I love doing fall vacations; it’s often outside the peak tourist season, and the weather is manageable. This year, my family and I decided to go back to Montreal. The city holds a special spot in my heart because it was one of the first paid vacation I took solo and where I finally figured out how I like to take photos and compose images. As a family vacation, my primary reason was for something other than photography. But there is always room to bring a camera (or three) for the ride. The modern city of Montreal sits on the largest island in an archipelagoRead More →

If you have ever listened to me talk about my photographic journey you will have learned about how much my first trip to Montreal changed my photography. I can always tell my work from before to after my trip in my style, composition, love of black & white and of course square format. So when I brought my family back to the city earlier this month I wanted to make sure I not only explored the city with my digital camera but also with a pair of square format cameras. The first being the same camera I brought on that first trip, my Rolleiflex 2.8FRead More →

The third in the Elan series of semi-professional cameras released by Canon and the direct successors to the original EOS 650, but why not call it the Elan III? Well, that’s because Canon makes weird choices with their camera names. In the case of the Elan 7, the number seven has nothing to do with the number of models but rather the seven focus points in the new AF module installed in the camera. Unlike my previous Elan camera, the IIe, the Elan 7 I’ll feature in the review is the model without eye control. But the difference between the IIe and the 7 isRead More →

While every type of review I write comes with unique problems, nothing is more challenging than writing a film review. Film reviews have been done for years, mostly in dusty photographic journals and magazines and reviewed under exact conditions and in large quantities. If I tried to follow these methods, it would take me years to complete and require a large volume of films, cameras, lenses, and equipment I need more room for. Like all my reviews, I set out my method to work within the realms of what I wanted these reviews to cover: the basics. I’ve aimed these at beginner and intermediate photographersRead More →

Have you ever wanted to see outside of our visual spectrum? Well then maybe infrared photography is for you! While true Infrared films are long gone, these days we have a tonne of films that can, when properly filtered expose the infrared light. Among these films sits FPP Infrared B&W, the original film stock is unknown, but it does do exactly what it says on the tin, it is a film that can be shot both filtered and unfiltered and produces images that can only be described as magic! For this review, I went with a mixed approach to filtration, shooting the first roll withoutRead More →

Ha Ha, this is a pry from my dead hands camera…😀 There’s one fun part about being connected to so many amazing photographers and bloggers over the world because of the Internet. Often you come up with ideas like this, a whole series of posts on the same subject with a coordinated release. This idea comes from Jim Grey (Down the Road), from a conversation where Theo (PhotoThinking) was looking for links for his review of the Voigtlander Superb. Peggy (Camera Go Camera) suggested he give her the camera, and Theo replyed “this is a pry this from my dead hands camera.” Jim jumped onRead More →

It has been some time since I wrote a verse post, so it’s time I tried this again. But rather than pitting cameras against each other, I will be pitting developers against each other. The idea behind this came from my good friend James Lee, who loves to show off the power of the Fuji Acros 100 when it is slightly overexposed and developed in Ilford Perceptol. I’ve worked with this combination, and it is impressive. Recently, James has also been working with 510-Pyro. I asked myself which is better, namely when put head-to-head, Perceptol and 510-Pyro? The setup is a simple one, I haveRead More →

If you’re going to start the year off with a bang, you should go all in! Despite this year starting almost the same way as last year, I decided not to let that stop me. Visiting Niagara-On-The-Lake was initially planned for December 2023. Rain stopped that, so we moved it to January to start the new year. Niagara-On-The-Lake is much larger today, but I spend most of my time in the historic old town where we’re visiting today! The charming historic old town of Niagara-On-The-Lake owes its current existence to two key points in local history: the American occupation and destruction of 1813 and aRead More →

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 →

I first learned about the fourth generation of Minolta SLRs from the Film Photography Project and Leslie Lazenby’s promotion of the Maxxum 700si as one of the perfect autofocus SLRs ever produced. And having used one in the past, the 700si is a good camera. I used one for a few rolls before passing it along; I had yet to return to the Minolta A-Mount. Then I got a 7000, which burned and was replaced with a Maxxum 9 because why not go from one end to another? It was with the ‘9 that I got my taste for the A-Mount. But in my reviewRead More →