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Unless you live in Milton, you may not realise the rich architectural heritage that my hometown has to offer. Sadly many of our oldest buildings no longer stand and most that do stand date only to the mid-century, that century is the 19th. And I would have many different homes to choose from, but I wanted something new different and never have been in my camera’s viewfinder before. The Lawson House dates to 1893 built by a local merchant. Sadly I cannot find anything about John Lawson or what role he played in the town. But I do like the house, the creeping vines alongRead More →

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There’s something strangely satisfying about a Nikkormat. These are beefy, mechanical cameras, that screams 1960s camera technology. While these are older machines they are close to bulletproof and are among one of the more popular SLRs released by Nikon at the time, maybe even more popular than the Nikon F. These were Nikon’s answer to the growing hobbyist market that at the time was dominated by the likes of Canon, Minolta, and Pentax. The FTn is not my first experience with the Nikkormat, that would be my lacklustre experience with the FT3. But I didn’t let that sour my view of the Nikkormat line, andRead More →

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There is a tonne of iconic film stocks that have been released and are no longer with us; I’m thinking Kodak Plus-X, Kodak Panatomic-X, almost the entire line of Polaroid Film. And among those Polaroid films, the one that probably hurt the hardest when it saw cancellation in 2008 is Type 55. Type 55 is a unique film even among Polaroid instant films in that it produces a usable print (obviously) but also a usable negative. And it is a legend that the negative used in Type 55 is based on Kodak Panatomic-X. It is also among those films that I wish I got toRead More →

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There are several iconic buildings that sit along Milton’s main street. There’s the old City Hall, the Quality Green sign, the various churches, the Ivy Arms pub. But besides the churches, there has always been one building that drew my eye, the brick post office. While not the original Milton post office, that post office from 1836 is what earned Milton its name as decided by George Brown (who would become the town’s first Mayor). To the best of my knowledge that post office served until the brick one opened, its cornerstone laid in a grand ceremony in the summer of 1914. Located at theRead More →

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I’ll be the first to admit; I never was a fan of TMax Developer. It was, at least in my mind initially TMax developer was a one-trick pony. Suitable for only modern T-Grain films (TMax, Delta, Acros). But that quickly changed as I started to branch out and trying to see what the developer can do with both modern film grain and classic grain. I discovered that TMax developer is something a little more than a one-trick pony. Technical Details Manufacture: Kodak Name: TMax Developer Primary Developer: Hydroquinone Type: Reusable or One-Shot Mix From: Liquid Handling TMax developer is a liquid, it runs clear andRead More →

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In the archives of the Milton Champion newspaper, there is a file photo of two little boys looking with smiles on a ball and chain. The two boys are myself and my brother who took a tour of the Town Hall during a New Year’s Day event hosted by the town mayor Gord Krantz. And it shows the dark history of the town hall. When Halton County became independent, the Foster family wanted to ensure Milton’s status as the county seat, and in 1855 a county court, jail, and land registry office were completed. The building saw expansion in 1877 adding on the jail anRead More →

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The 35mm f/2.8 lens saw initial release in 1959 and consisted of 7 elements in 6 groups, this optical construction would continue into 1974. The AI version of the lens that saw release in 1974 changed the optical construction to 6 elements in 6 groups (a construction shared with the f/2 version). In 1979 a fourth version of the lens saw release that many see as ‘inferior’ with only 5 elements in 5 groups. The lens I’m reviewing today is the fourth version of the 35mm f/2.8, and honestly, I find it just as good as my 35mm f/2D. Not only does it still performRead More →

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It’s a rumble in the electric jungle! Last month I pitted Olympus and Nikon against each other with their small-format mechanical options, the Olympus OM-1n and the Nikon FM. This month I decided to test the automatic versions of these compact cameras, the Olympus OM-2n and Nikon FE. Like their mechanical cousins, both cameras were built during the rise in the use of electronics in cameras that came in the late 1970s. Now here we have a significant difference in metering as both use a different system, and in this case, both cameras have functioning meters. Again this isn’t to tell you which camera isRead More →

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These days you probably would walk past this building without a second glance, a little bit out of the way of the downtown and overlooked by many but this building once was the centre of the town of Milton. When Milton saw incorporation as a town in 1858, the need to construct a town hall began. As a building, it served many purposes once it saw completion in 1865 as a market hall and local police station. The land it sits on was donated by Joseph Martin (one of Jasper’s sons) and once had a beautiful bell and cupola, both of which have been removed.Read More →

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While Ortho 80 Plus might appear to be a new film, it isn’t a new film. I’m surprised I missed reviewing the film earlier in this series. I skipped over a film I had shot in the past for a good two years. And thinking back that doesn’t surprise me; the film never made much of an impact. But also the film was, until recently, only available in 4×5. But I also only shot a single box of the stuff back in 2014. The results were excellent, and it was the first time shooting an ultra-low ISO film and one that had no set filmRead More →