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Ontario is blessed with a tonne of amazing rural communities that have stood the test of time. They never undertook vast urban renewal plans through the 20th Century and have stayed close to their roots in the mid to late 19th Century. And one such community is Elora, not only with natural wonders of the Gorge and the Falls but also with architectural splendour. Back on the Canada Day long weekend, I went into Elora to shoot some video work and to meet up with two fellow hosts of the Classic Camera Revival for a quick jaunt around the village. I went simple going withRead More →

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Chase Jarvis is famous for saying that the best camera is the one you have with you. It’s like the saying any tool can be the right tool. While you can use a hammer to pound in a screw or use a screwdriver to hammer in the nail, it won’t deliver the best results. While we can’t always carry around the best camera for every situation, but what about a camera that will take pictures when it’s the only thing you have with you? Thankfully these days, everyone has a camera in their pocket, your smartphone. These modern smartphones have pretty powerful cameras, often augmentedRead More →

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Well, we made it to the halfway point! And I finally made it out to Elora, Ontario. A location I’ve wanted to include in the project since the first couple of months of 2021. But things kept getting in the way and it had to be pushed back. But I wasn’t going to let it happen again and while my client shoot had to be pushed back, I still wanted to make sure to include the historic village anyways! Of course, the day I went the weather was not exactly ideal, but I’ve never let a bit of rain or overcast skies stop me andRead More →

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Consumer film, often film photographers of a certain type will turn their nose up at them, but as someone who started their film journey on consumer film processed in the local 1-hour lab, going back to review these films is a bit of a throwback. Like all modern consumer films from Kodak, Ultramax traces its heritage back to the original Kodacolor film. The original Kodacolor saw production from 1924 to 1963. In 1963, the updated Kodacolor-X increased the film speed from ASA-25 to ASA-64, both these early offerings using the C-22 process, Kodak discontinued Kodacolor-X in 1974. In 1972 Kodak released a new version, KodacolorRead More →

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When it comes to Zuiko lenses, I don’t think there is a bad one, sure some are better than others, but all of them are excellent performing optics. And the Zuiko 28/3.5 is one such lens, might not be the fastest lens for a wide-angle, but it is a strong performer. When I was putting together my OM kit, I did not want to spend too much money, and when it came to Zuiko glass, you can get some excellent deals on solid optics, but wide-angles are not one of them, especially the fast glass, but there is always a third option, the slower ones.Read More →

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Back in the Summer of 2013 when APUG was the place to get your online fix of the analogue photography community, I noticed a post in the Toronto local board that there weren’t enough meetups for the film photography community. Which was at the time partly true, sure there had been a couple of FPP/APUG meetups in the area in the past, I had even helped coordinate one in 2011. But there had not been anything since. So I took it upon myself to plan these events, at least four, in a year. The first one dropped in July 2013, had a decent turnout andRead More →

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If there is one developer that is the closest thing to a magic bullet in my chemistry set, that developer is Pyrocat-HD. While Rodinal is the oldest commercial developer, Pyro based developers pre-date Rodinal into the early days of photography, being used back in the days when plate-based photographic media were the norm. And while the developers changed overtime, Pyrocat-HD is among the newest in the category being developed by Sandy King as an improvement over PMK Pyro. Sandy promotes the developer as giving 1/3rd of a stop in film speed with about 10-15% less developing time. Along with consistent staining action and lower toxicity.Read More →

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If you’ve ever seen the TV show Madmen, you’ll probably have your 21st Century, post MeToo era sensibilities challenged with the sheer amount of sexism that was and is still rampant today. Now if you’re a little confused, let me introduce you to the Nikon EM. Designed to fill in the entry-level gap in the Nikon SLR line, the EM was primarily marketed towards women. The reason is that as a camera, it is basic, set for semi-automatic aperture priority, and that is the only mode available. It also is small, compact, and lightweight. But don’t let that stop you, the EM is an excellentRead More →

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If the standard Svema Foto films are too grainy for you, how about stepping it down a notch and picking up a roll of Foto FN64, or FN64. Before this review, I had only shot a single roll of the stuff, and it did not turn out well. I eventually figured out that due to the thin PET base, the film is subject to light piping, and I ended up fogging the whole roll. Now if you’re a fan of the slower film that is having something different from what you get from other typical films, then FN64 is something for you to try. AndRead More →

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Before Plus-X there was Verichrome Pan. The two films have rather similar looks, but if there was a film that defined the look of the mid-century, that is the 1940s through 1950s of the 20th-Century that film is Verichrome Pan. Despite its age and the mid-speed nature of it, the film today remains surprisingly stable, having shot some that had expiry dates of the late 1960s. Designed as a general purpose film for the average consumer who at the time of its release in 1956 had nothing more than a box camera the film had a wide exposure latitude to overcome the disadvantages a boxRead More →