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At the end of my 24mm f/2.8 review I asked: Do I now need to find and invest in the 20mm? Well if you’re reading this review, the answer was yes. I enjoy working with wide-angle lenses, and while I do have the lovely 17-35/2.8-4 D ultra-wide zoom, there’s something special about an ultra-wide prime lens. I started looking at getting this particular lens after I finished my 24/2.8 review for the A-Mount. The desire to add one to my A-Mount kit only increased after picking up the 14mm f/2.8D for my Nikon kit. I was always concerned about the cost of these lenses; usually,Read More →

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In: 1812:Revisited
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The western division of the British Forces in North America was in a tough spot, as was the Naval Squadron on Lake Erie. Both were starved for men, arms, and supplies. Despite several requests to their superiors, both Major-General Henry Proctor and Commodore Robert Barclay were forced to divide what little they had between them. For Proctor, the failure to dislodge or delay the army of Major-General William Henry Harrison by land left a rift between him and the Indigenous forces under the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. He had holed up at Fort Amherstburg and hung all his hopes on a naval victory on Lake Erie.Read More →

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If you have never heard of FX-37, don’t worry. I didn’t know about the developer either until I saw a post from Flic Film about it on their Instagram feed. It fits in with the plethora of other “FX” developers, some of which I have reviewed on the blog (FX-39 II and FX-2). FX-37 is the invention of noted British photographer Geoffrey Crawley to solve the problem of sharpness in T-Grained emulsions. As a developer, FX-37 is a non-solvent developer designed to maximise the sharpness of these modern emulsions but can also work with traditional cubic-grained films. Technical Details Manufacturer: Flic Film Name: Crawley’s FX-37Read More →

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One of my favourite events to attend in the GTHA is Hamilton’s Doors Open event. This was my first experience with architectural tours and has for many years been my birthday present to myself. My original plan for this year was to hit up locations in Ancaster and Dundas. I wanted to check out some of the historic churches in those communities, but what struck me as interesting is that not a single church was listed as being part of Doors Open Hamilton this year. So I went back with what I knew, downtown Hamilton and the industrial sector. I got in four locations thisRead More →

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In: 1812:Revisited
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The loss of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock had been keenly felt through the first part of 1813; while Major-General Henry Proctor had defended the British line in the west, the losses at York and Niagara had dealt a major blow to the British morale. It also did not help that almost every major ship-to-ship engagement had resulted in an American victory. And now with York still rebuilding and nearly the entire Niagara peninsula under American control and Chauncy back in Sacketts Harbor protecting Lake Ontario, the British needed victory to ensure that the whole of Upper Canada be preserved. Major-General Roger Hale Sheaffe was reassignedRead More →

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The Minolta Zoom 24-105mm is Minolta’s late-model elevated kit lens, released initially with the Maxxum 7. It was designed to be better than the lower spec kit lens, the 28-100mm. And you know, when you put the two lenses next to each other, the 24-105 is a far better lens and doesn’t carry a hefty price tag. In all fairness, I was not happy with the results I got from the 28-100, and my copy broke and had to be fixed with a doner lens. However, the 24-105 is only slightly better as a lens because despite being an elevated kit lens, it is stillRead More →

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The first six months of the war had not gone as planned for the United States. Rather than a swift capture of Amherstburg, Niagara, and Kingston, the swift actions of the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock resulted in the capture of Mackinac Island, Fort Detroit and Michigan Territory down to the River Raisin, and a repulse of the invasion across the Niagara River which cost him his life at the Battle of Queenston Heights. The death of General Brock was a significant blow, as his replacement, Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, proved to be a far less effective administrator and military leader. It got bad enoughRead More →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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My history with Consumer’s Glass starts somewhere other than Hamilton, but rather my hometown of Milton. One of the earliest abandoned locations I ‘discovered’ after getting a hot tip was the former Milton plant, but that was among the final Consumer’s Glass plants constructed and among the first to be torn down. The Milton works, completed in the late 1970s and became operational in 1980, was a local landmark, the tall silos standing over a small industrial section and easily seen when heading east on the 401 approaching Highway 25. The Hamilton works, however, were far more interesting, not only larger but older, much olderRead More →

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Lieutenant-General George Prevost, Governor-General of British North America, was displeased with his subordinate, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. General Brock had disobeyed his orders, and instead of sticking to defence, he had gone on an offence and captured both Mackinac Island and Detroit from the Americans. President James Madison was unhappy with the results of the first months of the war, especially the surrender with little to no fight by the defenders. But what got Prevost was that Brock had received high praise for his actions and a knighthood. And with news that the Orders-In-Council were being repealed and the main complaint and the source ofRead More →

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Last year, I participated in a ‘hidden project. Usually, when I do a photography project, I have regular blog posts and a Flickr album all related to it. But not this one; this was another group project called 12 Months On Film; it ran on Instagram and was moderated by the Film Shooters Collective. The purpose was to get cameras off shelves, film out of fridges and enjoy photography. The guidelines were simple, shoot a different camera each month, you could use different film stocks, developers or all the same, but the camera had to be different each month. A rather nice change from theRead More →