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 […]
Category: Reviews
Find all EMULSIVE reviews, covering photographic films, cameras, lenses, bags and other film photography gear, hardware and software, right here.
Posted inGuides & How-Tos
“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 […]
Posted inArticles
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 […]
Posted inArticles
Review: Kodak Pocket Instamatic 10 + Lomography Tiger CN200 film
I recently picked up a Kodak Pocket Instamatic 10, it’s a 110-format film camera that produces tiny negatives. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with it. What made me fall in love with this pocket 110 camera was its uncommon visual appearance of it — it immediately attracted me. The second thing was the simplicity of […]
Posted inFeatured
Film stock review: Santa Color 100
I’m one of those people who, if a new film stock comes to the market, I’ll be the first to try it out, and Santa Color 100 certainly caught my eye. A little background online info gave me some first-hand information to start with, and as soon as I saw these first few images of […]
Posted inArticles
Film Stock Review: CineStill 400D
Like much of the film photography community, I waited with bated breath for my backer rolls of Cinestill 400D to arrive so I could jam it into a camera and start etching that sweet acetate. How would it look? Was it special in any specific way to pull people away from the bulletproof Kodak Portra […]
Posted inLomography film camera reviews
Camera review: Loving Lomography’s New LomoApparat 21mm wide-angle camera
I want to start off by thanking Lomography Philippines for lending me the LomoApparat after some dramatic pleading. I don’t know about you, but it’s always exciting when Lomography announces a new product. Even with avid, long time film shooters like us who have been exposed to a wide variety of tools – dirt cheap to […]
Posted inLomography Film Stock Reviews
Lomography special effect film comparison: Metropolis, Purple, Turquoise, Redscale
As a hobbyist photographer, I have historically not undertaken photo projects, doing so just wasn’t on my radar. Typically, I take a camera with me and shoot wherever I am, whether that is while traveling for work, or just going out for the day, etc. Basic enthusiast photographer stuff. Granted, a collection of shots from […]
Posted inExakta film camera reviews
Camera review: The Exakta TL 1000
I have a number of Exakta RTL 1000 cameras, having something of a “thing” for the underdog. Coming across a reference to an Exakta TL 1000 (no “R”), I initially assumed it was a typo, but further investigation showed that indeed there was an Exakta TL 1000 and its sibling the TL 500. Let’s get […]
Posted inKodak Film Stock Reviews
Film review: A roll of Kodak Portra 800 (Nikon F3 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI-S) – by Dorothy Key
As a beginner film photographer, all I had ever heard was Portra 400 this and Portra 800 that. Kodak’s one color stock that reigned above all other colors stocks — with its accurate skin tones and delicate pastel nuance. But, up until my first trip to Seattle, Washington, I had only shot a couple rolls […]
Posted inArticles
My adventures somewhere in-between medium & large formats on 120 format Kodak Gold 200
Large format photography issue #1 – is it a 5×4 camera or 4×5? The answer seems to depend on where you live, and I’m in Australia, so I’m calling it 5×4. I’ve done a couple of workshops on large format cameras — a day learning the basics on a 5×4 field camera and another doing […]
Posted inFilm camera reviews
Opinion: Why did Zeiss stop making cameras?
There are far too many cameras made by Zeiss from the last century, which is to be expected with a history that goes back over 110 years. While they have recently released their first digital camera, the ZX1, this a little story about why Zeiss stopped producing film cameras. First off, I myself, am not […]
Posted inArticles, Canon film camera reviews, Film camera reviews, Reviews
Mini-review: The Canon A-1 in Thailand
It used to be that one of the delights of visiting the UK occasionally was to fetch the things that one could not get abroad. Yet for the last decade, this notion has become outdated. Consumer technology, new motorcycle designs, fashionable recipes, and other trends often originate in South-East Asia, and in Thailand in particular. […]
Posted inDarkroom Equipment
Meopta Magnifax 4 darkroom enlarger: All you need to know
The darkroom is, I believe, the ultimate escape — if you are a photographer, that is. Whether you call it a she-shed, a man cave, darkroom or by another name, once the door is firmly shut and sealed, it’s just you and your art. It gives you focus — pun intended. Just remember, no touchscreens […]
Posted inFilm camera reviews
Rheinmetall Weltax + Meyer-Optik Trioplan f/3.5 75mm + Lomography Redscale and Kodak Portra 160… A review (kind of)
The Weltax is a nice little 6×6 folding camera, introduced in 1938 by Welta Kamerawerke, which became VEB Welta after WWII and later still…
Posted inArticles, Featured, Film camera reviews, Leica film camera reviews, Reviews
Enter the Leica M4: Upgrading my Barnack Leica
I had been planning to upgrade from my Leica IIIf for a while; it’s a great camera but it makes taking photos a complicated process. First, cut the film so that it fits the camera, place it on the spool, insert it, wind it, only then select the shutter speed and realise a few shots […]
Posted inKonica film camera reviews
A creative machine: The Konica C35 EFP
I was 22 and we were eating at my grandfather’s. I knew he had a camera when he was younger, so I asked him “Do you still have it?” After his “Do not break it” speech he told me where to find it. I ran immediately upstairs to what used to be my father’s room, […]
Posted inFilm camera reviews
Crash! Bang! Rollop! What a Picture! A review and test of the Lipca Rollop II TLR
A year or two back I was given a box of old cameras, four in total. These included a Voigtlander Vito B. a couple of Soviet-era rangefinders, and a Lipca Rollop TLR. I tested the Vito B with a roll of film not long after receiving it, but not a single shot was even close […]
Posted inCanon film camera reviews
The Canon AL-1: Do opposites attract?
Everybody knows the AE-1 and AE-1 Program. Maybe that’s because Canon produced so many of them. In reviews of this camera, they mention it was one of the products that opened the world of SLR to an average consumer. Nowadays young photographers may keep warm memories of their parents’ (or grandparents’) cameras when they are […]
Posted inArticles
Camera review: The LEGO VIP Rewards Vintage Camera + build video
It’s not a Leica, but if you’re a film photographer, you’re probably going to Like-uh-it a lot. If you like LEGO, you’ll likely be quite partial to it, too. Yes, it’s the (limited edition?) LEGO VIP Rewards Vintage Camera. This article reviews the camera in full with a start-to-finish video of the build (condensed to […]
