Category: Articles
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A month in the South of Italy on a Leica M4 and ILFORD HP5 PLUS
I always assumed people romanticised Italy; there is no way a country can host that much history, culture, and natural beauty without any drawbacks other than excessive tourism. However, in the brief time I spent in Sicily and Puglia in the summer of 2021, I was proven wrong. My uncle, having just moved near Palermo,…
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How-to: Convert an automatic Polaroid pack film camera to use manual shutter speeds
Back in 1960s, automatic exposure was an amazing advance in photography. Polaroid, in its quest to make a really easy-to-use camera, made most of its cameras with only automatic exposure. I mean, who needed anything else? Fast forward to today and it seems automatic exposure has lost its mojo. Complete control over shutter and aperture…
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5 Frames… Flying over Apulia on ILFORD HP5 PLUS (35mm Format / EI 400 / Coca-Cola Can Camera) – by Andrea Bianchi
In Autumn 2022 one of my best friends invited me to fly with him over Apulia. I had been waiting for this opportunity ever since he got his private pilot’s licence, but we had to wait for the plane — a SOCATA TB-9 — to finish its scheduled maintenance. When it was finally time to…
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5 Frames… Of a Montreal Winter on Fuji Velvia 100 (120 format / EI 100 / Rolleicord Vb)
“Nice camera,” said a passing Montrealer as I looked up from the waist-level viewfinder of my Rolleicord Vb. I’d just photographed their local depanneur (convenience store) in the Vieux-Rosemont neighbourhood of Montreal. I had sought out this depanneur specifically due to its big blue sign which jutted out of a residential building. Fortunately for me,…
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Shooting and developing lightly expired 60-year-old medium format Dekopan F17 black and white film
I have a confession to make. I like to gamble… With expired film emulsions. What follows is the largest gamble I’ve made so far, and the images it delivered. This latest expired roll was made in 1963/64 by East Germany’s former Kodak factory, which was renamed to VEB Fotochemische Werke Berlin. The film expired in…
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8 Frames… Of my newborn son on ILFORD HP5 PLUS (35mm Format / Nikon Nikkormat / Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S) – by Spencer Cameron
My mother passed away in December of 2019, it was a very hard time, thankfully my family and faith were able help us endure. Shortly after that, as we all know, the pandemic hit, and a lot of tough times were headed our way. Through this time, I was able to get married, and keep…
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5 Frames… Of Zeche Zollverein on Silberra Color 50 (120 Format / EI 125 / Mamiya 645 1000s + Sekor-C 45mm f/2.8, 80mm f/2.8 and 150mm f/4) – by Ernst-Jan de Vries
Nowadays, more and more companies are selling bulk-loaded/rebranded Kodak Aerocolor 2460 for still photography. One of the first companies to do this was Silberra from St. Peterburg in spring of 2021. They brought out three iterations, Silberra Color 50, 100, and 160. According to them, all films with their own unique colours but in fact,…
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An ideal match: 120 roll film cameras and the square format
In this current age of the so-called “full frame” digital camera, with its 2:3 proportions, the square format, or 1:1 proportion, is somewhat of an outlier and perhaps even disparaged as a remnant of the age of 120 roll film. Even Instagram, which started as an emulation of square format instant photographs has opened the…
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5 Frames… Ektachrome 160T expired in poor conditions cross processed in ECN-2 (120 Format / EI160 / Mamiya RB67 + Mamiya Sekor C 50mm f/4.5) – by Pablo Cruz Villalba
I recently bought a Mamiya RB67 with a Mamiya Sekor C 50mm f4.5 and a 90mm f3.8. After a month away for a CLA I got it back, where a few expired rolls were waiting for it. I was eager to shoot a lot, since I’m used to shooting a lot of 35mm and half…
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5 Frames… On my grandparents’ Kodak Brownie No. 2 Model E (120 format / Fomapan 400 Action) – by Ross Gardner
Shortly after my mom passed, I came across my grandparents’ Kodak Brownie. I also found some 6×9 negatives of my mom when she was a child in the 1930s. A thought crossed my mind – could this camera possibly be the one used to photograph my mom? I discovered I had a Kodak Brownie No.…
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“Faux” Panoramic Camera Mods with the Ansco Pix Panorama
Panoramas: a great format for (in my opinion) most photography. Dramatic landscape? Make it panoramic. Artsy architectural photo? Panoramic. Wanna make that softball game look a little more like Ben-Hur? Panoramic of course. Weddings? Well… never mind. So as a panoramic enthusiast, and someone who enjoys shooting film, I’ve had my eye on several panoramic…
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6 Frames… Of Prague on six films on a Plaubel Makina 67 (120 format / EI 100-50 / Nikkor 2.8/80mm – by Frédéric Schneider
In the summer of 2022 I had a fantastic photo week in Prague (Czech Republic) with my friend João. I used six different films with my Plaubel Makina 67. The weather was sunny and warm (up to 38°C on one day, but Czech beer helped a lot to keep cool) with some clouds all over…
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5 Frames… Crisscrossing the old Route 66 on a Polaroid 600 – by Matt Andrews
On December 21, 2022 I headed out of Nashville on I-40 towards Camarillo, CA for the holidays. I barely outran the “bomb cyclone” storm just past Oklahoma City and had pretty good weather for the next 2 weeks. I brought a few cameras, but the wildcard was my mom’s Polaroid 600. She was an elementary…
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5 Frames… Of Kodak PPF Pro 400, expired 1999 (120 Format / EI 50 / Mamiya RB67 + Mamiya Sekor C 90mm f/3.8 and 50mm f/4.5) – by Pablo Cruz Villalba
I recently bought a Mamiya RB67 with a Mamiya Sekor C 50mm f/4.5 and a 90mm f/3.8. After a month’s CLA, I got it back and as luck would have it, a few expired rolls were waiting for it. I was eager to shoot a lot of rolls with the camera, since I’m used to…
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5 Frames… From Devotion chapter one: “Girls” – Kodak Tri-X 400 (120 format / EI 400 / Yashica 635) – by Lisa K Cho
My new project, “Devotion” takes its inspiration from my newfound love and commitment to my hometown, Hawaii. The series invites the viewer to see Hawaii through my lens as I revisit memories from my youth, collaborate with the new wave of creatives, and explore the deep relationships we have with one another and our community.…
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510 Pyro. My new favourite developer? – by Chris Chinnock
One of the things that I love about film photography is how the decisions you make have an impact on the final image — choice of camera, lens, film stock, and developer as well as how you decide to apply these elements give us creative control over the final outcome. The same logic applies to…
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Tango Dancers, Or the story of how I made a zine
On a sunny day in July 2022 while walking through Spitalfields market in London I spied a group of people in the distance. It was then I heard the mellifluous tones I would later come to recognise as music to Tango to. It was, for me at least, a dream come true. I could get…
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5 Frames… Of Orwo DN21 during a hot Como summer on a Contax 139Q (35mm Format / EI 12 / Yashica ML 24mm f/2.8 lens) – by Sergio Palazzi
Along with the Orwo UN54 that I quoted before, I also ordered a 30.5 m roll of DN21 from the Orwo Shop. This was something unusual for me, as films not primarily intended for taking pictures in a normal camera are not my cup of tea. I mean, for graphic purposes I used a lot…
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5 Frames… Kodak Potra 400 / 35mm / EI 320 / Voigtländer Bessa R3a + Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm 1.4 II – by Marco Rotondo
This story goes all the way back to 2001 when I went on a vacation in the beautiful Salento region of southern Italy. That time I not only met and fell in love with my wife, but I also fell in love with the beautiful villages, landscapes and charismatic people of this region.