It wasn’t as cold as I figured it would be as I stepped out of Union Station around 8 in the morning. There was still an hour and a half before the meet officially started. But if there’s one thing I learned about running meetups, as the host and leader, you get there early. Besides I had a final roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100 to shoot first, I wish I had waited until later to shoot it because shooting Extreme 100 at 200 in the dim morning light was not exactly the wisest plan. But today the name of the game was pushing film. IRead More →

Svema, or by its proper name, Свема is a film stock that is relatively unknown here in North America unless you are of course fans of the Film Photography Podcast. The name comes from the combination of two Russian words, Светочувствительные Материалы, translated means Photosensitive Materials. While Svema collapsed when the Soviet Union died in the 1990s, another Eastern European film manufacture, Astrum, continues the legacy of Svema using some of the old machinery in a new factory in Shostka, Ukraine. If I had limited experience with the 100-speed version of the film, I have even less with Foto 400. The only time I’ve shotRead More →

Svema, or by its proper name, Свема, is a film stock that is relatively unknown here in North America. But if you’re a fan of the Film Photography Podcast you will have heard of Svema. It would be Svema Foto 200 that first burst onto the FPP scene, and quickly became a favourite film of Leslie Lazenby. The name comes from the combination of two Russian words, Светочувствительные Материалы, translated means Photosensitive Materials. While Svema collapsed when the Soviet Union died in the 1990s, another Eastern European film manufacture, Astrum, continues the legacy of Svema using some of the old machinery in a new factoryRead More →

It’s taken me nearly three years, but I have now reviewed one hundred film cameras! Even though the review rules have slipped a couple times (namely review a sheet film camera and a pair of polaroids), so it’s only fair that I distil these one hundred cameras down into a few top five lists! Just note that there’s no particular order for these top five lists and certainly are my own personal opinions! Also of note, I’ve done my best to not double-dip, that means if a camera appears in one list, that means it won’t appear in any other list. Top Five 35mm SingleRead More →

Many Kodak films have gained almost a cult following over the course of their run, and while many are general purpose films, Kodak produced many film stocks designed for specific tasks, and one such film is Technical Pan. Designed specifically for technical, scientific, and military applications the film can work as a high-contrast pictorial film and is one of the more unique film stocks I’ve had the pleasure to shoot. While it was out of production well before the official discontinuation date in 2004 due to the finding of a large master roll the film remains rather stable due to its lack of a boxRead More →

Well, it looks like Christmas came a little early for me with the arrival of the first round of Silberra films from their Indigogo campaign. And while I’m still waiting on the 120 film I got, I figured might as well give you my first impressions of the film before the full reviews drop in the Spring. For those who followed the crowdfunding campaign and subsequent rough ride following the end of the campaign, like our friends at Film Ferrania, Silberra faced several challenges in getting the new film mass produced and out to a broader market. But when I found the box waiting forRead More →

When it comes to classic films, Kodak has plenty of options that you can still get. But one of my personal favourites is a genuinely classic film, and that is Efke 100. Any Efke. But of all the Efke flavours the one I’m most familiar with is Efke 100. The 100 flavour is a silver rich film, fantastic tones and gives you that mid-century look that you see in the snapshots of your parents in your grandparent’s albums. These days while no longer produced if you check on eBay and find the right seller you can get a great deal on some new-old-stock that theRead 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 →

The reintroduction of TMax P3200 had a bit of a polarizing effect on the film photography community. Many welcomed it back, seeing this as a positive step for Kodak, a teaser before they get the new Ektachrome back on shelves and in cameras. Others were rather derisive on the move, decrying it wanting films like Plus-X back before a high-speed film because we still have Ilford Delta 3200 and it comes in Medium Format as well! I took a more balanced approach, I’ve only really shot high-speed films a few times, but I figured hey, might as well give it a go. I had shotRead 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 →