I did not think I would enjoy working with these sorts of cameras. Sort of like how I felt about the RETO Ultra Wide & Slim, the LOMO APPARAT is a simple-use camera centred around an ultra-wide angle lens. But the APPARAT has some other tricks that the RUWS does not have; first, there’s a built-in flash, and second, this camera is far bigger than RUWS. Like all Lomography cameras, it’s centred around making photography fun, abandoning the traditional ideas of sharpness and accuracy. Shoot from the hip and see what happens. But you can quickly determine the different quirks. The APPARAT gives the photographer.Read More →

Last year when I reviewed Fortepan 200, I indicated that I would love to review the 400 and 100 flavours of the Fortepan line. And the film photography community being fantastic, responded. On the post to a Facebook group, a reader indicated they had a large stash of Fortepan 100 and asked if I wanted some. Well, he came through, so thank you to Wendell Anderson for sending over the rolls for this review. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-100, Latitude: 50-400 Formats Available: 135, 120, Sheets Discontinued: 2007 Roll 01 – Kodak D-76 I decided to shoot the firstRead More →

CatLABS is an interesting company, their X Film lineup hit the markets several years back, and I reviewed X Film 80 and loved the stock. But they also included an X Film 320 in their initial lineup. I didn’t review that one because it was only available in 35mm and turned out to be Eastman Double-X 5222, with tweaked developing times. But last year, they announced new versions of both X Film 80 and X Film 320. I will be reviewing X Film 80 later this year, but in the colder, darker months, X Film 320 Pro is the film that will suit the dullerRead More →

When it comes to the world of TLRs, I was hooked from the first time I picked one up; in my case, the LOMO Lubitel 2. But the Lubitel was primitive even for the age when it was produced as a simple camera aimed at budding photographers. And while there is a certain character to the images produced by that T-43 lens, I had hit the gear acquisition hard after listening to the Film Photograph Podcast. Thankfully in those days, the cost of cameras had not yet risen, and you could get excellent deals on almost anything. At a local camera show put on byRead More →

I remember not being overly excited about Rollei Paul & Reinhold when it was first announced in September of 2020. I mean, yes, it is great to see a special edition film released to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of a premier and historic camera maker (Franke & Heidecke later Rollei). There was little data on the film at the time, and there are still many gaps. Given that the actual film stock is unknown, it’s either a limited edition run (made in Italy, not Belgium) or a found stock that has been rebranded. Either way, Rollei has been tight-lipped about the film’s source. Given thatRead More →

Despite being far more niche these days, film photography still hangs on. And while there are plenty of options out there for getting your films lab developed and colour film developed, both C-41 and E-6 is fairly uniform no matter what chemical you buy. Except for E-6, Cinestill has a unique E-6 kit, but that’s a whole other thing. When it comes to Black & White, there is a tonne of options available to you for development. It can seem a bit overwhelming at times. But I have spent close to a decade developing my own Black & White at home and have tried aRead More →

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 →

One of the area’s biggest geological features in the Niagara Escarpment, covered in ancient Carolinian forests, is instantly recognisable and helps new arrivals navigate the area always looming over Milton. Hidden deep in this forest is a lake that holds many secrets, distant voices from the past that allows us to see into the times before my ancestors arrived on this content. This week I went for another hike in my second favourite Halton park, Crawford Lake. The Niagara Escarpment was formed at the end of the last ice age, a massive limestone cliff that runs from the Niagara Penisula to the Bruce Penisula. AlongRead More →

When it comes to films that are not designed for normal pictorial use, I’m not one to shy away from them. That being especially after I went through three of the FilmWashi offerings, one of them being an Optical Audio Recording film. Even before I had loaded up Washi S into a camera, I had been approached by the Film Photography Project to beta test a new film they had acquired and were planned to release after collecting some developing times for the film. The name was FPP Super Sonic, and like Washi S, is an optical audio recording film. The idea of recording audioRead More →

I never heard of the Duex before as I scrolled past the cameras being offered up for free on the Toronto Film Shooters Facebook Group, and this camera certainly caught my eye. One of the first things to catch me attention is the design of the camera, it screams art deco and saw the production during the height of the style’s popularity. The camera itself is asking to be used amongst the amazing architecture of The Loop in Chicago, Illinois or Manhatten in New York City. But since we’re in the time of plague still, it’ll have to be more local. The Duex is oneRead More →