Ultrafine eXtreme Black & White Film ISO 400 or Arista EDU Ultra 400 ISO

[kshapero]

Ultrafine eXtreme Black & White Film ISO 400 or Arista EDU Ultra 400 ISO? these are really low cost B&W 35mm Film. Anybody ever used them? Which is better? Always used Tri-X but these films are half the price. Any thoughts?

 

[dourbalistar]

Ultrafine eXtreme Black & White Film ISO 400 or Arista EDU Ultra 400 ISO? these are really low cost B&W 35mm Film. Anybody ever used them? Which is better? Always used Tri-X but these films are half the price. Any thoughts?

I really like(d) Ultrafine eXtreme 400, but its lack of availability will pretty much render this discussion moot. UFX400 has been out of stock for well over a year now, with no indication as to whether it will come back in stock. There's a thread here on the forum (that you started 😉) with lots of image samples:
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165257

FWIW, I've switched to Kentmere Pan 400 as my budget B&W film of choice. Some image samples in this thread:
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92200

 

[kiemchacsu]

Ultrafine eXtreme Black & White Film ISO 400 or Arista EDU Ultra 400 ISO? these are really low cost B&W 35mm Film. Anybody ever used them? Which is better? Always used Tri-X but these films are half the price. Any thoughts?

I've used them all; Clearly Ultrafine 400 is better but currently hard to purchase. I you can buy it, take it now.

If you prefer Arista brand, try the 200 ISO one, much better than the 400 ISO

 

[agentlossing]

The Ultrafine stuff is made by Harman, if I remember right, which is part of Ilford. It seems to be a more flexible film in terms of contrast and detail, whereas Arista is like Fomapan 400, a very contrasty, grainy film with a distinct look. Ultrafine will probably be more versatile, but that's not to discredit the look and feel of the other one, if it's what you like. As mentioned above, Foma (or Arista) 200 is a more subtle looking film even shot at 400 and processed normally. It (the Foma version) is the first film I've bought a 100' roll of, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

 

[neal3k]

I've only used Arista EDU 400 and didn't like it when I used normal development in HC-110. Then I used semi-stand development and love it now.

 

[kshapero]

Back to Tri-X for me.