No more Arista Premium 400? Hmm......

[Helinophoto]

I just found this thread over at flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157632777360474/


I wonder if/how this affects Tri-X (seeing it's the same film).

Anyway, just a heads up.

 

[Rick A]

Freestyle still has it listed in their catalog and on line. The Premium 100 is gone though.

 

[Helinophoto]

Well, according to the link, bulk 400 ISO is also gone.
Only 36/24 exp left.

This is a little weird, as I have Tri-X dated well into the 2014's, but it may be that the axing of Arista premium is due to a transitional phase, until the film division has been sold/separated from the rest of Kodak.
I know that a lot of people use the Arista stuff, so I thought it might be interesting.

 

[brucemuir]

Anyone actually talked to someone on staff @ freestyle for verification?

I trust the guys here more than the guys on flickr for the mere fact is I don't know any of those guys.

They are closed today for any calls.

 

[Roger Cole]

Could be that Kodak is no longer selling it to them for rebranding.

 

[brucemuir]

Could be that Kodak is no longer selling it to them for rebranding.

Thats what I'm thinking.

Adorama recently listed some C41 chems that I relied on as discontinued. (Flexicolor Dev Replenisher 5gallon)
They will sell you the starter but don't have the dev/replenisher
I was dreading that day and it has arrived :confused:

 

[NedL]

That was my post over on flickr. The fellow I talked to at Freestyle said the contract ended.
So I don't know more than that. We don't know why the contract ended, so I wouldn't infer anything about Tri-X.

-Ned

 

[troyholden]

Confirming what Ned said. I called the retail store in LA. There are around 100k rolls of AP400 left. At a normal run rate, that's a 18-24 month supply. However, if folks start stockpiling that window could shrink to 8-12 months.

Just ordered 200 rolls as a start. Let the hoarding begin!

 

[summicron1]

kodak was dumping inventory at cost, their loss is our gain.

keep in mind that at that price 20 rolls is equal in cost, and yield to a 100 foot roll and you get the stuff pre-rolled for free. Great deal. Will have to order another 20 or so.

 

[BrianShaw]

All of the Arista products come-and-go depending on availability of supply. This news is not a big surprise to me. What it means about the future of Tri-X is anyones guess right now.

 

[Roger Cole]

kodak was dumping inventory at cost, their loss is our gain.

keep in mind that at that price 20 rolls is equal in cost, and yield to a 100 foot roll and you get the stuff pre-rolled for free. Great deal. Will have to order another 20 or so.

Actually this could be good news for us.

It isn't the old days anymore, when who knows how many rolls were sold through pharmacies and corner stores and groceries to people who didn't know they could get it cheaper from B&H (even pre-Internet, I used to order from them pretty regularly, just pick up the phone.) Now film shooters, especially black and white, tend to be pretty serious hobbyists and everyone knows how to use Google. Tri-X may still be Kodak's best selling black and white film (I hope so, it's certainly my favorite of what they have left.) It doesn't make any sense to dump it at cost to a store that will re-sell it to your core audience half what the branded product costs. You're just undercutting yourself. Ilford apparently figured this out too - remember when Freestyle sold all the major Ilford films in cheaper store brands? I do. In fact I have an unopened but poorly stored probably useless 100' roll of "D-Max 400" that everyone knew was Delta 400.

Of course not everyone who shoots Tri-X and is online knew that Arista Premium is Tri-X, but it doesn't take much looking to figure that out, even accidentally.

I'm glad Foma will continue, I don't shoot it in 35mm but I do like getting cheap Foma in 120 to try out cameras and developers and generally experiment, and in 4x5 and if I ever go 8x10 the price is appealing. Hopefully they still make money on the Arista branded films.

 

[wblynch]

I love Fomapan in 120 and when I do get into 4x5 I hope Fomapan will still be available.

I hope Freestyle can get a replacement for the Legacy Pro and Arista Premium lines.

 

[PKM-25]

Wow, this is quite the news!

I still have a couple hundred rolls left but it cups bad in my neck of the woods so I have been trying other stock...

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

When I get my tax refund I'll probably replenish my supply. It's such wonderful film.
The cupping that Dan refers to above is actually good for me, because it keeps me away from scanning film. (My crappy Espon scanner has film holders that couldn't hold film flat if their life depended on it). It forces me into the darkroom, and that's where I love to be.

