These days the two big camera names that see fanboys (and girls) in both camps is Cannon vs. Nikon. But that wasn’t always the case. In the 1950s Nikon and Canon were still fairly unknown in the pro-market, both were producing rangefinder cameras stamped with “Made in occupied Japan” the real competitors of the 1950s was Contax and Leica. Since I have both a Leica IIIc and a Contax IIIa I figured I should do a side by side comparison and have these two heavy-weights of the mid-century fight it out. Before you continue, I suggest reading by reviews of each camera, first the ContaxRead More →

In the world where everyone and their uncle has a digital SLR cameras the idea to introduce smaller compact system cameras is a rather unique one. My first experience with these cameras was the Olympus E-P1, the very fist in what would spawn several different ones from across the camera manufacturing world, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic, Ricoh, and Sony all started making these rather neat cameras. With the E-P1 getting long in the tooth and a big trip this summer I wanted to get an upgrade. I eventually settled on switching away from the Olympus Micro 4/3 system to go for the Sony E-Mount. TheRead More →

Last year I got notified that Lomography was starting to develop a new instant camera based around the Fuji Instax mini format, now I’m an owner of the Fuji Instax Mini 7s, and while it’s a nice camera I find it lacking in certain areas of control, Aperture, and Flash for the most part. I then got a note about what this new camera, branded the Lomo’Instant was going to be about and I was intrigued. And then a personal request for support by Lomography. Well I wasn’t going to say no, if the Lomo’Instant would solve the issues I had with the 7s, IRead More →

You’re probably thinking, what do I mean by Visual Whiplash? It was mentioned in a comment left on one of my recent photos posted to my photostream, where right next to each other is a 4×5 image that’s sharp, crisp, and clear…and then a pinhole photo that’s rather soft. Visual Whiplash. I was at first a bit disappointed at these, I mean they’re not what I’m used to getting out of my trusty Pentax 645, they look like something a bit out of a toy camera. But oddly enough they’ve started to grow on me. So what got me into Pinhole photography after avoiding itRead More →

How does one review a film they have only used once? Easy, when the film is something special. Eastman SO-331 High Contrast Intermediate Panchromatic Film is one of those rare cult films that have been floating around for a while. The SO in the name indicates that it is a special order emulsion. And it has developed a rather unique following among the film photography community. Back in October when I was in New York City for the PhotoPlus Expo I was handed a roll of the film by Michael Raso of the Film Photography Podcast (who got a large amount of the stock fromRead More →

I’ve honestly smelled better in abandoned buildings than this dark brown, almost black solution sitting on the counter in my film lab (read: laundry room), but will it develop film, everything I’ve read and seen online says it well; my brain and nose say otherwise, and I pour it into the tank. So as I agitate the tank, I hope that this strange brew (with apologies to Bob & Doug McKenzie) does its job. So before I continue, let me answer the question that some of you may be asking, what exactly is caffenol? Caffenol is a film developer that you can make at homeRead More →

Now, fellow Canadians, British, and general folks, please don’t harp on me for mis-spelling ‘colour’ in the title because it’s the proper brand name for the latest batch of film out of the fantastic folks at the Impossible Project. ColorProtection is the latest emulsion in their quest to reinvent instant integral film. Well, I’m going to say they have reinvented it; now it’s a matter of improving what they have. But what they have right now is pretty damned good. So what makes this film the best yet out of the factory? Easy, anyone who has used this film from the beginning can attest thatRead More →

110 is back, the Film Photography Project predicted that 2012 would be the year of 110 film, and they were right. The format gained popularity through the 1970s when Kodak introduced the format based on the subminature 16mm format but in their own cartridge. My very first camera was a 110 camera that I used a grand totally of twice before it broke. So when all this hype about 110 was brewing through the FPP, I sort of shyed away from it. There are better formats in my mind. But still the question remained who would make the film? Sure FPP had found a stashRead More →