It’s always good to get out from the familiar especially with a photo walk group. While the Toronto Film Shooters has always been centered around Toronto, Ontario and a majority of the events take place in different parts of the city. The group has on several occasionally spread their wings and headed outside the normal area and into different parts of the province. We’ve had events in Guelph, Unionville, Elora, and even Niagara-On-The-Lake. So at the end of September I decided to host a bonus event in Dundas, Ontario. A small historical town, today a part of Hamilton, Ontario on a Sunday afternoon. While BillRead More →

While I’ve always known that Fujifilm produces chemistry for film development, I had always assumed it was primarily aimed at colour processing. Since they still manufacture (possibly) mini-lab processing systems for labs to develop C-41. But black & white chemistry? Then I received an email. A reader graciously offered to mail me some developers that were difficult to obtain in North America. I initially thought of Europe, but then a lovely package arrived from Japan and inside were two pouches of Fujifilm Microfine and two pouches of Fujifilm SPD. Well, I was touched, but Microfine was a name I had seen before on the massiveRead More →

When I hear the name Miranda I think of two things first and foremost, number one is Star Trek and the venerable Miranda Class that first appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and has remained a staple of the Federation Starfleet (I prefer the roll bar version) the second is Shakespeare which is where the class name takes its inspiration from. But when it comes to cameras, the Miranda brand is one that doesn’t get much respect, despite being an innovative company that sadly lacked the level of quality assurance that the bigger names could provide. I first learned about Miranda camerasRead More →

Ha Ha, this is a pry from my dead hands camera…😀 There’s one fun part about being connected to so many amazing photographers and bloggers over the world because of the Internet. Often you come up with ideas like this, a whole series of posts on the same subject with a coordinated release. This idea comes from Jim Grey (Down the Road), from a conversation where Theo (PhotoThinking) was looking for links for his review of the Voigtlander Superb. Peggy (Camera Go Camera) suggested he give her the camera, and Theo replyed “this is a pry this from my dead hands camera.” Jim jumped onRead More →

One of the more interesting parts of B&W film photography is the ablity to adjust how the film behaves. There are many different ways of adjusting how the film looks, you can over or under expose the film, or push/pull the film in development. You also have various different developers to adjust how the film looks and different dilutions. But there is also the ideas of adding coloured filters to your lens to change what light and how much light hits your film. Now it might seem weird to put coloured glass over black & white film, but it can adjust and change how differentRead More →

This is only the second time I’ve reached a significant milestone in my ongoing reviews, the magic number of one hundred. And to be clear, I’ve done one hundred film reviews, not reviewed one hundred separate film stocks. And that’s because I’ve reviewed some rebadged films; sometimes, I knew it was a rebadge and then made a point not to go after that film stock again, notability ORWO films. I reviewed the four motion picture-specific films from ORWO as their Lomography rebadge. But in the case of Fomapan 100, I reviewed that first as KosmoFoto Mono 100 and then again as Fomapan 100. Agfa AviFotoRead More →

I had a lot of fun looking at the dedicated line of Foma developers this year. Yes, they produce a couple of clones but have three developers unique only to their company. LQN crossed my desk after someone suggested that it is the dedicated developer for Fomapan 200. And having struggled with Fomapan 200, I wanted to give this one a shot. I initially thought I would have to get it shipped by the slow European route. I soon discovered that my local source of rare developers had some in stock, so I got a bottle. LQN is the sibling to Fomadon LQR. But unlikeRead More →

Holga Week here in Canada is always a gamble; being the first week of October each year, the weather can often turn nasty. Last year we were treated to some fantastic weather, and I am happy with the results I got. But could magic strike twice? The long-range forecast for next week looked good! And having no actual weekend plans, I decided to choose three films out of my stash and shoot around Sheridan College. Unlike last year, I also filmed a video for my YouTube Channel that drops in November. I have yet to get another Holga camera to throw into the mix, soRead More →

I’m not always one to follow trends, especially regarding the cameras I use. But there is some wisdom in reviewing cameras that are still reasonably trendy within the film photography community. And doubly so when that camera is significant within the overall history of photography within the consumer sphere. That camera is the Canon AE-1. While the AE-1 Program and F-1 get much fanfare, the AE-1 remains a stalwart consumer camera that has maintained much of its following within the modern film photography community. It is often found on big-name Instagram and YouTube Accounts, loaded with Portra 400, and sold well above their actual value.Read More →

A particular classification of camera always elicits a nod of understanding; these are cameras with a mark of quality and precision. Names like Rollei, Hasselblad, Zeiss, and of course, Leica. Although through my work on this review, I have often found that not all Leica’s are treated with the same equal respect, and among many of the more snobbish Leica collectors and users, the M4-2 and M4-P are the ones that are seen as the redhead cousins of the classic M-Series of rangefinders. These cameras indeed hold a much higher space in my mind because of their historical significance in Leica history and Canadian history,Read More →