Developing Adventures · film photography

Developing Adventures – Pushing Arista EDU 400 to 800

In this Developing Adventure, I will share my results pushing Arista EDU 400 to 800. In my Arista EDU article, I spoke about this film being similar to Fomapan. However, I have since learned that it is indeed a rebranded Fomapan Action 400.

Freestyle Photo created this film as an affordable stock for students. Now knowing this, and since I have already shared my results with pushing Fomapan on here, this feels a little redundant. However, if you have landed here by searching for articles on Arista EDU, or if you follow my articles, I would still like to share my results with you all anyway.

Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800
Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800

Developing the Film

I processed this roll in Kodak HC-110B (1+31) for 9 minutes, agitating for 30 seconds and then 5 seconds every 30 seconds after that.

My Results Pushing Arista EDU 400 to 800

There’s quite a bit of grain and contrast, which does definitely give the photos that film look everyone talks about.

Jazz and Mid
Jasmine and Midnight
Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 pushed to 800
Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800

It still has a nice tonal range after being pushed.

Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800
Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800

When I shared my results at box speed, I talked about how this film really held highlights and under exposure well. Now with it pushed one stop, it does start to lose that ability.

Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800
Frankie
Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800
Jasmine and Midnight

The shadows and highlights don’t hold as much info as they did for me at box speed.

Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800
Leica M2 Arista EDU 400 at 800

Final Thoughts

While I do like these photos, I actually liked the results I got when I pushed Fomapan 400 to 800 more. That may be because I processed it differently. There was barely any grain in those results.

This film is not DX coded, maybe to keep cost down, which can be a downside if you shoot with point and shoot cameras that don’t allow you to manually set an ISO. However, it is very affordable, which is what made me purchase it in the first place. I have already shot and processed a roll at 1600 so stay tuned.

Until next time, stay motivated and keep shooting.

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