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 →

Polaroid is dead, long live Polaroid A rather morbid way to start this whole celebration of Instant Photography. Polaroid week and I are a bit hit and miss. And yet I’ve managed to join in on it several times. But this year I thought that it would be at an end for me. See, I had ditched all my instant photography gear between the end of last year’s Polaroid Week and the early spring of this year. And as the quote says, I tried to get out, but they just pulled me back in. I guess you can say at the last recording session forRead More →

When I’ve shot 6×7 cameras in the past, I’ve found them clunky and unwieldy. Think back to the Mamiya Universal and RB67. Even the Bronica GS-1 which is better than most. None of these cameras had the style and handling of the Pentax 67II. Now the 67II fixes what I would see as problems with the 6×7 and 67. This camera is a traditional 35mm SLR on steroids and is worthy of the description. There are some cameras that I enjoy instantly, and this camera certainly ranks among those. Thanks to James Lee for loaning out this beauty. Camera Specifications Make: Pentax Model: 67II Type:Read More →

September 2017 marked a milestone for Sheridan College. As a College Sheridan began its life as a collection of Satellite campuses, those campuses closed, the college moved to centralised campuses. One remained the Skills Training Centre. This September that campus would close its doors as the last satellite campus for Sheridan. STC, as it was better known, holds a special spot for me. I worked at the campus for several years, establishing a permanent IT presence at the small campus. So when I learned that the campus was doomed to closure I made a point to return one last time and document it. And documentRead More →

If you’ve ever listened to me talk about film, you’ll know there are some films I have a strong view. I love my Kodak Tri-X and JCH Streetpan 400; then there are the ones I’m not too happy with, that is Ilford HP5+ in 35mm and Delta 400 in general. But what if I could change my mind on just one? Would it give me another tool in the kit to use to get a specific look? Could I shoot four rolls of a film stock and come to like it, even go as far as recommending it? Challenge Accepted. That film isn’t Delta 400,Read More →

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 →

I’ll be the first to admit, the relationship between me and Soviet-built cameras has been a rocky one. My first experience with Soviet cameras was with the Zenit B (this camera’s meterless cousin), it’s lack of automation was my downfall. Next a Zorki 4 with a pinholed shutter curtain, the Keiv 88 wasn’t too bad. I had excellent shots with a Fed-2, and a tonne of problems with a Smena 8m and I don’t even want to speak on the Zenit 122K. But after hearing James Lee (who loaned out this camera originally for review, I have since purchased my own) talk about how greatRead More →

The fine folks behind the film photography promotion website Emulsive have done it again! In the footsteps of last year’s FP4Party, they have started to run a couple of different monthly participation events for film photographers around the globe through the use of Twitter. Sadly I didn’t participate much in the FP4Party mostly because of time conflicts; I decided to make a point to join in on this year’s film parties. Being free of most projects it freed my hand to keep up this time around. This year’s first party is a celebration of Kodak TMax. Tmax a modern film emulsion that was released inRead More →

One more shot, one more shot! While today such a call is commonplace in the day where the number of images you can get is dependent on how fast your camera’s shutter works and how large and fast the memory card that you have in your camera is, but back in the early 20th Century, asking for one more shot could mean sacrificing one in the future. But many iconic images and photographers worked with large format cameras and the idea of a Press Camera pre-dates the camera I’m reviewing today by nearly three decades. While the Crown Graphic is not as well known asRead More →

It’s the red dot special, but not the red dot you were probably expecting. While Leica is best known for their rangefinder cameras, both the older Barnack and the iconic M-Series Leica produces a line of single lens reflex cameras in response to the cameras coming out of Japan. While the early cameras were strictly manufactured by Leica, by the mid-1970s, they had teamed up with Minolta. The agreement produced the Leica CL/Minolta CLE both rangefinder cameras, and the Leica R3/Minolta XE! The first time I picked up this camera, having never used a Leica SLR before I was hoping for something special, but IRead More →