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There’s something so unique about looking back on a trip and thinking, “I was in a place where history was being made.” Remember, not all history is good history, but it was history all the same. Ten years ago, I visited a city I had wanted to visit for some time, but it had always slipped through my fingers. But in 2016 I finally decided to take some time and visit Washington, DC. It was the final place I needed to photograph and visit to complete my massive War of 1812 project, which, at that point, had been going on longer than the war itself,Read More →

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Kodak Direct Positive Panchromatic Safety Film, or Kodak DPPSF, is probably the oldest film that I have ever taken in for review. Kodak DFFPSF is one of the many motion picture films Kodak produced, originally used for duplication or special effects. This stock expired in 1957. I initially didn’t plan to run it through a review, but I decided to. What makes this review different from others is that there is no real documentation on how to develop the film other than Kodak’s specific motion picture film processes. So I thought, what if I did my usual developers but used ‘universal’ techniques for each? Well,Read More →

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After I got into the Nikon autofocus system, I started looking at cameras that were better than my Nikon F80. Don’t get me wrong, the Nikon F80 was the right camera for me at the time, and it produced some fantastic images and got me on the course I’m still on today with the Nikon system. But I knew there was something better out there, and I quickly latched onto the Nikon F5 as my grail camera of that time. But at that time, the Nikon F5 still commanded high prices on the used market, and many professional photographers were still using these cameras. ButRead More →

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After seeing the results I got out of Kodak TMax 100, I had high hopes for Delta 100. Delta 100, being a modern emulsion, is a good film stock: sharp, lots of contrast, and some decent latitude. Add to this that I’ve seen great results from Ilford HP5+ and FP4+, could that same magic work on Delta 100? Honestly, I think I worked myself up too much; when I first saw the results, I was disappointed, but quickly realised that maybe, for once, the data sheets were wrong. Film Specs Manufacturer: Harman Technologies Name: Ilford Delta 100 Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed:Read More →

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The last time I had attended this event was back in 2009, it was then known as Canada Youth, and it was the second time I had attended the event, but the third Presbyterian Youth Conference I had ever attended. The first one I attended was in 2001 as the Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University in Indiana. The event was interesting. Looking back at my vague memories of the event, I was happy that I never went back. The event began to clamp down on the number of Canadians who could attend, and the Canada Youth events focused on Canadian Presbyterians and lacked someRead More →

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For many films in this series of reviews, it’s the first time I’ve tested them to this extreme. But for Ilford Ortho+, I have already done extensive stress testing on the film stock. I first shot this film in sheet film format and found that there is already a listed D-76 time with no listed speed. That resulted in one of my favourite waterfall photos, where I shot the film at ASA-6 and got some lovely results with a large-format camera on a bright day. I even repeated this process, exposing it between ASA-25 and ASA-6, and got some excellent results. So, going into thisRead More →

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When it comes to slow film, one of my first experiences and still favourite is Pan F+. This is a great film for the summer; it’s slow, high-contrast, fine-grain and sharp. It is also one that I generally shoot at the listed box speed of ASA-50 and have over- or pulled, but have never gone beyond that ASA-50 time. I mean, other films have similar properties at faster speeds that are easily accessible. And I’ve never been in a situation where all I’ve had is Pan F+ and needed more speed. So it’s a lot of fun to finally give this one a good goRead More →

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A few weeks ago, an event that I first attended in 2012 had its final form. Back on the 20th and 21st of June, a group gathered to celebrate the life of Bill Schwab, who had passed away in 2025 while doing what he did best: leading a group of keen photographers to explore the world. Bill was the brains behind an event called Photostock. It started as a small gathering in the woods on his property in Michigan, far from the dirty industrial south, but in the far more beautiful northern parts of the state. And while I’m a fan of an event becomingRead More →

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So here’s the thing: faster films are better known for their latitude, but mid-speed films are often overlooked for it. And I’ll have to say I’ve done some wild things with FP4+ in the past, and it responds well to over- and underexposure when developed right. But can FP4+ stand up to its faster brother, HP5+, in terms of quality and performance? Well, the answer is yes! While it can’t go as far as faster films, it can still do a lot more than people give it credit. Film Specs Manufacturer: Ilford Photo Name: Ilford FP4+ Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-125Read More →

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A few years ago, I reviewed a rather interesting developer, Diafine. Diafine is a universal black-and-white film developer. Universal in that it will develop all films using a fixed set of development times, which also requires that the film be exposed at a specific exposure index. But what if you could make this even simpler? Well, that’s where the fine folks at Flic Film come into play with their Elementary Developer. Like Diafine, Elementary is a two-bath developer with parts A and B, which you use as separate steps, but you only have one exposure time for all films and no need to expose theRead More →