New Arista Premium 100 and 400 films Made in USA

mabman · Jul 31, 2008

Very interesting. I hope whoever gets some first will post further details.

I still have some Tri-X and Plus-X in bulk loaders, and I did pick up a few rolls of Arista.EDU Ultra a while ago just to check out FOMA, and I got a great deal on a 100' roll of HP5+ recently, so I'm set for a while myself...

mjs · Jul 31, 2008

I thought Kodak was still operating under terms of their anti-trust agreement and couldn't private label film?

Paul Verizzo · Jul 31, 2008

justpete said:
The AP bobinquick doesn't waste any frames, btw. You can shoot all the way to the last possible frame without a problem. And it doesn't load through a felt, there's a gate that opens completely when the crank is inserted after the cover is closed. Works very well although they are a bit pricey. Only one roll so far with a scratch, and only a few frames, due to my mucking up the velvet on the cartridge. Speaking of which, the AP metal reloadable cartridges turned out to be good quality, not a bad one in a batch of a hundred. No, I don't work for/with Freestyle or AP

What's an AP bobinquick???? The Watson, too, uses a gate as you are probably aware.

A can of "compressed air", i.e. freon, Dust Off, is your friend for felt problems. I've also noticed that bits of flotsam build up in my Watson. Zap.

Paul Howell · Jul 31, 2008

mjs said:
I thought Kodak was still operating under terms of their anti-trust agreement and couldn't private label film?

The picture in the FS catalog shows a can of bulk film and it says Made in USA. I dont know who else is coating film in the US. FS may may have bought a very large production run and re-packaged it in 100 rolls and cassestts rather than Kodak doing it.

aparat · Jul 31, 2008

Paul Verizzo said:
What's an AP bobinquick???? The Watson, too, uses a gate as you are probably aware.

A can of "compressed air", i.e. freon, Dust Off, is your friend for felt problems. I've also noticed that bits of flotsam build up in my Watson. Zap.

I believe it is the loader that Freestyle sells under the name "Bobinquick Junior." I agree that it is an excellent loader. I have been using it for a while and prefer it over the Watson, which I found to be flimsy and unreliable.

PHOTOTONE · Jul 31, 2008

mjs said:
I thought Kodak was still operating under terms of their anti-trust agreement and couldn't private label film?

I don't know what "anti-trust" agreement you speak of, but the only one I know of, was in regards to Kodak bundling processing with film sales, forcing the purchaser to use Kodak for the film processing, and this was only in reference to Color films, I think. This was seen as restrictive and unfair, and Kodak was forced to separate the processing from the film purchase, hence we then had the familiar separately purchased "mailers" we have all used at one time or another. (If we are old enough)

There should be no legal reason to stop Kodak (or any other manufacturer) from selling bulk film to a reseller, as long as that reseller does not use the Kodak name on the film. Any manufacturer can make "private label" items. One of my clients (a major motor manufacturer) makes literally hundreds of private label products for OEM's in addition to their full line of Branded products.

Paul Verizzo · Jul 31, 2008

aparat said:
I believe it is the loader that Freestyle sells under the name "Bobinquick Junior." I agree that it is an excellent loader. I have been using it for a while and prefer it over the Watson, which I found to be flimsy and unreliable.

The Watson, flimsy? Unreliable? Good summary of the problems I posted above. (I think it was this thread.)

Dennis S · Jul 31, 2008

Wasn't this thread about ARISTA FILM ?? Thats what it said on the tag.

Paul Verizzo · Jul 31, 2008

dances_w_clouds said:
Wasn't this thread about ARISTA FILM ?? Thats what it said on the tag.

One thing leads to a (related) other.

PHOTOTONE · Aug 1, 2008

dances_w_clouds said:
Wasn't this thread about ARISTA FILM ?? Thats what it said on the tag.

Yeah, the "new" Arista film that is "made in the USA" that we suspect is private labeled Kodak film, since Kodak is the only maker of b/w film in the USA.

Phillip P. Dimor · Aug 1, 2008

Wish they had it in 120 and 4x5..

Dennis S · Aug 1, 2008

Have been doing a few rls of the Arista II . I can't get tired of the AGFA. That film never seems to change. As I get older the more respect I seem to have to the things that DON'T change. Names don't really matter that much. "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." Another is the Arista EDU Ultra. Not as sweet but affordable. But that changes face now and then.

