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There have been a lot of great releases of developers onto the market of late, including refreshes and clones of some of my favourites. And this won’t be the last time you see a clone of a beloved developer in this series. But with the dull grey days of winter starting to pile on, now is the time to begin using developers designed to help push development and ensure your fast films keep their fine grain. But there’s something that sets Bellini EcoFilm developer apart from other Xtol clones, such as Adox XT-3, which is that the concentrate comes in liquid form rather than powder.Read More →

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This past year has been a lot of fun looking at different cameras. While some of these cameras I will have already released a review, others will be coming out next year. But that’s the thing about writing these reviews is that I’m often working 2-3 months ahead of the actual release. I put a lot of work into these reviews, between looking up specs, shooting multiple rolls of film through the cameras and trying to get the best results so I can give a fair and balanced review. But a group in the film photography blogging community decided to put out a series ofRead More →

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This isn’t my first experience with Tasma film, I have shot NK-II in the past and their Type 25L. As a company, Tasma or Тасма has been producing photographic products since 1933. The name is a shortened version of Татарские светочувствительные материалы or Tatar Sensitized Materials, and they have carried that name since 1974. Originally operating under the name Film Factory No. 8, the Kazan-based factory continued operations through the entirety of the Soviet involvement in World War II and earned the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1944. Following the collapse of the USSR, the company reorganised as a private firm inRead More →

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Here in southern Ontario, I could not have asked for a better week to celebrate Holga Week 2022. After last year, when it rained for most days, I only shot a single roll through the iconic plastic toy camera. But then again, I was doing a video for YouTube, so I had to make some sacrifices. This year I had planned to do a showdown between two Holgas of the same type and see how different the two cameras were from each other. But I forgot about that early enough to get that second Holga (maybe next year). So I decided to make the filmRead More →

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The first thing you’re going to think when you take a look at a C220f is that this is going to be a heavy camera, and then you’re going to pick it up and notice that it is relatively light for its size and form factor. I love a good system camera, but outside of the SLR world, there isn’t much in the way of system cameras in the medium format realm. At least until you look up Mamiya’s rather interesting C-Series of TLRs, they are proper TLRs in every way, but it’s also a complete system camera with interchangeable lenses, grips, and finders; theRead More →

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When it comes to instant film, there isn’t much that draws me to the medium. Other than the fact that it’s an instant film, it’s amazing that after Polaroid pulled the plug, someone was able to backwards engineer and recreate it. And I’ve been with them since the beginning from those early steps and some pretty terrible prototypes. And while Impossible Project turned to Polaroid Originals to reclaim the Polaroid name, the spirit of this has remained and started to produce normal repeatable products. Sure they may have lost their spirit of adventure, having a colour instant integral film in the 21st Century is somethingRead More →

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This was truly Minolta’s last hurrah; the age of the film SLR was starting to come to a close. Rather than let it go out with a whimper, Minolta took things by the reigns and rode out into the sunset with a sixth and final generation of film cameras before merging with Konica and leaving 35mm behind. Meet the Maxxum 70, elsewhere known as the Dynax 60 or α-70. While much of the final era of cameras from Minolta were continuations of their original three market segments, the Maxxum 9 (Professionals), Maxxum 7 (Advanced Amatures), and Maxxum 5 (Consumers). But this final subset of camerasRead More →

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Once you have it down, one of the most satisfying parts of home development is taking it to the next level is building your B&W developer. And the first developer for many photographers that they brewed up themselves, including me, is Caffenol. As the name implies, it’s a developer with a coffee base. Specifically, the caffeic acid that is found in instant coffee. While it’s easy to buy all the raw material in your average grocery store to build your caffenol, there is something nice about having a ready-made pack. And it should come as no surprise that the fine folks at the Film PhotographyRead More →

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I love black & white in all forms, film, digital, and even instant. And up until only recently, the only way to get B&W instant film was through Polaroid (formerly Impossible & Polaroid Originals). From the start, the B&W stocks from this new generation of the instant integral film have been the strongest performers. But it only got better as the formulation was improved. Today the new BW600 is perhaps the instant film I reach for the most, although not too much due to the cost of the stock. It gives pleasing images and is always a fun go-around and works in almost all generationsRead More →

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If you’ve followed my photography journey, one of the first developers that became a favourite is Kodak HC-110, which switched to Ilfotec HC last year when I finished off my final bottle of the OG HC-110. But sometimes, you have to send in the clones. I’ve been aware of LegacyPro, and other clones HC-110 developers for some time but have never thought to give them a try. But after learning that Ilfotec LC29 is a variant of Ilfotec HC, I made a point to try L110. L110 is HC-110 but in an easier to pour format. To make the point that it will perform exactlyRead More →