Contact at Freestyle?

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Anyone have a good contact at Freestyle Sales? I'm interested in seeing if it's possible to get them to sell their "Arista" sheet film in banquet camera sizes, since so many people seem to have good results with it in normal sizes. There's another dealer who sells "no name" film that looks a lot like Ilford FP4, and they sell it in all sizes, but I've had repeated trouble with fogged film from them and would love to find another source. Since Freestyle is already in the business it would seem feasible for them to offer larger sizes, but I've never dealt with anyone there.

-- Carl Weese (cweese@earthlink.net), March 06, 2002

Answers

Careful Carl,

I have it on good, but un-nameable sources, that Arista is really Ilford in sheeps clothing. Freestyle's Arista, their "house" brand, is roll ends and cut offs from paper and film production runs. Since the off-cut sized may not work or be guaranteed by the mfgr they're sold off to converters and re-cut down to sizes and packaging under different "house" brands. Custom sizing for individual order are possible, but I'll bet you'll pay alot up front for it and wait until it's short dated. It is really Ilford's material? - yes. But they won't stand behind it. Consistancy of product with the house brand will always be an issue.

Please don't get me wrong. Freestyle is a VERY REPUTABLE pro and amature photo supplier. And their personnel are some of the best. I've done business with them for more than 15 years. My recommendation for a knowledgeable rep is "Jamie". She'll give you 100% straight info, but she'll also laugh her a . . . off if you're pulling her chain. My kind of girl!

Good Luck

-Steve

-- Steve Feldman (steve@toprinting.com), March 06, 2002.


Carl,

I live near Freestyle and go in all the time. There's a guy there named Richard who is a LF guy, VERY knowledgeable and helpful. If anyone could help you find eitther Arista or Ilford film of whatever size, it's him.

Hope this helps!

dgh

-- David G Hall (me@davidghall.com), March 07, 2002.


Whatever Arista "is", and I have no reason to question the response above about it being cut-offs etc., Arista 125 and 400 test exactly like Ilford FP4+ and HP5+ (see well-known comparison by Gordon Hutchings in View Camera a couple years ago). I've never noted any problem, moreover, with Arista (foggin or whatever). The only reason I've used any Ilford in the last couple years (since I started using Arista) is that on a couple occasions I got a line on some boxes of Ilford cheap. -JB

-- jeff buckels (jeffbuck@swcp.com), March 07, 2002.

OK, next step is to get in touch and see if they're willing to cut in banquet camera sizes.

---

-- Carl Weese (cweese@earthlink.net), March 07, 2002.


Carl - I contacted someone in Freestyles' sales dept (female, can't remember the name) about a year ago with the same query. We had several e-mails back and forth. The bottom line was that they either wouldn't or couldn't sell Arista in 12x20 (or presumable other banquet sizes either). However, more power to you in this effort - things may change if they think the market is big enough to make it worth their while. (And if they DO offer it in banquet sizes, I'll be right behind you in line to buy some.)

Is the "other dealer" you mentioned Photo Warehouse, in SoCal? I've had very good luck with their un-branded FP4+ in 12x20 (and the price is right, too).

Cheers!

-- Mark Parsons (polar@thegrid.net), March 10, 2002.



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