Category: All Reviews
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Building the CAMERADACTYL Brancopan
“Are you drilling?” asked my bleary-eyed wife, coming out of the bedroom of our small apartment at 1:30am. My desk was cluttered with tools, plastic shavings, and a half-completed CAMERADACTYL Brancopan 3D-printed camera. Of course I was drilling: the Brancopan has 27 fasteners with 1,094 thread revolutions, and there was no way that I was…
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The Leica M3: 5 reasons why it’s the greatest camera ever
The Leica M3 doesn’t do anything that another camera can’t. In fact, by today’s standards, it is severely lacking in features that are normally considered standard. No light meter. No hot shoe. No autofocus. No automatic exposure. Limited frame line selection (50/90/135). 1/50 max flash sync speed… On paper then, one might ask why anyone…
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My 2020 lockdown journey: a comparative test of Kodak EKTACHROME E100 and Fujifilm Velvia 50 (bonus Portra/Lomography included)
I set out this Spring and Summer to do a comparative test of Kodak EKTACHROME E100 and Fujifilm Fujichrome Velvia 50 (RVP50). In my lifetime experience with film (going back to childhood), I’ve mostly shot slide film, and we had those traditional slide shows with Family and Friends because my mother used the original EKTACHROME from…
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Expired Film from 1987! Kodacolor VR 400 and the Contaflex Super (New)
Discovered in the depths of the cellar this film from 1987. My oh my expired, brittle and a pain in the major to develop and scan. Nonetheless, its finally done! Video and Images of my adventure across an alpine pass and up to the Ramsau am Dachstein plateau from some images taken with the Contaflex…
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The Cocotte Fred: One bag to rule them all
I’ve been remiss in writing on this blog, and for that I apologize. I return to form in a new year with a review to share. I’ve been searching for years for the right bag. Not just a camera bag, because those are thick on the ground. I use a camera bag differently than some,…
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Zenza Bronica ETRS: Not exactly the poor man’s Hasselblad
The Bronica has been described as the poor man’s Hasselblad. That is just wrong, as I hope to demonstrate through this article. When I began my journey back to film photography, I looked at Rolleiflex cameras first, but finally settled on the Hasselblad 500C/M — of which I have two now. I recently decided to…
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Rolleinar: it’s German for Sorcery
Lots of chatter about Rolleinars lately, I’ve only had mine since October ’15. A Rolleinar is a set of close-up lenses that fit on the front of your Rolleiflex. This shortens the working distance to your subject at the cost of minimal distortion and arguable loss of quality. The magnifier goes down below on the taking…
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Film Notes: Current high-speed films, ILFORD Delta 3200 Professional and Kodak T-MAX P3200
I’ve often described how I think that people looking for a different “look” from film would be better suited exposing and developing in a different way before they’d see any benefit from switching emulsions. Unless someone is searching for a specific “effect” in terms of grain structure, or halation, then most films will produce fairly…
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Yashica-B review: the lovable “rare” TLR camera
I’ve been fascinated with Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras ever since I can remember, and even before I knew what a TLR was — I just knew them as these beautiful, quirky little photograph-taking boxes that appeared in the hands of famous and not-so-famous people dressed in 1950s and 60s attire. They had appeal, they…
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An in-depth guide to: The Leica M6 TTL
Made for only four years between 1998 and 2002, the Leica M6 TTL was the successor the 1984-98 Leica M6 and brought with it a couple of new party tricks: an ergonomically designed shutter speed dial and TTL flash metering. That huge shutter dial might not seem like a big deal today, in fact, you…
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NOT Being Vivian Maier: NOT really a Rolleiflex 2.8F camera review
It has nearly been 12 months since I got my hands on my Rolleiflex 2.8F, and whilst I’m not usually a reviewer of equipment, I’d like to share my experience of using this iconic camera and the inspiration behind me finally owning one. Like many who were first made aware of the story of Vivian Maier, I was completely…
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72 frames per roll: The surprisingly sharp Canon SURE SHOT MULTI TELE
I’ve enjoyed shooting half frame 35mm film photography for quite some time now. Of course, being a broke college student, the thought of 72 photos in a roll is quite intriguing. However, it’s not all about the money; I feel that this “abundance” of shots also provides a new perspective when walking around and shooting.…
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Why I love Twin Lens Reflex cameras: A quick Mamiya C220 Professional review
As the title suggest this article is a love letter to TLR cameras, specifically the Mamiya C220. Before I get to that, I’d like to start with a little personal history. When I first got into film photography back in 2002, My parents bought me my first SLR, a CANON EOS 300. Boy was it…
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Camera review: the Certo Six and “lightweight” 6×6 film photography
The Certo Six is a camera I will own for a long time. If you’re looking for the short version of the article that follows, here it is: the Certo Six is light enough to carry up a mountain, and takes sharp, beautiful photos, with less faffing around than a large format, with more consistency…
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Camera review: The Rolleiflex MX
I’ve been trying to come to grips with how I ended up owning a 60-plus year old machine as a daily-and-only camera, after a truncated career with the latest and greatest at the time. I’m not sure if this will be a camera review or another personal journey into the philosophy of my own craft, but we’ll…
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Trying out night photography with Kodak Tri-X 400 at EI 1600
I love street photography, though I don’t consider myself a great photographer neither a master but I really enjoy shooting film. My work as an interiors and boudoir photographer is of course 100% digital and does not leave me much time for my personal projects and I almost forgot the pleasure I feel each time…
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An in-depth guide to: The Leica M6 (aka M6 Classic / M6 Non-TTL)
The Leica M6 — also commonly known as the Leica M6 Classic or Leica M6 Non-TTL — is a 35mm film rangefinder camera designed and manufactured by Leica in Germany between 1984 and 1998. The camera was the successor to the Leica M4-P, which was produced concurrently for the first two years of the M6’s…
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Release the Kraken: accessible 6×12 wide format film photography for all
I am Graham Young and I am one of the hosts (along with Ethan Moses and Nick Lyle) of the Homemade Camera Podcast. We yammer on every fortnight about making cameras and taking pictures with those cameras. I’ve been messing around with building my own lensed cameras for the past three or four years but…
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An on-the-cheap private investigation into European BW films: ORWO or Kentmere, to be or not to be?
The whole idea behind this article started as I was looking into finding a “daily” use black and white film, on the cheap, so that I could bulk roll my own. As I’m from Europe (Romania, just one sharp right away from the Black Sea), I first looked into Foma Bohemia films, which are quite…