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Well we made it through another year. Like every years things did not always go to plan and that’s okay. Because it’s important to be flexible, especially when this blog and other channels is not a full time job. The year was a lot of fun despite being a little chaotic. I always have hope that things will eventually calm down, but they do in fact always calm up. There was a rather unfortunate bump through the fall with a five week support staff strike that did reduce some capacity for creation, but I had the chance to play catch up through October and NovemberRead More →

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This year marked a major milestone for my podcast, the Classic Camera Revival. And while I call it ‘my’ podcast, unlike other content I’ve posted in this series of entries, CCR is far more a community effort. I wanted it to be not on my shoulders only but rather based around a team of dedicated people who can take on every duty along the way. It’s only fair that the final entry in the series is centred around creating the podcast. Since we started in 2015, a lot has changed in almost every aspect, from how and when we record to the production and evenRead More →

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Nikon is known for many things; among them is its insane level of detail regarding its macro lenses, or micro lenses in Nikon parlance. For those who aren’t in the know, macro photography is photographing small objects and reproducing them at life-size. Nikon produced its first macro lens in 1956 for the rangefinder or S-Series of cameras, a 55mm f/3.5; this got carried into the F-Mount in 1961, the Micro-Nikkor 1:3.5 f=5.5cm. This lens was improved through its lifetime, eventually becoming the legendary AI-S Micro-Nikkor 55mm 1:2.8, then got an AF make-over and eventually was superseded by this lens, the Micro-Nikkor 60mm 1:2.8. First introducedRead More →

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You don’t often hear professional system camera in the same sentence as Pentax. But Pentax cameras have had their place in professional photography since the ESII, it is only that Pentax hasn’t always marketed cameras towards the professional market demographic. The Pentax MZ-S would be the last 35mm SLR to fit into that marketing segment and be the last camera to be developed under the original Asahi Optical Co. name (it was officially changed to Pentax in 2002). My review of the Pentax MZ-S is a long time coming, it was first promised in 2022 but the timely CCR 10th Anniversary and the visit ofRead More →

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I don’t take folding cameras out that often. First, I only have a pair of them; second, they can be a pain to use. But my good friend and fellow film photographer Jim Graves made a post that was dedicated to being folder week from 19 October to 24 October. The whole thing was started by another talented photographer, Tom Northenscold. So, why not dust off the pair of Zeiss Ikon folders and take them out for a spin? This included the simple Ikonta 521, a 6×4.5 format option with no rangefinder, to the massive but hard to handle Super-Ikonta 531/2, a 6×9 beast withRead More →

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I guess you could say that this post comes out from a short I released on YouTube last month about why photo walks are important and that you should go on photo walks. When the average person hears the term ‘photo walk’ they tend to think of a group usually medium or large. And I’ll admit, large groups of strangers can be a bit iffy. But a photo walk doesn’t have to be in a group, you don’t even have to have another person with you. My good friend and fellow photographer, Michael Hurley, goes on solo photo walks all the time. In fact, he’sRead More →

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It feels weird writing it as color instead of colour but as it is the proper name of the camera I will have to struggle through. The Polaroid Colorpack II is one of several rigid body pack film cameras to come out of Polaroid through the late 1960s and into mid 1970s, there has been several different models to carry the Colorpack name and all seem to share similar specifications. It’s been a while since I used this camera, and I think I ended up donating it to another photographer as this was one of the first pack film cameras that I ever got. ItRead More →

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There’s no denying it; this lens is a monster. I have some big and heavy lenses in my tool kit, and while this one is undoubtedly smaller than my 70-200/2.8G, it is the largest and heaviest of my manual focus kit. It is also often overlooked compared to later versions of the lens, which means that it’s an excellent, affordable lens, no matter what other people say about the number of aperture blades. The lens itself comes from a long lineage, released in 1977. Designed initially by Saburo Murakami and released in 1964, the Auto Nikkor-P 300mm 1:4.5 used a five-element design but struggled withRead More →

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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 →

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When it comes to point-and-shoot cameras, they still remain very much in vogue with a certain cross-section of film photographers. While I don’t often reach for these cameras, it is always fun to try out something outside of my usual selection of cameras. This is my third Pentax Point-And-Shoot; I’ve used the first point-and-shoot, the PC35AF, and one of the Espios, a more high-end offering. The Zoom 280-P is a clunky, early ’90s brick of a camera with a bit of ergonomics. And you know, despite being a P&S, the Zoom 280-P is a decent little camera that does the job of taking photos, butRead More →