I never thought I would have to write a piece like this one. Still, with the rise of generative AI software, sorry, plagiarism software, there has been some interesting talk online about how many bloggers within the film photography realm have started turning over the hard work of writing reviews to things like ChatGPT. And while I know that some people are, the people I closely interact with all ‘do their own stunts.’ But people love having proof, so today, I will walk you through how I create a full camera review from start to finish, using a review I wrote on the Nikkormat FT2,Read More →

A particular classification of camera always elicits a nod of understanding; these are cameras with a mark of quality and precision. Names like Rollei, Hasselblad, Zeiss, and of course, Leica. Although through my work on this review, I have often found that not all Leica’s are treated with the same equal respect, and among many of the more snobbish Leica collectors and users, the M4-2 and M4-P are the ones that are seen as the redhead cousins of the classic M-Series of rangefinders. These cameras indeed hold a much higher space in my mind because of their historical significance in Leica history and Canadian history,Read More →

I caught a glimpse of a modern production of this developer from the folks at Silvergrain Classics and immediately started to hunt down the developer. Most sources pointed to having to order from a European supplier and waiting a month for it to arrive when I ran across the developer at a local source, Downtown Camera. Well, I jumped at the chance. I first learned about Neofin Blau in my review of Adox FX-39 II, which is based upon Neofin Rouge; both developers are based on the works of noted German photographer Willi Beutler. Blau, unlike Rouge, is designed for films rated at ASA-200 orRead More →

Light or Dark, Chocolate is one of my favourite treats, especially in ice cream form. But when it comes to film, it becomes a classic type 100 film that I loved to work with for the limited time I had access to well-stored packed. I first got a taste for this lovely film during the earliest days of the Impossible Project when the folks got their hands on an entire warehouse of new-old-stock of integral and packed films and sold them to help raise capital for the recreation of integral films. And I went with a whole pile of different options, colour, black & white,Read More →

When it comes to film from FilmWashi, they can get their hands on some pretty unique stocks. And I’ve had some good luck with most of their films; others have struggled a bit. Thankfully I’ve been working through my wish list in their catalogue and have gotten my hands on most of them. But one has been out of stock until recently, and that’s FilmWashi A. Described as a motion picture leader film, the film is spliced onto the front of a motion picture prints to help lead the film through the projector. But it can be used for high-contrast uses, like titles or thatRead More →

Within the film photography community, the OM-System, specifically the Zuiko lenses, are held in high regard with good reason. The Olympus OM-1 is a stunning mechanical SLR perfect for beginners, and the sophisticated metering system on the OM-2 is brilliant. Even cameras like the OM-3 and the OM-4 are excellent replacements for the original two. But an entire subset of the OM-System often takes a backseat, the double-digit consumer models. As much a part of the OM-system as the single-digit ones, often holding some of the same technology. One such example is the original consumer model, the OM-10. The OM-10 was on my hit listRead More →

The market for modern production meters is saturated with many options for those looking at a simple shoe-mounted meter. Matt at Reveni Labs has taken things beyond that, first with the spot meter and now with a unique handheld incident meter. And with the market for these sorts of meters being dominated by classic equipment or the same names still producing modern meters, Reveni Labs decided to take things in a fun and ergonomic direction. The style and design are somewhat limited because of how you use an incident meter. But there is some room for modification. And yes, the new Reveni Incident Meter looksRead More →

There’s always another developer out there to try out, and every time I start to wonder when I’ll need to wind down these reviews, another one pops up. In the case of Fotospeed FD10, I saw it on an Instagram story from a fellow film photographer and started to hunt it down. There are two versions of FD10 out there, Fotospeed and Berspeed; I’m not sure which company made the developer originally or what the developer was made for. But from what I’ve seen online, this is an excellent general-purpose developer for small-scale to large-volume processing. Technical Details Manufacturer: Fotospeed Name: Film Developer FD10 PrimaryRead More →

I expected that Vision3 50D would be my favourite of the three Vision3 films I reviewed this year. The biggest reason is that I love a good slow film; they make you think a little more. After seeing what I could produce with 250D, I also expected more of the same from 50D. I also had the chance to try out the remjet removed version of this film, CineStill 50D a few years back and was impressed by the film. But I cannot say it’s my favourite; I don’t know if it was the ECN-2 processing or the lighting conditions, but I found the filmRead More →

The 1990s were weird. I know; I grew up in the 90s. But then some cameras were quirky, strange options with different looks and styles. And there is the Photura. At first glance, you will think that the Camera is a camcorder, but not a camcorder from the 1990s, but rather one of those solid-state deals from the 2010s before smartphones caught on as a means of recording your life. But the Photura was not alone; think about the Ricoh Miri and the Yashica Samurai. Yet, there’s a unique thing about the Photura; you can operate it with a single hand, drop in 35mm loading,Read More →