 

[Mackinaw]

All of the Arista products come-and-go depending on availability of supply. This news is not a big surprise to me. What it means about the future of Tri-X is anyones guess right now.

All it means is that if you want Tri-X, your'e going to have to buy it from Kodak. Selling it to Freestyle as rebranded film, cheaper than Tri-X, is no way for Kodak to make money.

Jim B.

 

[wblynch]

Depending on who (if anyone) buys the Kodak film distribution business, we might see even more private labeling and store brands of Kodak film.

Fujifilm seems to have embraced this strategy with its consumer color films.

I hope we see the arrival of boutique films, made on occasion. Special runs of Panatomic-X or Verichrome Pan, for example. The film community would eat that stuff up.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Depending on who (if anyone) buys the Kodak film distribution business, we might see even more private labeling and store brands of Kodak film.

Fujifilm seems to have embraced this strategy with its consumer color films.

I hope we see the arrival of boutique films, made on occasion. Special runs of Panatomic-X or Verichrome Pan, for example. The film community would eat that stuff up.

Remember Ilford's bankruptcy/receivership business only a few years ago? They withdrew all third party private label product branding when they re-formed the company.

 

[MattKing]

Remember Ilford's bankruptcy/receivership business only a few years ago? They withdrew all third party private label product branding when they re-formed the company.

However .....

Ilford is happy to do custom manufacture of private label products that are designed to meet customers' requirements.

So Ilford (or maybe in the future Kodak or Fuji or Agfa) could be hired to produce Freestyle's in-house designed house brand film for them.

 

[AgX]

Fujifilm seems to have embraced this [private labelling] strategy with its consumer color films.

We must not forget that Ferrania who had this as major outlet of their films is out of the game.

 

[StoneNYC]

However .....

Ilford is happy to do custom manufacture of private label products that are designed to meet customers' requirements.

So Ilford (or maybe in the future Kodak or Fuji or Agfa) could be hired to produce Freestyle's in-house designed house brand film for them.

So can we get together and have them make some more paper and chemistry to print chromes again?

Also, anyone know if Kodak still has the capability to produce Verichrome? if there were a large special order?

 

[MattKing]

So can we get together and have them make some more paper and chemistry to print chromes again?

Also, anyone know if Kodak still has the capability to produce Verichrome? if there were a large special order?

Ilford doesn't do colour.

And there have been an awful lot of equipment and constituent chemistry changes since Verichrome was made.

There has even been a lot of equipment and constituent chemistry changes since Verichrome Pan was made.

Even for current products, Kodak has very large minimum quantity requirements for special orders (such as unusual sizes).

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Ilford doesn't do colour.

And there have been an awful lot of equipment and constituent chemistry changes since Verichrome was made.

There has even been a lot of equipment and constituent chemistry changes since Verichrome Pan was made.

Even for current products, Kodak has very large minimum quantity requirements for special orders (such as unusual sizes).

Ilford is two parts, related only by name. Harman, that operates Ilford Photo and Kentmere. Then there's a company (in Switzerland I think) that makes inkjet paper. The 'other' Ilford used to make Ilfochrome paper and chemistry, up until about half a year ago.

 

[MattKing]

Ilford is two parts, related only by name. Harman, that operates Ilford Photo and Kentmere. Then there's a company (in Switzerland I think) that makes inkjet paper. The 'other' Ilford used to make Ilfochrome paper and chemistry, up until about half a year ago.

Agreed - but as far as I know the only Ilford that does custom coating is the black-and-white Ilford.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Agreed - but as far as I know the only Ilford that does custom coating is the black-and-white Ilford.

Yeah, who knows if they even coat anything at all at the Swiss Ilford. I guess everything has a price. Had somebody very rich stepped up and offered them enough money to continue making Ilfochrome, I bet they would. But that kind of demand just wasn't there for them towards the end, evidently. I think it was only a handful or two labs towards the end that actually offered Ilfochrome printing service.

Anyway, let's get back to Arista Premium and Kodak.

 

[henry finley]

Well, according to the link, bulk 400 ISO is also gone.
Only 36/24 exp left.

This is a little weird, as I have Tri-X dated well into the 2014's, but it may be that the axing of Arista premium is due to a transitional phase, until the film division has been sold/separated from the rest of Kodak.
I know that a lot of people use the Arista stuff, so I thought it might be interesting.

Arista is Kodak?