Apparently the former manufacturer stopped making it -- as of about May it
came from new supplier. Then apparently the old company discovered they
could do one run a year for Freestyle & have now done so. The "old" APH
should be available again in December or thereabouts.
Meanwhile it seems some alt-photo people (so said Kevin Smith of Freestyle
to whom I spoke today on phone) liked the *new* APH better and so,
apparently, that will be continued also. The difference is (he said) that
the original APH had more silver and so went to a higher D-max for
halftone & similar uses. The "new" APH has less silver, doesn't readily
go past, oops, don't have that in my notes, but I think it was about 2.3
or 2.4, and is also about 2/3 stop slower.
For those of us wanting negatives closer to "normal" range then, the new
APH should indeed be better. For really soft negatives for gum it should
theoretically be much better. I haven't used the new stuff myself, tho
everything I've had this semester for class must be the new. But I confess
my neophytes are, as usual, all over the map, just getting their eyes open
negative-wise (tho as ever doing *splendid* gum right off the mark!),so
it's impossible to make any generalizations based on reality.
Here are the product numbers & prices for box of 100 sheets size 12 by 18.
The *new* (that is the less silver) APH is in the brown box.
APH #520124 is $89
APHS #525124 is APH "special" with more density, $104.95
He mentioned another film I'm getting to try, that's AT2 #530124,
$114.95, which he says is supposed to be beautiful and "different."
I don't have the numbers or prices for the *old* APH, which is due to
return. But to keep things straight, that will be in the *blue* box.
Here's another item may be of great interest in alt-photo-land: Freestyle
is going to carry the Gevaart N31P. They'll have it in 3 sizes, including
30 by 40 and 50 by 60 cms in their next graphic arts catalog. I mentioned
the other Agfa film that changes contrast with red or blue filters. I may
have it in my notes -- if not, was it Klaus gave the original info? In any
event, Kevin says he'll inquire about that if I get him the specifics.
He also told me, BTW, that they were astonished to discover how many
alt-photo people were "out there," what we've been doing with the APH film
and that we are such a large part of their customer base. As a direct
result, I gather, the new catalog (I forget whether graphics or the
regular) will have an alt-photo page!
Cheers,
Judy