The idea of a small light meter is nothing new, ever since the concept of an exposure meter that clip onto the camera through an accessory shoe (or hot shoe). When I was shooting a Barnack Leica, I used one such meter, the Voigtlander VCII. A fantastic meter, easy to use, a little restrictive at times, but never missed a beat. I don’t recall what happened to mine. It either stopped working or got lost on an adventure on in my one move. When my good friend and regular of the Toronto Film Shooters Meetup, Matt Bechberger, let me know he aimed to release hisRead More →

If you’re thinking to yourself, haven’t you already reviewed the Canon F-1? Like back in the first year of writing camera reviews? The answer would be yes, I did review an original 1970 F-1. But when it comes to camera names, Canon wasn’t always that creative; this is the New F-1. Which if you dig deep into the camera’s functionality, is a whole other camera, thus needing a review of its own. The F-1N, like the F-1, is Canon’s answer to the rise in electronics in cameras that happened in the late 1970s and the introduction to the Nikon F3. And when it comes toRead More →

Sometimes it’s good to keep things fresh and new, and having great success hosting a photo meetup in Niagara-On-The-Lake last year and having gotten a connection with a fantastic photographer in the region Bryan who is about a year into his journey into film photography with the offer to host the group I took the chance. Unlike past photo walks, this time, we had three lovely models along. Nat, Millie, and Carolyn, having worked with Bryan in the past came along to give the group a chance to trial their model photography work in a low-key situation. Now I’ve done some model work in theRead More →

If there’s one thing that certainly does not lack at Photostock it’s the sheer amount of beautiful things to photograph all through Emmet County where Photostock is based. There is one thing I love to do at any Photostock event is driving the M119 or the Tunnel of Trees. Sadly Saturday dawned with rain, but that didn’t matter as the morning saw the Portfolio Review (Which I should have brought my finished War of 1812 project book for) and the Print exchange. But after a lovely lunch down in Harbor Springs with Heather the rain stopped and the skies started to clear so I grabbedRead More →

Other than the location, one of the best parts of Photostock is the people! This being my fifth event and having missed last year’s event for an awesome reason (having just gotten married), it was good to get back and see old friends to reconnect and to meet new friends in the process. While I did spend more time away from the Birchwood than I did at the hotel itself. The weather on Saturday morning kept me in (both to take in people’s amazing portfolios and the Print Exchange) I managed to capture many of the faces at the event. Photostock is first and foremostRead More →

Fomapan 400, the big mystery, at least to me. I’ve never once shot this film, mostly because I had heard some terrible things about it. Now I am set in my ways when it comes to the faster films, sticking to the ones I know and enjoy. Tri-X, HP5+, and JCH StreetPan. Yet, through shooting and developing the film and seeing the work Bill Smith has been doing with the stock in 35mm I am plesently surprised. There’s a certain classic look and feel well before the days when films were touted as “Finest Grain” or “Sharpest 400-Speed Film” the days where you wanted fineRead More →

This is a beast of a camera. I mean, I thought that lugging around a 4×5 was crazy; the GX680iii is just nuts. This camera would feel more at home in a studio than in the field. But I often find studio work boring. But as a system camera, it is incredible. A couple of them with excellent Fuji glass on the front, and you have a powerful camera that gives you the flexibility of large format with the convenience of roll film. Special Thanks to James Lee for loaning me the camera for this review twice now. Camera Specifications Make: Fujifilm Model: GX680iii Type:Read More →