While looking for new(to me) 8x10 films to try out, I came across 8x10 Fortepan in both 100 and 400 ISO. It is listed in Forte's website but dosen't seem to be available from the U.S. distributor in sizes larger than 4x5, or from any of the photo superstores I've contacted, however I found that www.eightelmphoto in Canada sells it---currently on sale no less!---can$67/25 sheets---not sure what the exchange rate is, but sounds interesting. Does anyone have any experience with sheet film size fortepan? I'd be grateful for any comments!

-- John Kasaian (www.kasai9@aol.com), March 25, 2002

Answers

"can$67/25 sheets---not sure what the exchange rate is, but sounds interesting." - terrible (for us Canucks!) that's about US$42 - imagine what it costs us buying stuff from B&H!

tim a

-- Tim Atherton (tim@kairosphoto.com), March 25, 2002.

John -

I don't know if you're interested in other options, but have you tried Arista from Freestyle? Any number of people say it's identical to HP5. It's about $43 (US) for 25 sheets.

http://www.freestylesalesco.com/

-- Kevin Bourque (skygzr@aol.com), March 25, 2002.

John

Fortepan is excellent film, I use it for nearly everything I shoot in all formats. The Forte factory in Hungary was a Kodak factory, when Kodak pulled out many years ago the Hungarians carried on making essentially Kodak film under the Forte name. Their films are old style thick emulsion types with lots of silver, great for pyro and alt. processes and you can easily tune them in for general work.

My suggestion is to try it and expect great results.

-- Clayton Tume (clayton@bigshotz.co.nz), March 25, 2002.

Tim: Thanks for the currency conversion! FWIW, B&H dosen't list Fortepan in 8x10, but if you deal with Eightelmstreet, you won't have to pay any duty(I have no idea what kind of folks run the place, but I'll probably find out) Kevin: I like Arista Pro 400 too---great film at a great price! I'm just exploring whats available and affordable and fortepan has always had a good reputation. Now if I only knew of someplace that sold Bromofort in 16x20. B&H lists it but its seems like they're always out of stock. Thanks for everyones opinions!

-- John Kasaian (www.kasai9@aol.com), March 25, 2002.

I use and buy forte from 8 Elm. I found that the 200 rated at 100 developed in TMAX at the same times as tri X gives a fantastic negative. The tones are good and the highlights do not block up. THe 400 rated at 200 does a good job but if you are enlarging then stick to the 200 forte. the 400 is great for contacts but gets soft enlarged. Try a box. The people at EIGHT ELM are TOP NOTCH !!!! Ask for Mike or MIKE.

-- ED (zeke@idirect.com), March 26, 2002.

I just recently discovered eight elm photo (I'm 1000miles from the nearest big city and nobody seeemd to stock Neutol WA for my AZO - everywhere I tried would only bring it in if I bought a whole case - duh!) ANyway, Agfa Canada put me on to eight elm photo who were great to deal with and the developer arrived today. So good experience so far. BTWE ANY styore in Canada stocking 8x10 film is a rarity - so I'm going to be talking to these guys to see what else they have.

tim a

-- tim atherton (tim@kairosphoto.com), March 26, 2002.