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In: Between Darkness & Light
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The massive silos at the foot of Bathurst Street caught my attention long before I started going into abandoned buildings; I actually feel that these silos and a set of abandoned houses on Derry Road near Pearson Airport (long demolished now) are what first drew me into the world of Urban Exploration and the natural curiosity to see what was behind those closed doors and boarded up windows. I also vaguely remember seeing figures up at the tallest point one night coming back from a Blue Jays game. Either way, the Canadian Malting Company silos in Toronto were one of the grail locations for manyRead More →

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In: Classic Camera Revival
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It’s been a while since we’ve done an entire episode dedicated to Canon cameras and today we have some real treats! We’re discussing the earliest Canon cameras, those LTM rangefinders that put Canon on the map and more importantly Canon LTM glass, some talk about the AE-1 and AE-1 Program, and a little bit about choosing the right EOS camera for you. And if you are looking at getting into Canon’s rangefinder line, Bill cannot recommend enough the wonderful book Canon Rangefinder Cameras 1933-68 by Peter Dechert! We’re also welcoming a special guest who is no stranger to CCR, Alex Smith is back with hisRead More →

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In: Frugal Film Project
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Per Ardua Ad Astra – Through Adversity to the Stars As a personal rule, I tried hard to avoid using the same locations twice, but there are always exceptions. Last year I featured one of my favourite local museums, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. While that post was directly about the museum itself, for this year the museum is merely a backdrop for something different, a celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Air Power through the century. The one thing that you’ll notice in this post is an expanding history section and also a selectionRead More →

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I first discovered a package of Kodak Microdol-X in the back of an old camera shop in Pittsburg, PA. Microdol-X was Kodak’s original fine-grain developer before being supplanted by Kodak Xtol. Although both But Microdol-X was much loved by those who used it and I’ll admit, it’s an excellent developer. Thankfully as a powder developer even those old pouches have a long shelf life, but the supply is limited. Thankfully the fine folks at LegacyPro have an answer, Mic-X, a complete clone of the original Microdol-X that uses all the original times and dilutions. Technical Details Manufacturer: LegacyPro Name: Mic-X Primary Developer: Metol Type: Reusable/One-ShotRead More →

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I was more familiar with Robert Preston in his final role as Centauri in The Last Starfighter but my mom and my wife will always sing the line “Gary, Indiana” from the movie “The Music Man” and while it might have tripped along softly on the tongue this way. The city of Gary today is a far cry from what it once was in the early 20th Century. This boom steel town has seen its highs and is now in its lows. I would have loved to include every building I explored in Gary in my “Between Darkness & Light” Series, the simple fact isRead More →

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In: Musings
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While every type of review I write comes with unique problems, nothing is more challenging than writing a film review. Film reviews have been done for years, mostly in dusty photographic journals and magazines and reviewed under exact conditions and in large quantities. If I tried to follow these methods, it would take me years to complete and require a large volume of films, cameras, lenses, and equipment I need more room for. Like all my reviews, I set out my method to work within the realms of what I wanted these reviews to cover: the basics. I’ve aimed these at beginner and intermediate photographersRead More →

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Sometimes you just need to get out and shoot with no real plans. On Canada Day, we wanted to head out somewhere and get some fresh air before everywhere got busy with the Canada Day celebrations. Where didn’t matter as long as we could get some fresh air and enjoy some sunshine. We settled on Burlington’s downtown. I took along my Elan 7 with the 50mm lens and a roll of Fomapan 200 loaded. I didn’t have any real plans or subject matters for what I was going to photograph with the roll I only wanted to try something different and look for patterns orRead More →

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In: Classic Camera Revival
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No shade on Polaroid…. Today, we have a pair of Chrises on the show; Chris Erickson is joining Chrissie! If that name isn’t familiar, he’s Just Another Chris who loves his instant film! He went from producing and being behind the scenes of various other YouTube channels to putting out his own content focused on instant film. He shoots everything from Instax to modern Polaroid. He produces many amazing videos and isn’t afraid to present his reviews, warts and all, making his channel one of the best sources for reviews of Polaroid and other Instant products. You can find Chris’ work on the following socialRead More →

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Hot show based lightmeters are nothing new, one of the first accessories I got for my Barnack Leica was a Voitlander VCII and even before that Leitz released their own dedicated shoe mounted meter for the M-Series of rangefinders. But ever since the release of the Reveni Labs LM-1, there has been a massive upsurge of similar OLED based shoe meters. So when I was contacted by AstriHori if I wanted to review their newest shoe meter, the Lightmeter II or XH-2 I jumped at the chance. I had heard of AstriHori in passing mostly through ads on my social media feeds but also withRead More →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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Regarding locations, the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant is by far the largest location I ever explored and only a tiny percentage of the total area. This massive factory is terribly repeatable, as it was designed to be an enormous plant for the production of smokeless powder during the Second World War. Based on what I’ve read and seen, I spent almost all the time at the Indiana Ordnance Works No. 1 and a bit of the Hoiser Ordnance Works. Either way, this was a single location I spent five hours at, but I still feel that I only saw a little but at theRead More →