Category: Featured
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The best (and worst) film cameras of the 1990s
My take on the 10 “best” film cameras released during the 1990s. It’s not a countdown in the traditional sense and “best”…well…
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Add to queue: Interviewing Roger Lowe (Shoot film like a Boss)
I would like to introduce you, dear reader, to Mr Roger Lowe. He has a film photography YouTube channel called “Shoot Film Like a Boss” which I discovered quite recently but I am quickly getting through his entire back catalogue. Roger has almost 10,000 followers now and covers a lot of things that many film…
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Kodak T-MAX 400: An honest film stock review
I have always been on the fence about Kodak’s T-MAX 400 film. I have been using it on and off for the last ten years now but only had really used it for specific purposes, mainly portraits due to its super sharp rendering and high resolution with very fine grain. T-MAX 400 also has beautiful contrast right off…
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EMULSIVE interview #214: I am Ejatu Shaw and this is why I shoot film
I first came across today’s interviewee back in December 2019 after she posted a video messing around with Kodak Gold in Barcelona. Thanks to that quick DM and ensuing chat, I’ve finally been able to get her to grace these pages as interviewee #214. Ladies and gents, this is Ejatu Shaw. Hi Ejatu, what’s this…
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Building the Goodman One: A homemade, 3D printed plastic fantastic (review)
Do you remember being a kid and building stuff out of whatever you had lying around? It was difficult at times finding the right materials or the perfect tools. The good part about being a grown-up is that you get to play with tools which are much — MUCH — more fun! Queue the 3D…
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What is exposure? How to use light meters in film photography
Getting your exposure right is the first priority in making a photograph and comes before almost any other decision after the initial idea for a shot. Nowadays though, it is hardly given a thought. With many cameras making the basic choice, the photographer only needs to decide if any adjustment should be made to achieve…
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Blue Planet: Come dip your toe into the Cyanotype ocean
Artist and teacher Christina Z. Anderson refers to cyanotypes (also known as Sun prints) as a “gateway drug” for alternative photography. As in, stick a toe in that deep blue ocean and next thing you know you’ve turned your basement into a dim room, McGyvered a UV exposure box out of an old tanning lamp,…
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Humanity on the frontline of climate change: the Australian NSW bushfires on film
Without exception, every Australian state was burning during the Summer of 2019. Each state has a band of volunteer firefighters alongside paid emergency workers trying to control their own fires. The following is the story of mine. Specifically, the story of my experience as a volunteer firefighter and my photography while on duty in New…
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GAS and the “wrong” camera: Skateboarders with the Pentax 6×7 in Singapore
I suffer from GAS: Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Even as I write this I have a painfully expensive Mamiya 6 on its way from Japan because I just had to have a medium format camera that’s light and easy to carry. You know, because my 35mm cameras are great, but what if I find myself in…
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Scanning film: The $20K Imacon 949 vs the $740 Epson Perfection V800
Let me be clear this is not a consumer or technical review, really it is just a bit of fun born out of an opportunity. A few weeks back week I met up with my friend Mark Heaver so that he could give me a large format 4×5″ negative that I had shot using his…
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How-to: Your ultimate guide to printing a photography zine
This article covers everything you need to understand when it comes to printing your zine and owning the selection process for paper, binding, finishing and preparing your file(s) for print
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Behind the scenes with Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet and the cast of Little Women on 1860s wet plate photography + photographer Q&A
Going against the grain, the on-set photographer of 2019’s Little Women included the use of traditional wet plate photography – also known as tintypes – to capture Saoirse Ronan, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Emma Watson, James Norton and the rest of the production’s cast. It’s not very often that a unit still photographer gets to…
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Bringing a 160 year old giant Petzval lens back to life
It was a normal Saturday afternoon in November when I walked into a flea market. I met some friends there and looked around a little bit. In the end, I bought this Gasc and Charconnet 500mm petzval lens. If you are as old as I am and have seen the movie “Big trouble in little…
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How to shoot expired film or, no you do not need to add one stop per decade
There is a “rule” for shooting expired film. This “rule” states that when shooting expired film, one should add one stop of exposure per decade it has been expired. The rule is wrong and by blindly following it, you are doing yourself, your film and your subjects a disservice. No-one knows where the rule came…
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Found Film: ~1959 Kodak Verichrome Pan VP 828 film and a Kodak Bantam Colorsnap II
Every now and then my parents present me with an old camera they’ve discovered at a car boot sale or some Freecycle giveaway. This is how last year I came to own a Kodak Bantam Colorsnap II, which were produced in the UK from 1959 to 1961. Old Kodak amateur cameras are pretty much ten-a-penny…
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Five major film studios ink new 2020 deal to secure the future of motion pictures shot on film
Coming from Kodak’s Fourth Annual Kodak Film Awards is the news that five of the six major Hollywood film studios — Disney, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros — have signed new deals with Kodak guaranteeing their use of the company’s motion picture film products from 2020 for the foreseeable future. This…
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Measure twice, cut once: building my multi-format 8×20, 16×20 and 12×16 camera
I lived most of my life in São Paulo, Brazil, with its 20+ million people. I have photographed São Paulo in many different ways, but ever since I got a box of expired 16×20” lith film I have imagined shooting large landscape negatives with lots of details and contrast, this is a small tale about…
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Shooting expired Kodak EKTACHROME 100 in 220 and 4×5 format: why I’m excited medium and large format is coming back
After the successful resurrection of 35mm Ektachrome, Kodak announced it would also bring back 120 and large formats. Later we even found out 4×5 large format sheets were also going to be released. At the time of writing in the middle of January 2020, we are living in the twilight zone of it being–or-just-not-yet–being on…
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My year on film in 115 photos: A 2019 retrospective or, my not-a-365-project
What follows is my 2019 in film photography, a 365 photography project that was absolutely not a 365 project. In this article, I share the results from 115 of the sheets/rolls of film I shot in 2019. It boils down to over one hundred photographs taken by yours truly, all wrapped up in a couple…
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Developing color negative film at room temperature: the best option that nobody uses?
In the world of home film development, black and white dominates the market. This comes much to the chagrin of many amateur photographers looking to tinker and professional photographers looking to save a little money by developing colour film at home. Resources for color film development (C-41 for negative film and E-6 for slide film)…