The year was 2012; I had been shooting film in a far more serious way for three years at that point. I learned of a speciality film store called Freestyle Photographic from an episode of the Film Photography Project. They had all sorts of weird films from Europe that I had never heard of nor seen at my local camera store (which at that time was either Henry’s or Burlington Camera). With companies like Efke and Adox, strange, exotic for my North American sensibilities. I purchased a pile of Efke and Adox CHS Art films, both in 35mm and 120, 50 and 100-speed offerings. WhileRead More →

If there is one film that has achieved a little bit of a cult following these days it’s Adox Silvermax. Silvermax was the first true film to come out of the renewed Adox Fotowerks GmbH factory in Bad Sarrow, Germany and its parent company Fotoimpex. Based on a classic Agfa film, which some people think is rebadged Agfa Scala 200 (a legendary B&W reversal film), it has a higher than normal silver content and when paired with Adox Silvermax Developer presents a classic B&W look. If you were a fan of the older Adox and Efke films, then Silvermax will be your jam (I Hope).Read More →

When I originally planned out this week of the project, I had a completely different name for the entry, “The Second Wedge”, after Uxbridge’s position in the Second Wedge of the Oak Ridges Moraine and a local craft brewery. But after spotting an interesting statue downtown, which I initially thought was another war memorial, I decided to change the name. It was not another war memorial, not in the cenotaph sense that many communities across Ontario feature in their downtown; this was a memorial to Samuel Sharpe. A Lieutenant-Colonel in World War One, Distinguished Service Order recipient, Member of Parliament, and dead at 45 byRead More →

There’s something to be said about being able to hammer out an entire roll of thirty-six exposures in a single location in a short period of time. Sure, it’s easy to do when you have a medium format roll with 15, 12 or 10 exposures. But thirty-six can be a bit trying. Thankfully, the introduction of multiple lenses helps, especially when you set limits on how many frames you can shoot with one focal length. This week we’re still in Milton (ish) [Esquesing actually] exploring one of the oldest churches in the region, Boston Presbyterian Church. And to add to this week’s excitement, these wereRead More →

Over the previous year, I worked hard to expand my knowledge of black & white film developers and find myself down a deep rabbit hole. Some good, some meh. Some I didn’t care for or I found them to be too specialised for average use. And while I have several up for review later this year and you can check those out later, here are seven that have stood out in my head as worthy of using again and of getting you out of the rut of using the more vanilla developers like D-76/ID-11, HC-110/Ilfotec HC, and Rodinal. 1 – Adox FX-39 II Based onRead More →

It’s funny how some developers just drop right into your lap. One of my readers, Jon Porter, wanted to know my thoughts on FX-39. And at the time I had never even heard of Adox FX-39, so I hopped onto my source for the rarer chemicals, Argentix.ca, and found that yes they did carry Adox FX-39 II. Is this new version any different from OG FX-39, not on the surface, it just has been adjusted to last longer. But that wouldn’t be a problem. I went through my first 500mL bottle quickly and in a couple of months. FX-39 is based on Neofin Red (createdRead More →

I’ll have to admit, ever since I went to Europe in 2015, I’ve wanted to add some sort of folding medium format camera to my collection. Something compact, shooting at least 6×4.5 or 6×6. And for a little while earlier this year, I had my eye on a Mamiya Six (the original one, not the modern rangefinder). After reading and searching, I realised that there were too many questions about the Mamiya Six and stopped looking. And then this beauty fell into my lap, and I’m glad it did. The Ikonta 521 might not be the best folding camera out there, but it is exactlyRead More →

Like the Canal, the industries that formed along the corridor needed to adapt and change as technology, power, and market demand changed throughout history. During the early day of the Canal, industries could get by working in a relatively small area. Local grain, timber, and materials were brought to the mills, and then the products were used within the local market. The Canadian Industry during the first part of the 19th Century remained local, colonial, provincial. They were dedicated mainly to the extraction and processing of raw materials. But the 1850s brought two significant changes, the first being an effective railway network that provided furtherRead More →

If you’re a long time listener to the Film Photography Project, you might recognise the name of the camera I’m reviewing today, but that is not the camera I’m referencing. There’s a certain soundbite used in some earlier episodes the Agfa Clack as said by one Dan Domme. The Click-II is the younger cousin to the Clack, unlike the Clack, the Click and Click-II shoots 6×6 and is a bit of a strange duck given that the Click-II saw production starting in 1959 long after the days of the simple box camera. Yet, even today cameras like the Click-II see a level of popularity amongRead More →

One of the biggest mistakes I made was giving away my Nikon FM2n as a gift, thinking that I would be OK with the Nikon FA. And while these days to replace an FM2n is a costly endeavour, they have shot up in price since I bought mine. I have since come to terms that the only way to get an FM2n again is to have one returned as a gift. But what about an earlier model, the camera that you could say started it all? Released as a result of the OM-System, the Nikon FM ushered in a new age of Nikon built aroundRead More →