There are new developers, there are old developers, and then there is Rodinal. First released in 1891 by Agfa, Rodinal is the brainchild of the Doctor, not that Doctor, but Dr Momme Anderesen who disliked the reliance on hydroquinone in the traditional film developers of the day. Instead, he began work on using Aromatic Amines in 1880 before settling on p-aminophenol. The result is the developer we call today Rodinal. And for much of its life was a closely guarded secret by Agfa, at least until the patent expired. And while today Agfa exists, Rodinal has taken on many different forms, but the same formula.Read More →

If there’s one thing that dominates the downtown of Milton is the churches, there are three historic churches and one new one that occupies the main street. This one is mine; I can say that because Knox Presbyterian Church is where I was raised other than at my childhood home. And today I still attend and help lead the congregation. The history of Prebyertians in Milton stretches back to the early days of the town’s first expansion in 1840. The first Presbyterian church in Milton, St. Andrew’s, saw the establishment in 1846 as a branch of the Church of Scotland. I say that only becauseRead More →

I first saw this lens mounted on the front of a Nikon F3 with an MD-4 motor drive attached and I can honestly say it would be the first time I ever saw f/1.4 glass. Most of my past 50mm lenses were either f/1.7 or f/1.8. And while it’s not too much difference between the two apertures, there is plenty different between the two lenses. The AI-S Nikkor 50/1.4 carries forward the tradition of the fast Nikon 50 Nikon would be the first camera company to introduce such a lens back in 1950. And while optically, the formula has changed, the AI-S version is theRead More →

I’m one of the lucky ones, I have only had to move houses once in my entire life. That move happened three years ago when I got married. Most of my life was spent here, on this street in the same house from the moment I was born to the moment I moved out. I liked this street, it was quiet, it was friendly, and there were lots of families with kids near my age. There were trails that connected to parks that one could ride bikes on or just walk along. I could walk to all the schools I attended. And importantly it wasRead More →

If the standard Svema Foto films are too grainy for you, how about stepping it down a notch and picking up a roll of Foto FN64, or FN64. Before this review, I had only shot a single roll of the stuff, and it did not turn out well. I eventually figured out that due to the thin PET base, the film is subject to light piping, and I ended up fogging the whole roll. Now if you’re a fan of the slower film that is having something different from what you get from other typical films, then FN64 is something for you to try. AndRead More →

I’m not a farmer, not in any sense of the word. I’ve never driven a tractor, milked a cow, ploughed, harvested or anything. And yet, Milton despite the insane growth over the past decade and a half the town remains firmly rooted in its rural foundations. And while the sprawl has reached out and struck through many of the farms that once surrounded the town’s core. Where I live now used to be a farm field for most of the years I’ve been alive. Yet you don’t have to go far to see the farms still that surround Milton. Plus we have several big farmsRead More →

When it comes to some cameras on the market, you have to wonder what the company or the designers were thinking when they decided that such a camera would be a good idea. One such camera is the Nikkorex line, well at least the fixed lens versions. Nikon had a good reputation among camera manufacturers; they had their successful rangefinders. They hit it big time with the Nikon F. But then decided to try and enter the consumer market. And like many camera companies at the time they decided to do this by producing a fixed lens SLR with a leaf shutter. To be honest,Read More →

Next to the Minolta HiMatic 7s which got me first into photography, the Nikon F80 is the one that brought me back into the wonderful world of film and introduced me to the magic of Nikon AF lenses and Nikkor glass in general. I received this camera as a gift and immediately found myself very much attached to the system. You might say that the F80 is the camera that caused me to invest in the Nikon SLR system and switch from Minolta. From the F80 I got the D70s, D300 and my current main SLR the Nikon F5. And while many of the lensesRead More →

If you are a follower of my work and this blog, you’ll know that I tend to combine my love of history with my love of photography. And when I learned that the FP4Party was coming back in 2020, I made a plan to shoot four rolls over four days and just keep it random such as what I had always done in the past. But sometimes things and situations change and suddenly the weekend of the FP4Party shoot week became busy with some family matters calling my attention. I had to sit back down at the drawing board and figure out a new plan,Read More →

While Milton itself doesn’t have any real involvement in the significant events in Canadian history, our existence is thanks to the War of 1812. Following the war’s conclusion in 1815, the Colonial Office in England began to encourage increased colonial expansion into Upper Canada. After the widespread purchase of large tracts of land from the Mississauga’s of the Credit, a section designated at Lot 14, Concession 2 of the Trafalgar Township went to Jasper Martin. After emigrating to Upper Canada along with his wife Sarah and two sons, Joseph and Edward, Jasper would settle on his plot in 1821. Within a year Jasper had aRead More →