Turn on any news station, any time of day, probably in any part of the world, and you’ll hear about it. The prices on daily consumable goods are going up, up, up! Photographic film is not immune to the global supply chain and inflation issues that are plaguing every industry. Kodak, Fuji, Lomography and others […]
Read more "Film Prices are Skyrocketing – Shoot More Film!"Over the years, many different manufacturers have offered many different types of accessory viewfinders that have taken on numerous forms. I have tried only a handful but am pretty committed to what are known as as “bright-line” accessory viewfinders. Unlike early viewfinders that consist only of wire frames of appropriate sizes or even simple optical […]
Read more "Shining a Light on Bright-Line Viewfinders"Many photographers struggle with focusing rangefinder cameras. Some photographers, unfortunately, tend to shoot only wider/slower lenses or give up on rangefinders entirely for this reason. But I don’t think photography should always be easy and by learning to use simpler cameras, we can internalize concepts and develop instincts and reflexes that apply to any type […]
Read more "Seven Recommended Rangefinder Focusing Techniques"Leica is a funny camera brand. For many reasons. But one of the reasons is the company’s vehement refusal to make significant changes to their products in any conventional amount of time. Often, no matter how much people complain or demand change, Leica model after Leica model remain nearly identical to the previous, sporting only […]
Read more "Leica and the Big Shutter Speed Dial Reversal"If you’re okay with giving inconceivable amounts and forms of personal information to Big Data, you may as well use your smart voice assistant to help you process your film too! And while there are no consumer AI’s that have hands yet, they are still willing to help film photographers the best that they can. […]
Read more "“Alexa, Process My Film!”"It’s what we call a photograph that appears to be made with little consideration for the tenants of imaging and principles of design. Voigtländer has a lens named after it. It’s usually proceeded by the word “quick.” What is really meant when we call something a “snapshot?” I started thinking about this because, when I […]
Read more "What is a Snapshot?"I touched on this topic a little bit in a previous blog about hoods for various LTM lenses entitled Throwing Shade, but I wanted to drill down on lens hood options for the Leitz 50mm f2 Summitar. As previously stated, I think that earlier Leitz lenses require a hood in many circumstances to perform their […]
Read more "Lens Hoods for the Leica Summitar"If your New Year’s resolution is to start processing your own b&w film at home, or you’re just interested in comparing notes, I thought it would be handy for me to share my darkroom grocery list. Disclaimer – I am not a chemist! I’m just a photographer who has found some products and methods that […]
Read more "Johnny Martyr’s B&W Darkroom Grocery List"It bears repeating: International Center of Photography shooter James Mignogna once told me that a good photographer matches their light, lens, film and developer. Nowhere do I think these decisions are more critical than portraits in dim lighting. That was the intro I used in my previous entry: Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits […]
Read more "Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits – EI 3200 ISO"You’ve probably heard by now that Fuji have discontinued what was for many shooters, their go-to, general purpose color film, Pro 400H. For anyone who’s been shooting film for more than a few years, we know this rodeo all to well. Fuji or Kodak announce a discontinuation (notice that Ilford never does). The bloggers pick […]
Read more "On Fuji Pro 400H and Any Discontinued Stock"
Johnny Martyr 