Strike Back Like the Empire! Yes folks after a long wait, the FP4Party Strikes Back! And I’m back into the groove of things. And despite it being the start of term, it gives me all the more reason to get out and give the Rolleiflex and Mamiya m645 a bit of a winter workout. Especially the poor Mamiya which has been spending much of its time as a project camera. But sometimes I have to let it out to play a little bit more! This time around I shot only three rolls of 120 film for the January Party. But to switch it up, IRead More →

The rain was not supposed to be in the forecast I thought as I flipped on my wipers. The sun had yet to rise as I drove south towards the GO station. I made a mental note to check the weather when I got to the station, hoping that it would end before the meetup was set to start. Or at least die out enough to actually get out and do a walk. It rained the last time I went to the islands for Toronto Film Shooters Meetup, it was less pleasant the last time as it was in the Summer. The rain was aRead More →

You might call Delta 3200 the fast film that survived. When Kodak discontinued P3200, Delta 3200 survived. And even Ilford had one thing that Kodak did not, the 3200 speed film in medium format. However in this case I wanted to shoot all the review rolls in 35mm, for a future head-to-head post. However, at the time I could could get two rolls in 35mm and had to take the third in 120. I have to say, having shoot the stock before I am far happier now with the results than I was then. While not a fan of films faster than 400, I foundRead More →

So what happens when you put the two ASA-3200 speed films against each other? Well, you have the 3200 club. As everyone knows, Kodak this year re-released their TMax P3200 film and while Ilford has always maintained their Delta 3200 films, I decided in light of having reviewed both films, to compare the two. Now, this blog isn’t designed to speak to which one is better than the other. Because there’s already too much of that in the Photographic community as a whole. To start off what do the two film stocks have in common? Well, both are a modern T-Grain emulsion, where the silverRead More →

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 →

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 →

It’s always interesting to see what you can do with what Adox calls a ‘closed imaging system.’ CMS 20 II is a film that is specifically designed for one developer, and one developer only that is Adotech II. In fact, in their datasheet, they even discourage the use of traditional developers as they could yield poor and unpredictable results. But thanks to the power of the Internet and having a bit of an experimental side and writing these blogs for you, my dear readers let us continue and say you can use traditional developers with CMS 20, and the results are rather stunning. Film SpecsRead More →

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 →

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 →

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 →