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When it comes to Ilford developers here in North America, we have access to most of their chemical stocks. But there is one that is a bit of a unicorn, and that is Ilfotec LC29, and I can’t see why! This is a developer that, despite being close to Ilfotec HC, does not produce images in line with what Ilfotec HC produces, and it is far easier to pour than Ilfotec HC! I splashed it a little bit at how easily it flowed. Right from the start, I knew I had a winner here in LC29 and feel bad that it isn’t readily available hereRead More →

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You can never have too many D-76/ID-11 clones. And while there are tonnes already on the market, plus the capacity to mix one up yourself at home. I want to introduce the latest clone on the market, Flic Film Classic MQ. Flic Film is a new Canadian film lab based in Alberta, Canada. While they focus on re-rolling motion picture film stock, they have a healthy film chemistry group. In addition to their brilliant Black/White & Green, among their offerings is a D-76 clone, Classic MQ (Metol/Hydroquinone). But it is available in the smaller 1L volume rather than mixing up a whole gallon of stockRead More →

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I like a camera with history, something unique, a variant or a failed move forward. While I’m a Nikon shooter, Nikon cameras are fairly dull in the broader picture of photographic history. Sure, Nikon cameras often set the standard for photography and technology, but they often played it safe. On the flip side, Canon tried different things, they experimented, and sometimes it worked. Other times it was too early. The Canon Pellix is a fine example of the engineers at the company in the 1960s who wanted to try everything to improve photography. Sadly they were several decades ahead of the game. Thanks to OriRead More →

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I had to go back into my archives to see if I ever posted anything directly related to my 2015 trip to Europe. And yes, the images did appear in several review posts, but I never made a great post about the trip. I don’t understand why! But it probably got caught up in my poorly managed posting schedule, which I only in the past couple of years got onto the right track and had some semblance of order. But either way, I think for this Friday, I get things in order and revisit a special trip of mine with some insights into that tripRead More →

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The year was 2013, a new voice had recently joined the Film Photography Podcast, one Mat Marrash. Mat had dived headfirst into the world of film photography and had not looked back and begun speaking about a type of developer I had never heard of before, Pyro developers. Well, I was instantly interested, having myself dived headfirst into the wonderful world of home B&W development. I was also looking for something outside the normal D-76, HC-110, and Rodinal developers. Well, this Pyrocat-HD stuff seemed interesting, but getting it shipped to Canada proved difficult at the time, so with a trip to New York City inRead More →

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When it comes to metering for precision, there is nothing better than a spot meter, but most spot meters these days are expensive, both new and on the used market. The first and only spot meter I’ve used is the Pentax Spotmeter V. This analogue 1° spot meter has become the accessory that always gets thrown in my bag when I’m out with my Crown Graphic Hasselblad or Mamiya for precision tripod-based work. The meter served me through almost my entire War of 1812 project, Canadian Confederation and most recently, the Railway project. A simple easy to use device that allowed me to execute aRead More →

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Being in North America and raised on Kodak and Ilford developers, I did not even know that Atomal existed, other than seeing it listed on the Massive Dev chart and just passing it by as another European developer. But when I was hunting for more Rollei developers at Freestyle, I came across Atomal 49 as an ‘other people purchased’ listing. I was excited to give this a shot, and after mixing it up, I posted in a Film Photography Chat group on Facebook and asked if anyone else had used the stuff. The response was overwhelming how many people used the stuff. However, the bestRead More →

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When you read the datasheet for Adox Silvermax Developer, you almost can think that this is the secret cypher key to unlock the best possible results when using Adox Silvermax film as the developer is used to unlock a secret silver reserve in Silvermax films and use it to the best photographic potential. Now I’m no language expert, especially German, but I feel that something got lost in translation. (Checks translation), okay, dormant reserves. Either way, this developer is best used with Silvermax films, as it couples with the specialised sensitiser used in that film’s production. But don’t let that stop you as the developerRead More →

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When a developer and a film stock are so intertwined or one was made for the other it makes you think of a closed image system. I have plenty of experience working with those, not surprisingly also from Adox, but also Kodak Techincal Pan comes to mind. While the film and the developer are specifically designed for each other, both can be used in other developers and on other films. However, don’t think of Adox HR-DEV as a one or two-trick pony as despite the name it is a wonderful developer that does more than just develop Adox HR-50. While the bottle only lists twoRead More →

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There are a couple of highly specialised and mysterious developers out there, both made by the same company. While most people are drawn towards Diafine (which I plan on reviewing next year), Acufine is the cousin of that magic bullet developer. Like Diafine, Acufine’s chemistry is a trade secret; even the datasheets are redacted in that sense. But Acufine is a rare bird; it has the capability to increase the speed of most film stocks. But without all the drawbacks of push processing, increased grain, over the top contrast. While I have worked with Acufine before the stuff was way out of date, and IRead More →