Freestyle Photo

Another happy customer here. When I first began processing my own B&W film a couple years ago, I started with Diafine and Pan F+ from Freestyle. I've been ordering from them regularly ever since and have never been disappointed. Good selection, good prices (especially their Arista-branded stuff), and good service.

Freestyle has been nothing short of being a reliable and first rate business as far as I'm concerned.

2F/2F said:

I agree entirely. One note is that they will probably give best results if you buy them in large quantities, though. What they have told me is that the Arista stuff is relabeled stuff from various manufacturers; whatever happens to be a good deal at the time Freestyle is purchasing film. It could be Ilford, it could be Agfa, and it could be something else. So, the only problem with the stuff is not that it's bad quality; just that it's inconsistent, and can thus be unpredictable. So...buy a fridge full so you can test a bit, and then be set until you finish off that fridge full!

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All very true. I remember the first stock I ever bought was under the Arista II (Agfa) label and now it's Arista.EDU Ultra (foma) Fortunately Freestyle is also always up front about what a particular stock may be at any given time which eliminates quite a bit of guess work.

2F/2F said:

One note is that they will probably give best results if you buy them in large quantities, though. What they have told me is that the Arista stuff is relabeled stuff from various manufacturers; whatever happens to be a good deal at the time Freestyle is purchasing film. It could be Ilford, it could be Agfa, and it could be something else. So, the only problem with the stuff is not that it's bad quality; just that it's inconsistent, and can thus be unpredictable.

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Yes and no. To the best of my knowledge, whenever Freestyle changes suppliers on their Arista-branded products, they also change the name slightly -- for instance, Arista Pro was Ilford, Arista II was Agfa, Arista.EDU was Forte, and Arista.EDU Ultra is Foma. To the best of my knowledge, only the Ultra product is current, although Freestyle had a special on (presumably the last of) their Arista II ISO 400 film in 35mm the last I checked, and they may have old stock of Arista.EDU in some sizes and speeds (I haven't looked recently).

FWIW, I do have one complaint/warning about one of these products: Arista.EDU Ultra (Foma) VC RC paper. I've had several prints made on this paper silver out when put in cheap frames. Prints made on Agfa MCP310 VC RC paper and placed in identical frames are fine; it's only the Arista.EDU Ultra/Foma paper that's given me problems. I gather that silvering out under these sorts of display conditions was a common complaint about RC papers when they were first introduced. It appears to me that either the Foma paper requires slightly different fixing or washing procedures (compared to Agfa) that I didn't quite nail down or that Foma hasn't quite mastered the improvements in RC technology to improve stability that Agfa did master. (I don't believe I've got framed prints on Kodak, Ilford, or other brands of VC RC paper for comparison, except for some very new ones on Oriental paper that replace the silvered-out Foma prints.)

"Yes and no. To the best of my knowledge, whenever Freestyle changes suppliers on their Arista-branded products, they also change the name slightly -- for instance, Arista Pro was Ilford, Arista II was Agfa, Arista.EDU was Forte, and Arista.EDU Ultra is Foma. To the best of my knowledge, only the Ultra product is current, although Freestyle had a special on (presumably the last of) their Arista II ISO 400 film in 35mm the last I checked, and they may have old stock of Arista.EDU in some sizes and speeds (I haven't looked recently)."

Good to know. Thanks. I assumed that the different names just meant different levels of "quality", all of which were always available. I didn't realize that when a new name came in the old one went out.

I also agree, Freestyle is awesome.
On my last order, entered late one night, I forgot to add some 4x5 negative pages.
So, I called them the next morning and got some very helpful lady who told me that they were having computer trouble but she took the details of my order and made sure they added the negative pages I forgot.

I only wish I had bought more of the stuff that went away when they had it, like Arista II (Agfa) and their fixed grade paper that was re-branded Ilfospeed.

I do buy stuff from B&H and Adorama too, but not as much as Freestyle. I have been happy with all of them and hope they all keep supplying us with the B&W stuff we need.

2F/2F said:

Good to know. Thanks. I assumed that the different names just meant different levels of "quality", all of which were always available. I didn't realize that when a new name came in the old one went out.

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In the past they have had different suppliers simultaneously; however, with all the upsets in the supply chain, Freestyle made a lot of changes in a short period. As I understand it, Ilford stopped permitting rebranding, so they switched their top line from Arista Pro (Ilford) to Arista II (Agfa), but Agfa went under not long thereafter. When Arista Pro was around, Freestyle offered Arista.EDU (Forte) as their "bargain" line. I don't recall why they switched this line to Arista.EDU Ultra (Foma), but that happened before Forte went under. For a while they had all four varieties -- old stock of the old ones and new stock of the new ones. I picked up several bulk rolls of Ilford Pan F+ under the Arista Pro 50 name for about half what it cost under the Ilford name. Most of that's still in my freezer.

