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When it comes to Kodak’s back catalogue of developers, it is extensive. Today it is small compared to the past, with most people going with D-76, HC-110 and XTol. But Kodak once produced a wide range of developers for almost every application. And there is one that provides fast, high-contrast, and low-fog negatives, and that is Kodak D-19. While the original creation and cancellation of D-19 are lost in history, today, you can mix it up yourself or purchase a premixed kit from Photographer’s Formulary. Of all the developers I’ve used and reviewed to date, D-19 is undoubtedly among the most exciting and unique, notRead More →

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Respooling and shooting motion picture films have been around for several years now. The Vision3 line of the film presents a somewhat affordable way to shoot colour film since it is far more readily available than dedicated still photography film. But most people have been developing this film in C-41 chemistry. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, my first experiences with motion picture film developed in C-41 at home. And CineStill strips away the remjet layer specifically to allow motion picture film to be developed in C-41 lab machines. But technically, processing motion picture films, specifically Kodak Vision3 films, in C-41 chemistry is cross-processing. KodakRead More →

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This past year has been a lot of fun looking at different cameras. While some of these cameras I will have already released a review, others will be coming out next year. But that’s the thing about writing these reviews is that I’m often working 2-3 months ahead of the actual release. I put a lot of work into these reviews, between looking up specs, shooting multiple rolls of film through the cameras and trying to get the best results so I can give a fair and balanced review. But a group in the film photography blogging community decided to put out a series ofRead More →

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It was raining in the city by the lake, a hard rain. A hard rain would wash the silver halides off any type of film. I was looking for something or someone for that matter. Someone contacted me about something new hitting the streets. A film stock would deliver the look of those old detective movies from the mid-century. I spent hours in the old one-screen cinema watching these films when I was a kid, growing up on the wrong side of the tracks. He called himself Shadow, Agent Shadow, although, given his love of cloak and dagger, I think the “agent” part was made-up,Read More →

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If you want a simple answer to the question, why the heck am I reviewing a camera that isn’t precisely designed for use above the water, that answer is, I’m crazy. And by crazy, I mean some lenses work both underwater and on dry land with the Nikonos III, and the lens that only lens I have available isn’t designed for dry land. But the Nikonos line holds a unique spot in photography’s history, specifically Nikon. There are two reasons for this. First, the Nikonos line was the camera that made underwater photography accessible, and two, it was the last camera to have a foundationRead More →

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I know, I know. I said I was happy with the Maxxum 50/1.7. But I’ve had a few people comment on that post on how the 50mm f/1.4 is a much sharper lens. The trouble is that a fast prime is often more expensive, but I got a good deal on this one, so who was I to say no? And you know, this lens lives up to everything that folks say about the glass. It’s a clean and professional with nothing overly special about it and delivers quality no matter what situation or aperture you throw its way, plus it behaves much better thanRead More →

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Here in southern Ontario, I could not have asked for a better week to celebrate Holga Week 2022. After last year, when it rained for most days, I only shot a single roll through the iconic plastic toy camera. But then again, I was doing a video for YouTube, so I had to make some sacrifices. This year I had planned to do a showdown between two Holgas of the same type and see how different the two cameras were from each other. But I forgot about that early enough to get that second Holga (maybe next year). So I decided to make the filmRead More →

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We’re used to modern multi-element, multi-group lenses regarding optics. But it hasn’t always been that way; some of the earliest cameras used only a single element. But this often caused quality issues, so adding a second element limited the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. The earliest applications of these Achromat lenses were in telescopes that trace back to the 18th Century. But Charles Chevalier’s (a noted name in early photographic optics) creation of his Daguerrotype Achromat lens changed the face of photography in those pioneering days. While Chevalier’s lenses are still sought by modern wet and dry plate photographers for us who shoot film,Read More →

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Here I go again, sticking my nose into a speciality film. Copex Rapid, as the name on the tin says, is a high-contrast copy film that requires a special developer. Copex Rapid is a faster version of the original Copex. So a stop faster can be helpful in the right conditions. The trouble is that the special developer is not readily available in North America and is even harder to get in Europe. But that hasn’t stopped me before, so I took a chance. You’ll notice that I decided to drop one of my usual developers, Ilfotec HC, as it stated it was high-contrast, andRead More →

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The first thing you’re going to think when you take a look at a C220f is that this is going to be a heavy camera, and then you’re going to pick it up and notice that it is relatively light for its size and form factor. I love a good system camera, but outside of the SLR world, there isn’t much in the way of system cameras in the medium format realm. At least until you look up Mamiya’s rather interesting C-Series of TLRs, they are proper TLRs in every way, but it’s also a complete system camera with interchangeable lenses, grips, and finders; theRead More →