By:
On:
In: Optical Review Blogs
With: 0 Comments

If you’re deep into the Minolta/Sony A-Mount system, you probably know this lens better as the Secret Handshake; in fact, that’s how my friend (fellow photographer and brother-in-arms) James introduced the lens to me. The nickname, given erroneously, is one of the first instances I’ve heard of an Internet rumour going ‘viral’ when it was shared that Minolta sold these lenses at cost when it was initially introduced with the first Maxxum cameras in the mid-1980s. This rumour is not true; at an initial price of 350$ USD (that’s 1,073.55$ CAD in 2021), honestly, that doesn’t sound like at cost to me. But ultimately, itRead More →

By:
On:
In: Film Review Blogs
With: 0 Comments

The original slow film offering from Lomography and one with a great name, Fantome! I had initially thought that I wouldn’t jump on these right off the bat. However, after seeing some early results, I decided to give this slow offering a try. And don’t let the slow speed concern you; you can quickly shoot this film handheld on bright sunny days, although unlike last months film, I did shoot a roll on a tripod to see how well it handled long exposure. Fantome 8, like Babylon 13, is a repurposed ORWO film. ORWO DP31 is a positive archival duplication film designed to produce duplicatesRead More →

By:
On:
In: Foma:52
With: 0 Comments

There’s something to be said about being able to hammer out an entire roll of thirty-six exposures in a single location in a short period of time. Sure, it’s easy to do when you have a medium format roll with 15, 12 or 10 exposures. But thirty-six can be a bit trying. Thankfully, the introduction of multiple lenses helps, especially when you set limits on how many frames you can shoot with one focal length. This week we’re still in Milton (ish) [Esquesing actually] exploring one of the oldest churches in the region, Boston Presbyterian Church. And to add to this week’s excitement, these wereRead More →

By:
On:
In: Foma:52
With: 0 Comments

To be perfectly honest, I had a whole other location planned for this week. But as with last year, this year continues to remind me that plans mean nothing. No matter how angry you get. Thankfully I have an amazing and supportive wife who suggested I get out and go for a hike. I always feel better after getting out into the fresh air and taking photos. So I hoped onto the Halton Conservation Booking site and tried to find a spot, but getting out for a hike is almost all we can do right now. Thankfully Found a spot at the Kelso Summit. ForRead More →

By:
On:
In: Developer Review Blogs
With: 8 Comments

You’re probably thinking if I reviewed Kodak HC-110, why am I reviewing Ilford Ilfotec HC? Aren’t they the same thing? Well, the answer is yes and no. While Ilfotec HC is the Ilford version of Kodak HC-110, there are some subtle differences between the two. Here in Canada, the Ilford liquid chemistry is a pricey purchase and can be hard to come by. However, I chanced across a short-dated bottle of Ilfotec HC on a trip to Burlington Camera and decided to take a chance. Now, if you know me and my processing habits, you’ll know that I make a bottle of HC-110 last, soRead More →

By:
On:
In: Photography
With: 0 Comments

There’s been an awakening; have you felt it? Oh it feels good to have another FP4Party, an official one, unlike the one I happened to complete all by my lonesome last year. And since we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic, such events are perfect for a little bit of escapism and out to do something close to normal. But since I still actually had to work, I needed to figure out how to get maximum enjoyment out of this party. I ended up going with three rolls of medium format this time around, running each through my Hasselblad 500c and developing inRead More →

By:
On:
In: Optical Review Blogs
With: 2 Comments

I’ve quickly learned over the three previous reviews of Olympus lenses that there is a certain polarization when it comes to Zuiko glass. In most cases, Zuiko glass is well received by those who use the OM system. But only some lenses and those are usually the ones that fetch the highest price on the used market. And then there’s this lens. Now I’m only recently starting to make more use of zoom lenses, and I have the Minolta Maxxum system to thank for it, so if this review seems clunky, it’s because this is the first zoom lens I’ve reviewed in this series. TheRead More →

By:
On:
In: Film Review Blogs
With: 0 Comments

One of the film community’s biggest photography trends is the use of speciality motion picture films for regular photographic applications. You saw the rise in popularity in films such as Eastman 2238 and Fuji 4791. Well, Lomography jumped onto the bandwagon with a pair of releases last year. Both were rerolled films from Filmotec/ORWO. The second release of these films came in Babylon 13, with Lomography publishing times for shooting at ASA-12. Having ordered the traditional five-pack, I found that the film, in reality, if ORWO DN21. As the name suggests, DN21 is a duplicating film, acting as an inter-negative between a master positive andRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 3 Comments

Oddly enough this is not the first Praktica SLR that I’ve had in my collection, one of my earliest SLRs that I never actually got around to using was a Praktica Super TL that ended up going into one of the early giveaways for the Film Photography Podcast in their first season along with a LOMO Lubitel 2. So when the LTL showed up at my doorstep, I decided to give the cameras another go. The LTL is, given its age, a bit of an anachronism. By the 1970s, most camera makers west of the iron curtain and Japan used open aperture TTL metering. Yet,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Foma:52
With: 0 Comments

One of the area’s biggest geological features in the Niagara Escarpment, covered in ancient Carolinian forests, is instantly recognisable and helps new arrivals navigate the area always looming over Milton. Hidden deep in this forest is a lake that holds many secrets, distant voices from the past that allows us to see into the times before my ancestors arrived on this content. This week I went for another hike in my second favourite Halton park, Crawford Lake. The Niagara Escarpment was formed at the end of the last ice age, a massive limestone cliff that runs from the Niagara Penisula to the Bruce Penisula. AlongRead More →