The Nikon F is the great-grandfather of all the professional level Nikon SLRs, yes even modern digital professional digital SLRs can trace their ancestry back to the Nikon F. The Nikon F introduced the idea of a system SLR where everything could be swapped out to make the camera fit the task you wanted it to do and your own personal style as a photographer and saw production for just under two decades before being replaced by the Nikon F2. For this review, I’ll be running with a Nikon F Photomic FTn however the meter is no longer working. The Dirt Make: Nikon Model: FRead More →

The Nikon F5, at first glance you might mistake it for a digital SLR. I certainly have been asked ‘what sensor is in that camera’ and depending on my mood and my general view of the person asking I might reply with something a little more sarcastic, other times a simple response is “oh a 36x24mm or full-frame as it’s called in digital photography.” The F5 was my second grail camera after switching over to a Nikon system from Minolta, in fact, I picked up the battery grip for the F80 to make it look like an F5 because at the time the F5 wasRead More →

If there is a single camera out there that most people will associate with professional film photographers, it is the Hasselblad V-System. Designed and built in Sweeden, the Hasselblad is the luxury camera of the medium format market. While the 500c is the original model to use a leaf shutter, it is a good entry point into the Hasselblad system if you can find one at the right price. Thankfully I was able to find a complete setup (lens, finder, back) for a reasonable price, but soon found that there is a certain cost to owning a Hasselblad system. And the fact you can’t justRead More →

Before we begin, even still today I am primarily a Nikon shooter. Sure I have had a couple of Canon cameras come through my collection throughout the years, in fact this is my second AE-1 Program to come and go. The first camera went on to help out my friend Nick in Ohio with a photography course he took in University and the second, this camera, went to my friend Laura from the 49th after her T50 kicked the bucket. But when it comes to Canon cameras and if you are a friend and fan of the Film Photography Podcast, the Canon AE-1 Program isRead More →

When I call the Rolleiflex 2.8F the oldest camera in my toolkit, that doesn’t mean it is oldest by age, rather oldest having been in my toolkit the longest of any other cameras. I got the camera in 2010 after buying it from the original owner. The original owner having purchased it in Germany in 1969 along with most major accessories, and since then it became a near-constant companion. And the camera saw a lot of action from trips to abandoned buildings, nature to weddings and other portrait sessions. The Rolleiflex 2.8F is my third and honestly final TLR in my kit having solidified myRead More →

Accept no copy, the one the only, the iconic camera that started out life as the bargain model that featured the new K-Mount (Introduced in 1975), but has since gained greater popularity, and the camera you most likely used in your High School Photography Course, is the Pentax K1000. This all mechanical marvel is the essential student camera and general beater that can be used pretty much anywhere in the world today! The wide range of top quality lenses and ease of use saw it named the Film Photography Project’s Camera of the Year for 2014 and after having several passes in and out ofRead More →

When my Nikon F80 started to flake out, I needed a replacement, but in those days the Nikon F5 (my grail camera) remained financially out of reach, so I went with the one step down from the F5, the F4. The camera quickly gained my trust as the go-to 35mm camera when I headed out into the field and lasted in my collection for several years before I switched to the Nikon F5 and even then there was overlap. Despite the flaws of the early autofocus, the LCD bleed, and limitations with manual focus and AF-G lenses, the F4 became a constant companion. I knewRead More →

Publisher, Parliamentarian, and Traitor, the strange case of Joseph Willcocks started in 1773, born in the Republic of Ireland, at the age of 27 the young man found his way to the town of York in Upper Canada. He soon found employment as the private clerk of the receiver general, Peter Russell, but it would not last, as Russell was not pleased with Willcocks’ advances towards his half-sister. But that did not stop Willcocks, who found another patron quickly in the form of the colony’s chief justice, Henry Allcock and with his influence was appointed to Home District Sheriff. However his views on the landRead More →

Control of the lakes were key during the War of 1812 as the fastest way to move troops, equipment, and supplies was by water. Most the roads in the Canadas and the US weren’t the super highways we know today, they were nothing more than dirt roads that would easily become mud pits in the snow and rain. To maintain control of the lakes both sides maintained squadrons of ships that could keep the enemy pinned in their own bases. Unlike Lake Erie which was controlled first by the British because the US Naval Squadron had been captured in 1812 after Brock captured Detroit, andRead More →

The Cold War was an exciting period of history and one of my favourites. Cloak and Dagger affairs, Nuclear Weapons, Spies, Jets, and the such. The CF-104 Starfighter is my second favourite jet of the era, the first being the doomed Avro CF-105 Arrow. But the Starfighter was unique, wildly different from jets of the day and had some rather unique nicknames, such as the Aluminium Death Tube, The Lawn Dart, and The Flying Phallus. But it certainly cuts a unique figure. Like the CF-86 Sabre before, the CF-104 was built by Canadair under licence using the Lockheed F-104G template. These would make up Canada’sRead More →