the .004" base is the replacement.

You can also get ortho litho film from ultrafineonline.com.
Click to expand...

Actually the Arista II is being discontinued until they find a replacement supplier, as mentioned in their latest catalog.
 
I tried Ultrafineonline lith film and it seems to have an antihalation layer that requires clearing - I recall Arista didn't have this though I could be wrong. It doesn't come in 5x7 sizes. Ultrafine seems to have a thicker film and is more contrasty than Arista. At any rate, it works for my masking purposes with diluted dektol.
 
Thanks...yes, the APHS does have an AH layer. Whenever I use it, I do a presoak before developing.
 
PVia said:
Thanks...yes, the APHS does have an AH layer. Whenever I use it, I do a presoak before developing.
Click to expand...

Why? I comes off in, and does no harm to the developer? If you have problems with uneven development without the pre-soak, them fine; but if you don't it's just a waste of time.
 
Frank, I presoak all film and figure there's enough inherent problems with enlarged negs to begin with so I just automatically do it; just adds a minute to the process and lets me see the neg in the tray easier.
 
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