Freestyle own brands film

[Bobar57]

Hi
I will be buying a long time sought dream: a rangefinder camera and lens for street photo and candid portraits of people with interesting expressions and texture in their faces.Sometimes a face tells a lot a bout a person.Specially in this type of photography.
I'm after high contrast and sharpness,the least grain possible all packaged in a cheap B&W film.Asking too much right 😉?
I received the Freestyle catalog and was looking at the prices of the Legacy Pro,Arista Premium and Arista Edu Ultra.Cheap,granted,but,does anyone knows who makes these brands and how they perform,results?
I will be not developing myself the film.Will be sent to mail order B&W lab.Any suggestion too in a good lab without exorbitant prices?
Thanks in advance for your responses,
Robert

 

[padraigm]

Legacy pro is fuji Acros and Neopan. Arista Preminum is Tri-X and plus-x and Edu is Fomapan.

 

[coelacanth]

They are "said to be" rebranded well known rolls. For example,

Arista Premium 400 = Tri-X
Arista Edu Ultra 400 = Fomapan
LegacyPro 400 = Neopan 400

I buy Arista Premium and LegacyPro in several dozens at a time and shoot like water because I develop them myself (=cheapest way to shoot film). 😉

 

[Thardy]

I just received the catalog too. Pretty good prices on Arista's brand!

 

[Keith]

For what you describe I'd be choosing Legacy Pro 400 which is Neopan ... it has minimal grain and very good contrast. For me it has a more modern look than the Arista Premium! (TX400)

It's also incredibly cheap!

 

[Steve M.]

I'm a Tri-X guy, but cheap is good! Why not order a few rolls of both? And maybe another type while you're at it? The only way to know what you're going to like is to shoot it. Web images can only tell you so much.

 

[Fawley]

If you are not doing your own processing, and you want good sharpness, contrast, fine grain and low cost; I think you should be considering one of the C41 BW films. I hear that Ilford XP2 is better, but I use Kodak 400CN because it is sold cheaply in 3 roll boxes of 24 exp and my local Wal Mart does a great job of developing it for $4.50 Cdn. You don't have as much control with C41 compared to regular BW, but if you aren't doing your own developing, you really don't have much control anyway.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Those films are great... They're sold in 20-packs too: for 100 I use Fuji Acros (Legacy Pro 100) and for 400 Kodak Tri-X (Arista Premium 400). A shame they don't do the same in 120...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[patois]

I love fomapan so I'd recommend arista edu. It has a look that is very vintage and looks great.

 

[35mmdelux]

The Hollywood store was significantly paired down with the advent of digital. Almost went out of business.

 

[dfoo]

The the acros. Legacy pro 100 or 400. Legacy pro 100 in Rodinal 1:50 is excellent, and super easy to develop.

 

[monocyte]

So here's a new one, per the catalog that arrived today: what's Holga 400?

 

[Bobar57]

Something is wrong.I'm not receiving the email notifications of replies,and I subscribed to the thread of course.
WOW,you are making my head spin,everyone has a different opinion or choice on the films that Freestyle offers.I guess I'll try them all.I have to find a mail order B&W photo lab not so expensive that can develop these and print too.Any recommendations?

Robert

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Arista Premium is unquestionably Tri-X. Its made in USA and packaged in Mexico, just like Tri-X. I have shot both side by side and they are IDENTICAL. Plus, one of the scientists on APUG actually did scientific testing of the chemical composition of the emulsions and declared them to be the same film.

 

[mfogiel]

Bobar57
You would be better off first finding a lab, then asking them which developer they use, and which B&W films suit them best. Labs will often use Tmax RT developer, which is pretty sharp and gives good contrast, but not so small grain. Anyway, my advice is: skip the lab right away and start developing yourself. This will save you a lot of money and frustration with poorly developed and scratched negatives. Another point, I am afraid relates to printing. This will also be hardly satisfactory (and will cost money) from a cheap lab, so the sooner you get your own dedicated film scanner, the better. You should plan to invest as much as possible in the scanner, as this is going to be the critical element of your output. I do not know the lab prices in your area, but my guess would be, that a film developed (scanned) and printed at 4x5 size will cost you no less than 50USD, out of which perhaps one or two shots might be interesting anyway. A scanner, developing tank, reels, and changing bag will probably set you back 700-1000 USD, which will pay for itself after 20 rolls of film. Just think about it.

 

[Pirate]

I prefer the Rollei Pan 25 from Freestyle. The film is made in Croatia and is very sharp. It's almost a portrait film and the lighter colours are smoothed out a good bit, and the grain is very fine.

 

[Mister E]

I prefer the Rollei Pan 25 from Freestyle. The film is made in Croatia and is very sharp. It's almost a portrait film and the lighter colours are smoothed out a good bit, and the grain is very fine.

Which is Efke 25 right?

 

[Bobar57]

It all depends.I won't be shooting daily,neither too much.I paint also and that is a priority over my hobby of photo.I think is a better solution to send the films to a good mail order B&W lab not too expensive and then send batches to scan at Scan Cafe,is cheap.Any suggestions on labs?

Robert

 

[david.elliott]

On another note, a new catalog from freestyle arrived in the mail today. Apparently they have a new line of film coming in September / October. "Holga Film"

 

[Mister E]

Is it normal for all of their film Legacy Pro film to be short dated? Is that a sign more won't be coming or what?