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If there is a singular camera brand that is iconic, polarising and a mark of quality, then Leica is that brand. That’s the problem is that you can easily recognise Leica as a mark of quality and still dislike their cameras for one reason or another. Leica is a quality camera, flawless optics, precision cameras, and a camera designed for pure photography. And the M6, while not their latest 35mm rangefinder option is like all the M-Series cameras both before and after is a camera that retains all the marks of a Leica. Now, I’m not waxing poetic about the cameras, this is only theRead More →

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For a mid-speed film, Superpan 200 is fairly grainy, so grainy that it surprised me until I learned of the original basis of the film. Superpan 200 is a former surveillance film sharp, but relatively grainy with an extended red sensitivity. It looks terrific behind a red filter. The heavier grain lends itself well to rough urban decay situations for that added grunge effect without pulling it. While not a film I use that often, I can see a use for it for a street photography film or architecture. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Polyester Film Speed: ASA-200, Latitude: 100-1600 Formats Available: 35mm,Read More →

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If you can recall, when I reviewed the Leica R3, I mentioned that it would be better to get a Minolta XE. Well here we are right near the end and sure enough, I picked a Minolta XE-7 to review as a contrast to the R3. And honestly, if you take a look at the two cameras side by each, you know they both come from the same foundations, at least at the forty yard test. Thankfully there are plenty of differences beyond just the prism shape. The XE-7 is thankfully a Minolta camera, not a Leica camera with a Minolta brand slapped on it.Read More →

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The film that really started it all, the TMax line from Kodak gave the world one of the first tastes in 1986 with a modern T-Grain film (Ilford Delta line use the same T-Grain model but were released in 1992). Now the TMax we have today is different from that original release, but it’s still a strong film stock, while not always my first choice (I’m more a fan of the traditionally grained film), I do use it because I love trying to emulate the classic look even out of a modern film. But for those who love the modern look that’s both sharp, fine-grained,Read More →

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When it comes to podcasts, Classic Camera Revival may not be the biggest out there, but like any Internet project, you’re sort of shouting into the void and hoping that someone might hear you. And in the case of CCR, people heard and we have a group of listeners. And a group of fans that reach from beyond Canada. Not bad. So in light of our first meet, we promised that we would host the second meetup in 2018. So, using details from my own trips into the historic downtown of Cambridge, formerly known as Galt, and from the daily walks by Tom Fournier, aRead More →

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I remember the first time I encountered a box of Panatomic-X and seeing the film seep of ASA-32, my mind was blown. I had never seen a film slower than ASA-50 (Pan F+). And then I sent it off to the lab to develop it and was even more amazed at the results. Panatomic-X is a fine-grained general purpose film and it seems the slowest of the X-Series of films (Plus-X, Tri-X, Double-X). And what a film Panatomic-X is, while some are hung up on Plus-X, which is itself an amazing film, I’m more a slow film junkie and enjoy Panatomic-X far more than Plus-X.Read More →

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If the Maxxum 5000 was a Crystler Reliant then the Maxxum 7000 is a LeBaron. While both are still k-cars, the 7000 certainly does it with a little more style. While the 7000 marked a major shift in how cameras operated and how a photographer operated them, gone are the dials and leavers of the old generation, screens, buttons, and autofocus now dominated the market. Now the 7000 was not the first autofocus camera, but it was the first autofocus system built that way from the ground up. (Canon, Nikon, and Pentax had built an AF system that used old systems). The Dirt Make: MinoltaRead More →

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When it comes to Kodak films that have ended up in the great darkroom in the sky, there is none that is more missed than Kodak Plus-X. A general purpose mid-speed film designed to give sharp, fine-grained images a popular film among photojournalists, street photographers, and portrait photographers, or any photographer who has used it in the past. It also has touched my photographic journey on multiple points being the film I shot of the most of in my 2015 trip to Europe and the second Kodak film I’m always on the hunt for and am willing to spend a fair price on when IRead More →

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If the early days of autofocus cameras brought us VCRs, by the 1990s, the design of cameras had become far more streamlined. The 3xi belongs to the third generation of Minolta autofocus cameras but don’t get too excited; this is the cheapest, lowest range camera in the series. And believe me, it shows. Designed to run for the most part in the full auto-exposure mode with little interference from the photographer itself. These xi series cameras could use powered zoom lenses to set the focal length automatically. But to be honest, while it may look and behave like an SLR, at its heart, it isRead More →

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When it comes to slow films there are only two that matter in my book; the first is Rollei RPX 25 the second is Ilford Pan F+. Pan F+ was the first real slow film I ever used and fell for it right off the bat. Great when you’re shooting in bright light and want that fine grain, smooth tone look for your summer images. In fact, I don’t think there’s a developer that the film doesn’t like. But for me, it’s always the film of choice for the summer months of the year when I’m out shooting landscapes and urbanscape both on and offRead More →