While I’ve always known that Fujifilm produces chemistry for film development, I had always assumed it was primarily aimed at colour processing. Since they still manufacture (possibly) mini-lab processing systems for labs to develop C-41. But black & white chemistry? Then I received an email. A reader graciously offered to mail me some developers that were difficult to obtain in North America. I initially thought of Europe, but then a lovely package arrived from Japan and inside were two pouches of Fujifilm Microfine and two pouches of Fujifilm SPD. Well, I was touched, but Microfine was a name I had seen before on the massiveRead More →

Dear Chicago, I like ketchup on my hotdogs, sorry, I do, but I don’t when I’m in Chicago. I’ve done a shot of Malört, it was interesting for sure. I’ve visited a bunch of cities of various sizes throughout the US, but the one that I honestly thought I could live and survive in was Chicago. There is something about the city that attracted me, I felt comfortable here. And that’s saying something because I don’t like big cities. The first time I visited it was almost as if I was returning to a friend. My first tastes of the city came from the showRead More →

Officially, fall has arrived here in Southern Ontario. Although with the warm weather we’ve been having recently, it’s hard to tell other than the fact that the days are getting shorter. And with the change of season, the team sits down to talk about everything related to fall photography, from capturing the bright colourful leaves on your favourite film stocks to showing off the late fall gloom in stark black and white. Looking for a good spot to get your gear and material fix check out Burlington Camera (Burlington, ON), Downtown Camera (Toronto, ON), Belle Arte Camera (Hamilton, ON), Pond’s FotoSource (Guleph, ON), Foto ArtRead More →

All along the watchtower Princes kept the view While all the women came and went Barefoot servants, too Well, uh, outside in the cold distance A wildcat did growl Two riders were approaching And the wind began to howl, hey – All Along the Watchtower Once known as the Altraz of Ontario, Millbrook Correctional had an unsavoury reputation among prisoners, citizens, and guards. Millbrook was for the worst of the worst and for those other prisons didn’t want. Set up well outside any urban centre, this is a rare example of a mid-century jail with strange ideas on prison reform. I only made it insideRead More →

Napoleon had been exiled, to begin with, and the first British reinforcements were starting to arrive on the other side of the Atlantic, bringing with them not only highly trained and effective troops but a steady corps of officers hand-selected by Lord Wellington to take charge and get a great deal of hurt to the Americans. One such officer, Major-General Robert Ross, was dispatched to the Imperial Fortress on Bermuda to coordinate a series of attacks along the eastern seaboard of the United States with Vice-Admiral George Cochrane to distract and pull American resources away from Upper and Lower Canada to respond to the threat.Read More →

Established in 2013 by MainStreetHost and taken on by Alex Luyckx Photography in 2015, #photochat is a community of photography professionals and enthusiasts who congregate to talk shop and discuss anything and everything photography. After a brief pause through 2023 Photochat is back with a monthly chat model, as of 2025 photochat has migrated to BlueSky Social and Mastodon. To participate in our monthly chat (every Second Thursday), search the #photochat hashtag on BlueSky Social and Mastodon to see the conversation, or find me at @alexluyckxphoto.bsky.social on BlueSky. Include the hashtag in your posts to answer the questions and talk with the other participants. IRead More →

We’re at the end of summer, and, like you, we don’t know how it went by so quickly. Also, the constant heat warnings here in Southern Ontario limited when and how long we could get out and practice photography. However, James, Alex, and Bill all had the opportunity to get out or at least intended to practice photography. And today, they sit down to discuss mostly film stocks, such as Phoenix II and Kentmere 200, which were used by the team’s cameras. But also when things go sideways and the best intentions to get out and shoot end up with leaving the camera (accidentally) behind.Read More →

Back in May the fine folks at Harman Technologies, the parent company of Ilford Photo and Harman Photo announced their newest film stock, Kentmere 200. The Kentmere line of film is designed to be a more budget friendly film stock, lower silver content than the main line of film stocks. Now I did not like this film when I first ran them through reviews, I did like Kentmere 100 more than Kentmere 400. But now I like both, so I was notably excited when Kentmere 200 was released. This puts the Kentmere line in the same range of the other budget friendly films, Fomapan. NowRead More →

When it comes to point-and-shoot cameras, they still remain very much in vogue with a certain cross-section of film photographers. While I don’t often reach for these cameras, it is always fun to try out something outside of my usual selection of cameras. This is my third Pentax Point-And-Shoot; I’ve used the first point-and-shoot, the PC35AF, and one of the Espios, a more high-end offering. The Zoom 280-P is a clunky, early ’90s brick of a camera with a bit of ergonomics. And you know, despite being a P&S, the Zoom 280-P is a decent little camera that does the job of taking photos, butRead More →