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I wasn’t planning to visit yet another historic community in Halton Hills, but like everything, even the best-laid plans are often hampered by Mother Nature. A major storm that whipped through southern Ontario at the start of September flooded out my original plans for the day. I needed to go somewhere else, so after a bit of hunting around my original spot and not liking the locations based on my camera choice, I stuck to something a little more local: Acton. If you grew up in the Halton region, you’ll know that there’s a bit of a feud between the communities in Halton, with ActonRead More →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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There’s something fun about getting into a new location and connecting with a trusted group who were more than happy to share the location. Of course, once it gets too well known, things can go downhill. And when something interesting turned up in Coburg, I knew I had to check it out. Suppose you were around when Sidbrook first started to get traction. In that case, you’ll immediately recognise it as the place with “that” bathtub. Harry Mason, a manager for the Coburg & Peterborough Railway (operations started in 1854, purchased by Grand Trunk in 1893 and ceased operations in 1898), purchased Lots 13 andRead More →

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Last year was a big year for more premium modern 35mm cameras; you have the Pentax 17, the Lomography MC-A, and this one. The RETO Kodak Snapic A1 marked a major shift for RETO in their camera lineup. I’ve reviewed two of their previous offerings (Ultra-Wide & Slim and Kodak Ektar H35N), which are basic and cheap feeling; the Snapic A1 is a lightyear leap forward. The A1 offers a few things previous cameras did not: first, automatic film advance and rewind, second, two focus points for the three-element glass lens, and third, a proper OLED screen for information. And while it is advanced inRead More →

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I have visited plenty of small blink-and-you-miss-it communities across Canada and the United States. Some have a draw, while others make you think: is it even worth stopping? The funny thing is that I didn’t even consider going to the historic hamlet of Norval; it’s one of those places that I have heard of, driven through, but never fully considered stopping to get out and take photos. But here I am, willingly going to Norval, parking the car, getting out, cameras in hand, fully committed to capturing this historic hamlet and writing about it, which is saying something. For this trip, I took along myRead More →

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After I got into the Nikon autofocus system, I started looking at cameras that were better than my Nikon F80. Don’t get me wrong, the Nikon F80 was the right camera for me at the time, and it produced some fantastic images and got me on the course I’m still on today with the Nikon system. But I knew there was something better out there, and I quickly latched onto the Nikon F5 as my grail camera of that time. But at that time, the Nikon F5 still commanded high prices on the used market, and many professional photographers were still using these cameras. ButRead More →

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After seeing the results I got out of Kodak TMax 100, I had high hopes for Delta 100. Delta 100, being a modern emulsion, is a good film stock: sharp, lots of contrast, and some decent latitude. Add to this that I’ve seen great results from Ilford HP5+ and FP4+, could that same magic work on Delta 100? Honestly, I think I worked myself up too much; when I first saw the results, I was disappointed, but quickly realised that maybe, for once, the data sheets were wrong. Film Specs Manufacturer: Harman Technologies Name: Ilford Delta 100 Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed:Read More →

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The last time I had attended this event was back in 2009, it was then known as Canada Youth, and it was the second time I had attended the event, but the third Presbyterian Youth Conference I had ever attended. The first one I attended was in 2001 as the Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University in Indiana. The event was interesting. Looking back at my vague memories of the event, I was happy that I never went back. The event began to clamp down on the number of Canadians who could attend, and the Canada Youth events focused on Canadian Presbyterians and lacked someRead More →

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Miranda produced a lot of excellent lenses, from wide-angle to telephoto and everything in between. The 135mm f/3.5 is an interesting addition. It might not be the best choice for portrait-length lenses, but it still works great for what it is. Don’t get me wrong, there are better and faster lenses in this category, but the 135mm f/3.5 has one thing: affordability with a lot more bang for your buck than you would expect. And while it might not be the fastest or a focal length I like (yes, I still struggle with 135mm), it works for the limited number of times I’ve used it.Read More →

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I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t be able to complete this trinity of the original Efke films. Still, a fellow film photographer came through and sent me not one, not four, but a brick of ten rolls of Efke 25, and not just in 35mm, but in 120, that’s right, we’re doing the final review in the Efke trilogy with Efke R25. Efke 25 is the slowest and hardest to handle of all the Efke films, rated nominally at ASA-25. It is based on the original line of films first released by Adox in the 1950s. This is a single-pass emulsion with highRead More →

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The 1990s and 2000s were a weird time for film photography and film cameras. Digital was starting to arrive as a medium, and often the first digital cameras were adapted from film cameras. But there was also a push to chase nostalgia, and several companies put out what can only be described as premium options. Sure, you have the standard names like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Minolta. However, the biggest player in this push for premium is Kyocera. Kyocera had come in, purchased a couple of historic brands, Yashica and Contax, and began producing cameras and slapping these names on them. Kyocera produced cameras fromRead More →