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While not many people would notice it, but when watching a film, and you come across this amazing sequence in black & white, the rich tones across the board, and just a classic cinematic look and wonder, how can I make my still images look that good! Well if you are watching a film shot on traditional film stock the answer is rather easy, Eastman Double-X 5222. Chances are you’ve seen a film shot on this stock, such as the opening sequence of Casino Royale or Shindler’s List. I first came across Double-X a few years back when I purchased some rolls through the FilmRead More →

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The general idea of toy cameras is something relatively new within photography circles, since the rise of Lomography even the Cameras we consider toys were probably built to offer a low-cost camera to the masses. And that’s where I put the Agfa Isoly Junior. The basic model of the Isoly line of cameras, it is designed to be something to give to your child, or junior, a simple camera that doesn’t need much thought in using in regards to focus or exposure. Mainly it’s a dressed up box camera, but don’t let that bother you, because those expensive ‘toy’ cameras are just that. Special thanksRead More →

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When it comes to Retro 80s, it’s a somewhat fickle film. At least for me, I find it hard to get good images out of the film stock. But when you do get images out of it, they are some of more unique in the world. For me, the film ranks among those speciality films such as Ferrania P30 and Eastman 5363, high contrast, slow, with a look closer to a black & white slide film than a negative film. Not to mention, the extended sensitivity into the Infrared spectrum makes it a good IR film in a pinch. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W, ExtendedRead More →

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If you want your images to have something that no other images have, then shoot Infrared film, it literally sees the world in a different light, infrared light to be exact. While these days there aren’t many options for black and white or even colour infrared films save for Rollei IR400 and the FPP Infrapan 200. There are however many in the near infrared range. I don’t often work with infrared film stocks as they need just the right set of circumstances to work well. Not to mention special filters, even cameras need to be done right as the film is highly sensitive. But whenRead More →

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I will always be the first to say I don’t like a film, and I usually have good reason to. And while RPX 400 remains something I won’t go out of my way to shoot, it isn’t a bad film. Like Tmax 400 and Delta 400 you really need to develop it right to get the best results. And while I can easily do that, there are still plenty other reasons the film remains it’s not a favourite. But then again the single roll of Agfa APX 400 I shot I was not too fond of either. But there are many who swear by theRead More →

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The middle-of-the-road film stock in the RPX line and another fantastic entry. Like RPX 25, RPX 100 is the spiritual successor to Agfa APX 100. While I don’t have much experience with APX 100 (I have about 50 sheets of the stuff in 4×5), the film is similar in look to Kodak TMax 100. And actually, you can use some of the TMax 100 times with RPX 100. While it’s no FP4+, I actually think RPX 100 is slightly better than Kodak TMax 100 mostly because of the huge latitude on the film, in fact, you can even do the Panatomic-X trick and shoot theRead More →

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Through 2016 I did a 52-Roll project where I shot the Rollei RPX films for each week, out of the three flavours available my personal favourite remained RPX 25, a spiritual successor to the iconic Agfa APX 25. These days in film photography there aren’t many offerings below ASA-100, Pan F+ is a solid choice, but sometimes you want something sharp, fine-grained, and slow. And for that, you have Rollei RPX 25. While the thin polyester base might make it hard to handle in the bag and widely thin in sheet formats, the results are worth the trouble. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base:Read More →

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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 →

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Fomapan 200 is a film stock that like TMax 400 and Delta 400 I’ve struggled with. I find it far too grainy for 200-speed film stock, often rather soft on the edges and can be rather fickle about lighting conditions. But it’s not a bad film; I think it needs to be handled with little extra care. Fomapan 200, was the first of the Fomapan films that I tried, and while initially disappointed in it, I quickly learned to like the film, for certain applications. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Polyester Film Speed: ASA-200, Latitude: 64-800 Formats Avaliable: 35mm, 120, Sheets Roll 01Read More →

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The Fomapan series of films are ones that I only recently discovered in the past couple years. It actually was in 2015 when I visited Europe for the 200th Anniversary of Waterloo and popped into a camera shop in the old city of Amsterdam. And there was the whole range of Foma products from paper to film. Well, when I returned I made a point to start checking out this Foma product line. While Fomapan 100 wasn’t my first experience with the product line, it is my favourite of the three film stocks. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Polyester Film Speed: ASA-100, Latitude:Read More →