When it comes to slow films there are only two that matter in my book; the first is Rollei RPX 25 the second is Ilford Pan F+. Pan F+ was the first real slow film I ever used and fell for it right off the bat. Great when you’re shooting in bright light and want that fine grain, smooth tone look for your summer images. In fact, I don’t think there’s a developer that the film doesn’t like. But for me, it’s always the film of choice for the summer months of the year when I’m out shooting landscapes and urbanscape both on and offRead More →

It feels wrong posting a review for Acros 100 in light of the recent news about the film’s demise at the hands of Fujifilm. But I would also feel this series of reviews incomplete without it included. One of my favourite black and white films from Fuji (which isn’t saying much there was only a handful). Bright, sharp, and with next to no reciprocity failure (you can expose the film up to 22 minutes before needing to adjust your exposure time to compensate). While I didn’t use the stock much, I did get to use it abandoned buildings where the long-exposure capacity can help outRead More →

I will always be the first to say I don’t like a film, and I usually have good reason to. And while RPX 400 remains something I won’t go out of my way to shoot, it isn’t a bad film. Like Tmax 400 and Delta 400 you really need to develop it right to get the best results. And while I can easily do that, there are still plenty other reasons the film remains it’s not a favourite. But then again the single roll of Agfa APX 400 I shot I was not too fond of either. But there are many who swear by theRead More →

The middle-of-the-road film stock in the RPX line and another fantastic entry. Like RPX 25, RPX 100 is the spiritual successor to Agfa APX 100. While I don’t have much experience with APX 100 (I have about 50 sheets of the stuff in 4×5), the film is similar in look to Kodak TMax 100. And actually, you can use some of the TMax 100 times with RPX 100. While it’s no FP4+, I actually think RPX 100 is slightly better than Kodak TMax 100 mostly because of the huge latitude on the film, in fact, you can even do the Panatomic-X trick and shoot theRead More →

Fomapan 400, the big mystery, at least to me. I’ve never once shot this film, mostly because I had heard some terrible things about it. Now I am set in my ways when it comes to the faster films, sticking to the ones I know and enjoy. Tri-X, HP5+, and JCH StreetPan. Yet, through shooting and developing the film and seeing the work Bill Smith has been doing with the stock in 35mm I am plesently surprised. There’s a certain classic look and feel well before the days when films were touted as “Finest Grain” or “Sharpest 400-Speed Film” the days where you wanted fineRead More →

By far my favourite of all the Delta films (which isn’t hard, there are only three) and my favourite of the mid-speed Modern Films (Delta, TMax etc.). Delta 100 is what I expect from a modern film, sharp, fine-grained, and can do anything you want it to without any major issues. Unlike the faster films, this one can work with pretty much any developer I throw it in and loves any lighting situations. And while as an indoor film it can suffer from rather harsh reciprocity failure, if done right, you don’t have to worry. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed:Read More →

In the early days of Photography, most photographic stocks were Orthochromatic, which means they didn’t see a certain colour on the spectrum, mostly this meant the film stock could not see red light, other times it meant the film didn’t see blue light. And while today Panchromatic stocks are the norm, there is still a need for technical films. While shooting Ortho 25, I worked under the assumption that it didn’t see red light. However, I’m not sure of which colour the film is not sensitive to. But it doesn’t matter now; Ortho 25 is an amazing slow black & white film that is deadlyRead More →

If there is one film out there that I have disliked the most but have had a radical change of viewpoints Delta 400 is that film. Like TMax 400, I just find Delta 400 too modern, and boring. It’s not a bad film; it’s just not exciting. It gives you a film that is almost equal in performance as TMax 400. And while I’ve found that the film isn’t bad, it just needs better development in many cases. While some people have managed to tame the film, I do have found through Delta Def Jam; it’s a great choice if you can’t get your handsRead More →

When it comes to the Winter meetups, the weather is always a crapshoot. But unlike last year, we were blessed with beautiful blue skies, bright sun, and temperatures above zero. I think that helped bring out a dozen shooters to invade the historic downtown of Unionville, Ontario. I had first discovered Unionville thanks to one of my co-workers who mentioned that he and this girlfriend enjoyed the historic downtown. So last summer I hit it up on what turned into a hot summer’s day and I saw why. And the group that showed up completely agreed. The small size of the downtown, about a five-minuteRead More →

When it comes to T-Grained (modern films like TMax and Delta) I can be fairly picky, the 100-speed ones I tend to like while the faster 400-speed ones I can be overly critical about. That being said I’ve found that recently I’ve been warming up to these faster emulsions the more I experiment with them. As with Delta 400, I’ve warmed up a little to TMax 400. Oddly, TMax 400 was the first roll of film I processed on my own under the watchful eye of Julie Douglas back in 2010. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W, T-Grain Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-400, Latitude: 50-3200Read More →