100-Speed Shootout / Arista v Kentmere v TMax

If you’re just getting into film photography, there’s a discovery you’ve probably made: film is not cheap. And for whatever reason you choose to pursue film photography – whether as an option for your photo business or just doing it for fun, there is a certain financial commitment you’re going to be making.

Film prices have risen dramatically over the last several years, and there aren’t nearly as many purchasing options as there were back when film was king.  And if you’re shooting medium format, you’re looking at prices around $10 per roll. If you shoot 645, that’ll give you 15 shots,  if you shoot 6×7 – 10 shots, and shooting 6×6 will give you 12.

Personally, I’m always looking for ways to reduce my film costs while getting results that keep me inspired and motivated to shoot all these wonderful film cameras..

One popular “budget” film that’s been around quite a while now is the Arista EDU brand. You can pick up a 120 roll for about $6. I’ve used this film in the past, and honestly, I don’t care for it. It has a bit too much contrast for my liking and is just hard for me to get the results I want. So,to me, it was worth paying twice as much for a film that would give me pleasing results – especially since the effort required for film photography is not insignificant.

However, a budget film that I did enjoy shooting was Ultrafine Extreme 100. I loved that film, but sadly, it hasn’t been available for about a year now, and I doubt we’ll see it back on the market.

Ultrafine Extreme – as well as the Arista – are re-branded films from other manufacturers. Photo Warehouse sold the Ultrafine as its house brand, but they never revealed exactly what film it was that they were rebranding. All we know is that it wasn’t produced in the USA.

On the box of Arista EDU, it says “made in the Czech Republic” – which pretty much points to it being rebranded Foma Pan. But I haven’t gone to the trouble of shooting any Foma to test this.

But in December of last year (2022), Harman Technology – the folks that produce Ilford films in the UK – gave the entire world a Christmas gift by offering their budget film – Kentmere – in 120 size for the first time. Previously, it had only been available in 35mm size.

And they’re marketing this 120 film for about $5.50 USD.

Now, I have to be honest again – I didn’t expect much out of the new Kentmere. Several years ago I bought a 100’ roll of the 35mm version – and I thought it was just ok. I’d really rather shoot Ilford Delta or Kodak T-Max or Tri-X  given the choice.

But anyway, I picked up a few rolls of the new Kentmere 120 and was surprised at how much I liked it.

So, I thought  “wouldn’t it be a great idea to compare these two “budget” films – Kentmere 100 and Arista EDU 100 to my favorite non-budget film – Kodak T-Max?”

Check out video below for the test and the results!