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Before working on the camera review (CCR) blogs I had very little experience with Ilford Chemistry, so I made a choice to use only Ilford Films and chemistry over the course of the CCR blogs. So as I come to the end of the first quarter of blogs I figured I would give a review of the first developer I used. Ilfotech DD-X. According to the Ilford website this is a similar developer to Kodak’s TMax developer which I’m a big fan of, so I figured it would be a good place to start. Plus I see a lot of people using it. However forRead More →

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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 →

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It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally had a chance to work through some backlogged film testing for the Film Photography Project. For the most part, this has been testing the Russian/Ukrainian film stocks from the Svema company. This is actually a really good film! First off a little background, Svema, or Свема, combines the first letters of two words: Светочувствительные Материалы, which translated means “Photosensitive Materials”. Svema was the Kodak of the USSR, founded in 1931 the company produced paper and black & white films, after World War Two, Svema gained Agfa’s colour technology when the Russians overran Germany and took theRead More →

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I’m not talking about a camera here but rather an odd Kodak Film that seems to have created a little cult around it. That film is Kodak Hawkeye Traffic Surveillance Film 2486. Described on the Kodak site as being a 400 speed colour negative film that can be processed in C-41 chemistry. A T-Grain (similar to TMax films), 2 stops under, 3 stops over latitude and excellent push performance to ASA-800. Improved Colour Saturation with fine grain and high sharpness. Wait…this film sounds like a merger between Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Ektar 100. Well it certainly performs like it! I got this roll ofRead More →

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It all started when I was asked to test some new motion picture film for the Film Photography Project, and I found a new favourite slow film…that film is Eastman 5363 Positive Film II. A high contrast motion picture film specifically designed for the creation of titles and can be processed as a positive film or a negative film. But could it be used for regular pictorial work. I immediately got to work on shooting and making some developing choices. While I have written about this film a few times before I’ll be working my way from the beginning to the end of my experimentationRead More →

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Another care package of new film stocks arrived from the FPP recently, some Russian Films, Japanese and two Kodak rolls, one being the fantastic Eastman 5363! Although my last test roll ended up in failure (Rodinal 1+100, stand developed for an hour). I was looking forwarding to trying another formula. By this point the gang had decided that ASA-25 was the optimal speed for this film. I’ve seen lots of examples popping up on Flickr with D-76 (1+1), Xtol (1+1), HC-110 Dilution G, even some home brewed positive developing with Dektol as a second developer. The Secord home in Queenston, ON But what about PMKRead More →

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Back in December I was approached by Michael Raso of the Film Photography Project if I wanted to help test a new (to the FPP) film stock. Just before Christmas the film arrived with a little note saying “ASA-6, we think” there was no real indication online how to develop this film in traditional B&W chemistry or it’s exact sensitivity. Google yielded a document by Eastman Kodak on this film stock, Eastman 5363 Positive Film II was a high contrast motion picture film designed for the creation of both positive and negative titles for films. And to develop using Kodak’s D-97 chemistry. Last time IRead More →

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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 →

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It was through the Film Photography Project that I first found out about shooting motion picture stock through my still 35mm cameras. I recieved my first rolls of 35mm motion picture stock from FPP Super Friend Lance through his Labeauratoire website, a gold mine of rare and odd film stocks that he personally purchased bulk rolls of film and rolled them into 35mm cartridges. Out of all them one film in particular stood out to me, Eastman Double-X 5222. And if you’re a Bond fan, you’ve seen this film stock on the big screen. This beautiful motion picture stock is the medium speed cousin ofRead More →

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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 →