Good to know. Thanks. I assumed that the different names just meant different levels of "quality", all of which were always available. I didn't realize that when a new name came in the old one went out.
In the past they have had different suppliers simultaneously; however, with all the upsets in the supply chain, Freestyle made a lot of changes in a short period. As I understand it, Ilford stopped permitting rebranding, so they switched their top line from Arista Pro (Ilford) to Arista II (Agfa), but Agfa went under not long thereafter. When Arista Pro was around, Freestyle offered Arista.EDU (Forte) as their "bargain" line. I don't recall why they switched this line to Arista.EDU Ultra (Foma), but that happened before Forte went under. For a while they had all four varieties -- old stock of the old ones and new stock of the new ones. I picked up several bulk rolls of Ilford Pan F+ under the Arista Pro 50 name for about half what it cost under the Ilford name. Most of that's still in my freezer.
I noticed they have a good deal on 20 roll packs of Arista II (Agfa APX) 400 speed film. Is this a good film? I have never shot any Agfa but this looks like a really good deal and I want to try it. My 400 speed film of choice is Tri-X. How might that compare to APX 400?
Thanks,
Nick
__________________ Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah.
-Paul Simon
I have used Freestyle for 17 years and they have helped me survive. the only complaint I ever had .. and I made it to them.. is the packaging. Often they will put everything you order in the bottom of a box and then just dump peanuts on top. then you get very damaged boxes. They did that once to a 10 sheet pack of 20x24 paper that got a bend all the way through and was not useable. I called them up and they sent a replacement overnight in oversized packing and let me keep the dented one that I cut up and used for tests..nice.
Dennis
By the way, I just looked into their shop, calculated shipping for 200 films to Germany. Unless I'm very much mistaken the shipping alone costs 87 bucks, plus 19% german VAT, plus 5% customs fee. Ouch!
Freestyle is (almost) exactly the kind of place I have been thinking of opening myself if I had a choice. They've got knowedgeable staff who love film <-- that's the key. I have to admit I don't understand their photographer BOD thing, but whatever, it obviously works for them. Everytime I'm in LA, I make it a point to drop in and look around, even I don't end up buying anything.
I too have been ordering regularly from Freestyle for over 10 years with never a problem, UNTIL TODAY.
I'd ordered 2 ND filters and they arrived fine but it was obvious one had been well used and restocked dirty. I spit on the rat b*st*rd who returned this after using it quite a bit. I"m waiting to see how Freestyle responds to an email. It's hardly worth repackaging and returning this when I can just clean it. There don't appear to be scratches, but I don't expect USED goods when I order from Freestyle.
By the way, I just looked into their shop, calculated shipping for 200 films to Germany. Unless I'm very much mistaken the shipping alone costs 87 bucks, plus 19% german VAT, plus 5% customs fee. Ouch!
The high postage is USPS, not Freestyle. US postal rates went up a while back.
Every time I have ordered from Freestyle the postage docket total on the box has been exactly the same as what they charged me for postage, so they are not profiteering there. You'll also find their postage rates are very similar to B&H.
Still I feel your pain re the amounts involved. I'm in Sydney & whatever I order from them the post is generally in the $60 to $80 range. Fortunately we don't pay any Australian tax until the amount is over $1,000.
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