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Well, here we are at the start of a new year and looking back at last year’s outstanding Frugal Film Project! I had a lot more fun with this project, and it helped nurture my soft spot for consumer 1990s/2000s SLRs. It’s funny; I never saw these as viable cameras before, yet they have a beautiful charm. You don’t have to worry too much because they can be a dime a dozen. Plus, they work with many lenses that most people use with their other autofocus systems. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Minolta (Sony) all have lenses that work on both digital (full-frame) and 35mm bodies.Read More →

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Regarding films and photography, you encounter polarisation daily—your choice of film, camera, developer, and even how you shoot or your subject matter. But among the more divisive film stocks, one brand stands out: Foma. Now I’m a reborn fan of Foma films. Initially, I was unhappy with the results, but I soon learned to like them once I learned how to develop them. While I’m still on the fence about Fomapan 200, I’m a big fan of Fomapan 100 and Fomapan 400. And back in 2019, on a trip to Chicago, I grabbed a couple of rolls of Foma Retropan 320, hoping to find somethingRead More →

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You will have to pry my Rolleiflex from my cold dead hands. But as wonderful as they are to use and the top-notch images, they aren’t the cheapest camera. But the folks at Rollei (Franke & Heidecke) realised that the cost of their cameras put them out of reach of many photographers. Enter the Rolleicord, the low-cost TLR, in the greater Rollei ecosystem, is the lowest tier, with the 2.8 Rolleiflexs at the top, followed by the 3.5 Rolleiflexes next and then Rolleicord. But that doesn’t mean you should turn your nose up at these cameras. While they never reached the same level of technologicalRead More →

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What Was I Thinking… In the world of film developers, there are many options for almost any film type and situation, and then there are the weird ones associated with closed imaging systems. And then there are developers like Formulary FX-2. I enjoy working with the strange, trying to use them to crack a tough film stock or figure out where a developer will fit within my film-developing kit. And through these reviews, I have found several that will be useful going forward. Developers like FX-39 II, Atomal 49, and R09 Spezial have now found spots in my kit as excellent film development tools. AndRead More →

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When it comes to reviewing cameras, I love reviewing the cameras that have impacted photography or are relatively cool and unique. And this camera is one that I have referenced a couple of times in the past as being part of a significant stepping stone in Canon’s journey towards an autofocus camera. While autofocus first hit the markets in point-and-shoot cameras, building an AF system for an all-in-one camera is easy; putting it in an interchangeable lens SLR is another ballgame. When Minolta jumped right in with the A-Mount, Canon took a more cautious approach even before Minolta launched the Alphas. The AL-1 was aRead More →

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Have you already reviewed this film? The answer would be yes and also no. ORWO Wolfen NP100 is a film that is a variant of the cult favourite motion picture film, UN54+. However, the folks at Filmotec have added an anti-halation and anti-static layer to the film stock to make it better for still photography. And that’s enough of a change for me to warrant a full-on review. Now the history of ORWO is complicated; the company was formed from the original home of Agfa in the German town of Wolfen. When World War Two divided Germany in the post-war era, Wolfen ended up inRead More →

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I had a lot of fun looking at the dedicated line of Foma developers this year. Yes, they produce a couple of clones but have three developers unique only to their company. LQN crossed my desk after someone suggested that it is the dedicated developer for Fomapan 200. And having struggled with Fomapan 200, I wanted to give this one a shot. I initially thought I would have to get it shipped by the slow European route. I soon discovered that my local source of rare developers had some in stock, so I got a bottle. LQN is the sibling to Fomadon LQR. But unlikeRead More →

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If there is one lens that helped put Nikon on the map, it is an 85mm lens. This lens traces back to when Nikon stepped into the camera market but had yet to make a worldwide splash. A Japanese and American photographer helped take the company to worldwide status, and a simple 85mm lens in Leica Thread Mount showed them the way. The 85mm f/1.8D helped continue that legacy and is one I have a unique viewpoint on. While I did use this lens in the past, I wasn’t too fond of it despite producing some fantastic results. The problem I only recently found outRead More →

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It has been awhile since we got a new product from the folks at FilmFerrania in Italy. While they are not anywhere close to releasing a slide film (it was a pipe dream from the start in my opinion) they have recently released a slightly slower film from their original P30 release. It has also taken some time for this film to reach me here in North America. But it was well worth the wait, because it takes a lot to make a film, so any new film in 2023 is a good thing for the eco-system. Of course, Orto is not without challenges, itRead More →

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This month is a weird entry into the project. for this year. I have focused on a single place to photograph, usually a town, location or event—something with a defined history and story, and yes, even a maple syrup festival counts. And no, before you ask, I’m not a closet K-Pop fan, and this has nothing to do with the band by the same name. Instead, B.T.S. is a term used within film/T.V./theatre to indicate behind-the-scenes. The idea came from a challenge that I gave to a person over on Twitter who wanted an idea for photography. I suggested that he photograph the backsides’ ofRead More →