Christmas came early last year with the latest film offering from the Finish film photography store KameraStore. SantaColor 100 is a modern, fresh colour negative film designed for aerial surveillance. While not available to the general public, large orders allow suppliers to purchase and re-spool this film stock for public consumption. And with all the trouble last year getting colour negative film, having another option is always good. It’s an open secret that SantaColor 100 is Eastman-Kodak Aerocolor IV 2460 and that it’s been made available under multiple brands, Silberra Color 100, FlicFilm Electra 100, and FilmWashi X. As a technical film, SantaColor is uniqueRead More →

As someone who loves history and weird cameras, the Graflex Century 35 is a camera that fits both of those items. The Century 35 is a straight-up rebadge of the Japanese-produced Kowa Kallo 35. I first had a chance to try this camera out last year in an episode of Classic Camera Revival, where it was chosen for me to use by my good friend John Meadows, who gifted the camera by the end of the episode to me. Despite being primarily an SLR shooter, I do like some rangefinders. This camera fits the bill with my rangefinders, is compact and straightforward, and produces excellentRead More →

Hidden far from the downtown and tucked away is the oldest continuously occupied Church in Oakville. The Parish of St. Andrew’s owes itself to Irish farmers Bartholomew O’Conner and Charlie O’Hara, who convinced a priest in Dundas to celebrate Mass in Halton Region in 1819. For many years, the Roman Catholics in Oakville travelled some seventeen kilometres to the St. Peter’s Mission Church, but the first known celebration of Mass in Oakville occurred in 1835. This number grew as the St. Peter’s Parish only offered mass once every four months. In Oakville, the rapid growth of the settlement resulted in 150 Catholics celebrating mass inRead More →

In the world of black & white developers, my exploration of different chemicals has been a lot of fun. And I’ve seen plenty of other odd developers, but one has always stood out as being one I’ve wanted to try, mainly because of its name. And that is R09 Spezial, which looks cool because of the ‘z’. While browsing, the Argentix website netted me a small bottle of this stuff. It took a while to trace precisely what this stuff is at the core because it has gone under many names and been produced by many companies. You can also find it as Rodinal Special,Read More →

Last year when I reviewed Fortepan 200, I indicated that I would love to review the 400 and 100 flavours of the Fortepan line. And the film photography community being fantastic, responded. On the post to a Facebook group, a reader indicated they had a large stash of Fortepan 100 and asked if I wanted some. Well, he came through, so thank you to Wendell Anderson for sending over the rolls for this review. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-100, Latitude: 50-400 Formats Available: 135, 120, Sheets Discontinued: 2007 Roll 01 – Kodak D-76 I decided to shoot the firstRead More →

It is hard to miss Knox Church in Oakville; the tall spire is visible across the entire length of downtown and symbolises the church itself. It should be of no surprise that a Presbyterian congregation is among the oldest in downtown Oakville as William Chisholm, the town’s founder, was himself a Presbyterian. The earliest Presbyterians arrived, like many within Canada, from the United States and in 1833, a small congregation associated with the American church quickly formed in the village. The congregation worshipped in a frame structure along the banks of the Sixteen Mile Creek. The connection to the American church only lasted a handfulRead More →

CatLABS is an interesting company, their X Film lineup hit the markets several years back, and I reviewed X Film 80 and loved the stock. But they also included an X Film 320 in their initial lineup. I didn’t review that one because it was only available in 35mm and turned out to be Eastman Double-X 5222, with tweaked developing times. But last year, they announced new versions of both X Film 80 and X Film 320. I will be reviewing X Film 80 later this year, but in the colder, darker months, X Film 320 Pro is the film that will suit the dullerRead More →

While Methodism remained in the rural areas of Upper Canada, supported by circuit riders, urban congregations sprung up also. St. John’s, located outside Downtown Oakville is among these early Methodist congregations that sprung up in the early years of Oakville. One of the first settlers to the new village of Oakville, Justus Williams, a strong supporter of Methodism, desired to bring a Methodist congregation into downtown Oakville. The other congregations were located further north, so Williams invited various saddlebag preachers to hold worship services in his own home starting in 1832. He soon added the congregation to the newly created Nelson circuit and secured theRead More →

Of late, I’ve had a soft spot for consumer-level SLRs. These are excellent options as knock-about cameras that often have the same internals as their professional cousins but in a smaller form factor and can be had for a low cost. The F65 is one of Nikon’s final entry-level SLRs and one of the best options for the era, as it combines form and functions and offers the greatest compatibility. While the F65 only saw production for a short period, its replacements split things into two sub-varients, a lower-spec F55 and a high-spec F75, the features on both are found in the F65. If you’reRead More →

At the end of last year, Harman/Ilford made a fantastic announcement, their popular budget film, Kentmere, was now available in 120 formats. And it was going to be the least expensive option for medium-format shooters. Kentmere and I go back, and when I first reviewed Kentmere 400, I was not happy with my results. I was downright rude towards the film stock, but looking back at it now, I can see it was not as bad as I thought it was when I first came to review it. Kentmere 100, however, did make an excellent first impression. And since then, I hadn’t thought much aboutRead More →