Holga 400, foma 400 arista 400.. are they all the same?

[Candlejack]

Sooo.. are these three films the exact same film? Im ordering some more film (for old box cameras, holgas etc) and was curious.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Can't say for certain about the Holga 400 film, but Arista .EDU Ultra has been confirmed to be Fomapan -- all three speeds. If you still have some of the old Arista .EDU (without the "Ultra") that was Fortepan, but it's been out of production for a long time, and out of stock at Freestyle for a good while as well.

 

[Auer]

B&H even lists the Holga 400 as "Foma Holga 400"

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/792419-REG/Foma_191420_Holga_120_Black_and.html/?

 

[Stanislav Boščík]

I know for sure those 3 are the same film.

 

[Candlejack]

Awesome! Thank yall!

 

[shead]

Funny how so much film is the same ol' stuff. I have a pile of Arista Edu Ultra and never knew it was Foma until now.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Funny how so much film is the same ol' stuff.

Well, if you think about it, there are a limited number of coating facilities capable of making quality film -- more for black and white, and fewer for color.

For color, the list is VERY short: Kodak, Fuji (on hiatus, it seems, other than for Instax), and (possibly no longer due to events) Innoviscoat or whoever wound up with their assets. Agfa and Ferrania dropped out of C-41 and/or E-6 production years ago, and Konica may or may not ever have been separate production from Fuji. Polaroid 35 mm film was always rebranded with the exception of the "instant" slide films (for which the chemical packs and processors are like hen's teeth even if you can find some of the film).

For B&W, the list is longer, because the process is more tolerant of variations: Kodak, Fuji, Ilford/Kentmere, Foma, Ferrania (in low volume, effectively test roll quantity), likely Shanghai, possibly one other facility in China that doesn't sell outside its homeland, probably not Svema or Tasma any longer (Svema branded film sold new at this date is either old stock or rebranded).

Any film you get that isn't one of those brands is either rebranded new production (as mentioned above, Freestyle's .EDU Ultra rebranded from Foma), old frozen stock freshly confectioned from the master roll (looking at you, Rollei film), or just plain expired (with or without honest expiration dates on the end user packaging).

 

[xya]

After having sold out nearly all old stock, it seems as if ORWO is coming back into business with new film for B&W and colour...