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Finally, we have snow here in Southern Ontario which for me is wonderful! The cold weather is only made bearable by the presence of the white stuff. It also makes it more fun to go out tromping in the snow! But I shot most of my FP4 back in December, and with a deep freeze settled into the area after Christmas I really didn’t want to take any chances. But the arrival of the Secret Santa gift from the Emulsive gift exchange included a roll of FP4+ in 120 and with five sheets of 4×5 I was ready to go, on a much-reduced scale. GroupRead More →

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Well, looks who’s back! It’s the FP4Party! This time around I have no outstanding projects so unlike in the final FP4Party I can actually work hard on this one, unlike the last time I gave a rather lack-lustre performance. I sat down early and planned out my week, collecting five ideas of where to shoot and what I wanted to shoot with. The film, of course, a favourite of mine, Ilford FP4+. I came up with one roll of 35mm, three rolls of 120 and a box of 4×5. Now in the past, I’ve usually stuck to one day of shooting for these parties. ButRead More →

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When it comes to iconic cameras, Nikon does not have a shortage in their catalogue. From the highly valued rangefinders to the game-changing Nikon F. Plus all the professional camera bodies that followed in the footsteps of the original system camera. But among the cameras that are highly sought after by many photographers still, today are the compact SLRs of the 1970s and 1980s. Among those is the Nikon FM and the electronic cousin, the Nikon FE. For me, the FE fits into that little niche between my all-mechanical Nikon F2 Photomic and the fair more automatic Nikon FA. The FE fills the gap whenRead More →

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There’s a fun nature for an event that is total fiction rather than historical. It gives us a chance to play and provides us with a view of other historic sites within our province. Until this event, I had never even heard of the Bradley House. But as I took the gentle curve along Orr Road in the village of Clarkson on the border of Oakville and Mississauga I was pleasantly surprised at the industrial fences of a Suncor Petroleum plant melted away into a forest alight with fall colours. As I chatted with folks around the site, it turned out that Clarkson has aRead More →

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When you think of toy cameras, specific models instantly come to mind—names like Diana, Debonair, Lomography, and Holga. I have in the past reviewed the FPP Debonair, a solid toy camera, but the first toy camera and the one that stuck the most is the Holga. Sadly my camera broke several years back, and I never bothered to replace it. While I did mean to replace the Holga with another one, the sad fact is that in 2015 Holga nearly vanished if not for the quick actions by Freestyle and the Sunrise company. The two managed to recover one mould and restarted production. The HolgaRead More →

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I have and always will have a soft spot for compact fixed lens rangefinders since my first camera was one such camera. The Minolta Hi-Matic 7s. But the Ricoh 500 G is not a Hi-Matic, released at the end of the craze of that style of camera; it is an underdog for its time going up against the cult classic Canon QL17 GIII. And while the 500 G does not share the same spotlight at its Canon counterpart, the 500 G is a strong camera that fills the role of compact rangefinder that packs a punch but won’t break the bank. Special thanks to MikeRead More →

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I never thought that this little idea of mine would catch on. I never believe that my little social ideas would go over. And yet they usually do in some form or another. For example, the Toronto Film Shooters Meetup, now starting on its the fourth year. TFSM, a quarterly gathering of photographers in the Southern Ontario region who loves to shoot traditional film based cameras is an idea I floated back in 2013. I was still an active member of the Analog Photography User Group (APUG), and in the Toronto Sub-Forum, someone was complaining that there was not enough photo walks in the GreaterRead More →

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One of notable Governors of the British colonies that made up British North America during the Anglo-American War of 1812 is a man who helped aid the economic growth despite the war and presided over one of the least known campaigns in the war. Baptized John Coape Sherbrooke on the 29th of April 1764, the only son of William Sherbrooke and Katherine Pyndar. Born and raised in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, England as part of the gentry John, following his formal schooling was commissioned as an Ensign in the 4th Regiment of Foot in 1780, and three years later gazetted Captain transferring to the 85th Regiment ofRead More →

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I’m a sucker for mechanical match needle SLRs. They’re simple, elegant and great to learn on and even now still a joy to shoot. The FT3 is just that, an easy to use, fun camera that can if needed double as a self-defence weapon. The sad part is that the FT3 only was made for a few months before being superseded by the Nikon FM. A unique creature among the more-consumer-oriented Nikkormat lines the FT3 can use AI and AI-S lenses even if they don’t have the coupling claw. Sadly you won’t be able to use the Non-AI glass that many Nikkormat shooters love. CameraRead More →

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If you have ever used the Olympus Trip 35 then, you’ll be right at home with the Minoltina-P. The camera is a fixed lens, semi-automatic point and shoot from the 1960s and honestly before I saw it on the shelf at Burlington Camera I had never even known this camera existed. But don’t let that scare you, Minolta produced a lot of underdog cameras through the 1960s that often were as good as their competitors. The Hi-Matic went up against the Olympus 35 and Cannonet Series, and the Minoltina, well it’s an Olympus Trip 35. Disclaimer: This is an old review, and is scheduled forRead More →