I noticed they have a good deal on 20 roll packs of Arista II (Agfa APX) 400 speed film. Is this a good film? I have never shot any Agfa but this looks like a really good deal and I want to try it. My 400 speed film of choice is Tri-X. How might that compare to APX 400?

Thanks,
Nick

I have used Freestyle for 17 years and they have helped me survive. the only complaint I ever had .. and I made it to them.. is the packaging. Often they will put everything you order in the bottom of a box and then just dump peanuts on top. then you get very damaged boxes. They did that once to a 10 sheet pack of 20x24 paper that got a bend all the way through and was not useable. I called them up and they sent a replacement overnight in oversized packing and let me keep the dented one that I cut up and used for tests..nice.
Dennis

By the way, I just looked into their shop, calculated shipping for 200 films to Germany. Unless I'm very much mistaken the shipping alone costs 87 bucks, plus 19% german VAT, plus 5% customs fee. Ouch!

Freestyle is (almost) exactly the kind of place I have been thinking of opening myself if I had a choice. They've got knowedgeable staff who love film <-- that's the key. I have to admit I don't understand their photographer BOD thing, but whatever, it obviously works for them. Everytime I'm in LA, I make it a point to drop in and look around, even I don't end up buying anything.

Regards, Art.

I too have been ordering regularly from Freestyle for over 10 years with never a problem, UNTIL TODAY.

I'd ordered 2 ND filters and they arrived fine but it was obvious one had been well used and restocked dirty. I spit on the rat b*st*rd who returned this after using it quite a bit. I"m waiting to see how Freestyle responds to an email. It's hardly worth repackaging and returning this when I can just clean it. There don't appear to be scratches, but I don't expect USED goods when I order from Freestyle.

Freestyle is an amazing place. Last example I ordered some products last night and received them today at noon. Quite a lightning fast shipping !...

cmo said:

By the way, I just looked into their shop, calculated shipping for 200 films to Germany. Unless I'm very much mistaken the shipping alone costs 87 bucks, plus 19% german VAT, plus 5% customs fee. Ouch!

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The high postage is USPS, not Freestyle. US postal rates went up a while back.
Every time I have ordered from Freestyle the postage docket total on the box has been exactly the same as what they charged me for postage, so they are not profiteering there. You'll also find their postage rates are very similar to B&H.
Still I feel your pain re the amounts involved. I'm in Sydney & whatever I order from them the post is generally in the $60 to $80 range. Fortunately we don't pay any Australian tax until the amount is over $1,000.

The question of shipping options to Canada comes up regularly, so I put together the following info - hope it helps.
When shopping with Adorama for shipping to Canada, you can choose from: FedEx International Economy, FedEx International Priority and UPS Express
With UPS Express, there should be no additional brokerage charges for customs clearance, as these are included in the shipping fee. The same holds true for FedEx International Economy and FedEx International Priority. I understand that back in February 2008, there was a class action lawsuit filed in Ontario against UPS for hidden fees.
Sales taxes and duty (if applicable - most photo items are duty free because of NAFTA), are additional and (unless you have an account with FedEx or UPS), are payable upon delivery. Duty may have been paid on the item entering the USA from the originating country if there was no FTA in place. But in any case, photographic equipment items between the US & Canada are duty-free.
However, if your purchase requires a tariff (eg paper products, storage media) this would typically be less than 0.5%. You can download the Customs Act on line to find out how your purchases would be classified and from that, estimate the tariff.
Many customers have reported that USPS online package tracking is not very good, and if a package is mislaid in transit that the customer must wait 45 days before submitting a lost parcel claim.
Conversely, experience has shown us that UPS's online package tracking is excellent and if a package is mislaid, that they are much more responsive. Our Canadian customers tell us that UPS is fast and reliable, and that packages are handled efficiently when they arrive into Canada.

Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
helen.oster@adoramacamera.com

UPS DOES provide Very fast Service to Canada, but the 40 Dollars "brokerage" (as in UPS is trying to make you broke) at the door is a bit of a slap in the face. (even if the tax and duty is 50 cents) Fed X is very good but I understand even more expensive, but at least the price they quote is all inclusive, and does not come with surprises at the door. USPS is still the perfered shipper, and they lose VERY FEW packages.

I will NEVER deal with any US company that uses UPS for shipping to Canada. My spouse ordered some clothes for me as a surprise. It was one helluva surprise allright. The cost of the clothes was about $500.00. The bill from UPS was $231.00. Pay at the door!

To Adorama and/or any other company -look at it from your customer's point of view. UPS may be easy to deal with from the company's standpoint, but to Canadian customers, it's pure hell. You are losing business from Canadian customers.

If a company won't use USPS, DON'T DEAL WITH THEM.

As I said before, hooray for Freestyle!