2F/2F · Aug 1, 2008

Well, you can still get APX 400, relabelled as Efke 400. Just watch out for the crummy cassettes that have popped open on me. Not sure where you can get the 100.

Dennis S · Aug 1, 2008

If Freestyle sells the Arista II AND the Efke 400 isn't that like selling the same thing, only, different.??

2F/2F · Aug 1, 2008

Yes. Of course. Products are relabeled all the time, and not just in photography. They sell both Arista.EDU Ultra and Foma, which are the same thing. They sell Arista II and Efke 400, which are Agfa (not Efke 25, 50, or 100; just the 400). They sell both Arista Premium and Kodak, which are obviously the same thing. They sell Efke and Adox Art, which are identical....the list goes on and on. Just call them on the phone and ask what is what. You can save a lot of money by buying Arista, with the loss of zero quality, if you do your homework. (This is assuming you *would* be using whatever the brand name version of the Arista is.)

Dennis S · Aug 1, 2008

Yes that is for sure. A friend swore that he would NEVER use anything else than T-Max. I'm not sure how he is going to get a grip on this. Got a bulk roll in the ordering process.

Dennis S · Aug 1, 2008

The film might change names but if you know your basics you will be alright. BUT paper, that's a whole new ball game.

Jerevan · Aug 1, 2008

I can't really understand why Kodak would sell private labelled film, thus competing with themselves. Or is it just that they want to sell film, no matter what? Ilford did this in the past but have stopped doing that.

Harry Lime · Aug 1, 2008

Jerevan said:
I can't really understand why Kodak would sell private labelled film, thus competing with themselves. Or is it just that they want to sell film, no matter what? Ilford did this in the past but have stopped doing that.

It may have to do with economies of scale. Kodak has to move a lot of product to keep production costs down. If Freestyle moves a few extra hundred thousand rolls, it helps them move volume.

Tim Gray · Aug 1, 2008

Have we confirmed that this is Tri-X yet?

mabman · Aug 1, 2008

Jerevan said:
I can't really understand why Kodak would sell private labelled film, thus competing with themselves. Or is it just that they want to sell film, no matter what? Ilford did this in the past but have stopped doing that.

Fuji seems to do it successfully. I think there are always people who will buy the "official" version, either because they aren't aware of what the private label stuff actually is, or they want to be absolutely sure they're getting a fresh, quality-controlled batch that's implied by the official packaging (which is not to say there's anything wrong with or different about the Arista-labeled version, but it is a perception thing), or the private-label version isn't available where or when needed.

Nick Merritt · Aug 1, 2008

I guess I'm very surprised that Kodak would private label any of their film -- have they done so before? I wouldn't have thought that selling through Freestyle would yield enough volume. Not being able to advertise it as Tri-X doesn't help, either. But what do I know?

Yes, it's definitely too bad that it's not available in 120.

ath · Aug 1, 2008

Kodak sells private label (colour) films in Germany since a year or two through a drugstore chain.
Someone had to fill the gap Agfa left.

fschifano · Aug 1, 2008

Heard on NPR yesterday that Kodak's profits were not as expected for the past quarter. That could mean that they have film stocks that are not moving. I would not be surprised, given the current state of the film business, if Kodak were to sell films stocks for private label sales. Does that mean that these "new" films are Tri-X and Plus-X ,or maybe even TMY-1 and TMX? No, but it does make for a plausible situation. I'll add a 100 ft. roll of each to my next order from Freestyle just to satisfy my curiosity.

bcostin · Aug 4, 2008

I just recieved the 100ft roll of Arista Premium I ordered last week. I need to unload one of my bulk loaders to make room for it, and then I'll shoot a short roll and see what the edge markings say.

FWIW, rebranding make sense in a lot of cases. A certain number of people are bargain conscious and are never/seldom going to buy your name-brand stuff at full price. By allowing your excess capacity to be sold under another name at a lower price you still bring in some money from those folks. Not as much as if they'd bought your favored brand label, but any profit is better than none. It's a particularly handy arrangement with perishable goods (like film, to some extent) where unsold old stock is otherwise a loss.

New Arista Premium 100 and 400 films Made in USA

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