Guides.

Written-down versions of what I've worked out — so you don't have to relearn the hard way.

  1. The Alfie BOXX: a paper-reversal box camera that develops its own prints Hands on with the Alfie BOXX, a new box camera from Alfie Cameras designed specifically for black and white paper reversal. Compose on ground glass, expose onto photographic paper, then develop the print inside the film holder itself. No darkroom needed. Here is what it is, what it is like to shoot, and what the prints actually look like.
  2. Paper reversal in a churchyard with a 1905 Cooke lens Back to shooting black and white paper reversal after more than a year off, with the Stenopeika Caronte 4x5 and a Taylor-Hobson Cooke Series III from around 1905. Eighteen sheets, a hazy old lens, and an honest look at what came out.
  3. Farewell to the Bronica ETRS One last shoot with a camera I have loved, before it heads to a new owner in Australia. Self-portraits on Kentmere 200 and Lomography Potsdam in my garage studio, with the Bronica ETRS that has never let me down.
  4. Rolleiflex 6006 review: a great camera, and I'm still selling mine After six months of failure with a broken first copy and a saga involving a retired camera tech in Toronto, I finally got a working Rolleiflex 6006. It is genuinely a great camera. So why am I selling it? The honest answer involves the Rolleiflex SLX, the survival rate of 80s electronics, and a bit of unshakeable PTSD.
  5. Harman Phoenix 2 review: a proper colour film now Hands-on review of Harman Phoenix 2 in 120, shot side by side with Phoenix 1 across two rolls in rural Gloucestershire. The honest verdict: it is a real step on from Phoenix 1, the halation is still there, and I am buying more.
  6. Flash with black and white paper reversal: a 1000-watt experiment Can flash solve the long exposure problem in black and white paper reversal? I tested with a Bowens Esprit 1000DX, a Stenopeika Caronte 4x5 and a Minutero 2.0. Flash works, just barely. The more useful discovery was about how strong summer daylight actually is.
  7. Harman Red 125 in 120: honest first impressions of a film I do not understand Harman Red is now available in 120 alongside its original 35mm launch. I shot two rolls trying to work out what it is for. Conclusion: it makes red images, very competently, and I personally still cannot think of a reason to use it. Honest review with the bias declared upfront.
  8. Inside the Armstrong Hall: large format photographs of a theatre frozen at lockdown The Armstrong Hall in Thornbury closed its doors at the start of UK lockdown and stayed locked for more than four years. Before it reopens after renovation, I went in with a 4x5 camera and 24 sheets of FP4 to document a building frozen at the moment of its closing. A shoot diary.
  9. Kentmere Pan 200 review: a budget black and white film with real character Kentmere Pan 200 is Ilford's new addition to the budget Kentmere line, slotting between Pan 100 and Pan 400. Tested across three rolls on Bronica GS1, Rolleiflex SLX and a walk around Toronto, this is a properly good film with some bite to it. And at around £5 a roll it costs significantly less than FP4.
  10. Sekonic L858-D SpeedMaster review: six months with the gold standard An honest review of the Sekonic L858-D SpeedMaster after six months of regular use, including for the black and white paper reversal project where reliable metering is essential. Yes it is brilliant. Yes it is expensive. Yes it is probably worth it, eventually.
  11. Stenopeika Caronte 4x5: first impressions of the cypress-wood field camera Stenopeika's new Caronte 4x5 is a premium step up from their affordable Air Force 4x5, with a Tuscan Cypress body and an all-metal base. Hands-on first impressions from a Toronto studio shoot with Velvia, including the bits that went wrong as well as the bits that went right.
  12. Missing my Bronica S2A: an appreciation I am in Canada and my Bronica S2A is at home. I have been missing it more than I expected to. This is a quiet appreciation of the medium format camera that has become part of the family over the last seven years, and the reasons I will never sell it.
  13. Leica M6 vs Texas Leica: shooting Portra 400 in two very different rangefinders A street photography collaboration with Ishkhan Ghazarian in Toronto, putting a Leica M6 against a Fuji GSW690iii on the same film, in the same streets. Different formats, different philosophies, different photographers. A comparison that is not, very deliberately, a competition.
  14. Fuji GSW690iii review: a technically perfect camera I cannot quite work out what to do with The Fuji GSW690iii produces immaculate 6x9 negatives from a fixed 65mm f5.6 super-wide lens. Reliability is bulletproof. The lens is genuinely flawless. So why am I struggling to work out what I want to do with it? An honest review of a camera that might be too good.
  15. K&F Concept A254C4 tripod review (and four attempts to photograph birds at minus fourteen) An honest review of the K&F Concept A254C4 carbon fibre tripod with B-35L ballhead, combined with the slow-motion disaster of trying to photograph chickadees and nuthatches on a Bronica ETRS in sub-zero Toronto temperatures. The tripod was excellent. The camera was not.
  16. Stenopeika Minutero 2.0 review: paper reversal at the kitchen table The Stenopeika Minutero 2.0 lets you develop 4x5 black and white paper inside the holder itself, with no darkroom required. After my first session producing portraits of my daughters in the kitchen, it has changed how I work on the paper reversal project.
  17. Reveni Labs Lumo review: a $200 light meter that punches well above its weight Hands-on review of the Reveni Labs Lumo, a tiny multi-function light meter that does almost everything a Sekonic L858-D does for around a fifth of the price. Filmed at Matt Bechberger's lab in Hanover, Ontario, with a Fuji Velvia 4x5 portrait test in the snow.
  18. Building a massive DIY ultra large format portrait box camera How I built a 20x16 ultra large format box camera for portraits out of plywood, a WWII aerial reconnaissance lens and a pair of 3D-printed lens cones, for about £300. The build, the design decisions, and what I learned shooting black and white paper reversal on it.
  19. Sirui C150X Lite review: a 150W constant light powerful enough for paper reversal The Sirui C150X Lite is a 150-watt constant light aimed at semi-professional photographers and videographers. It comes with a battery-handle power pack, a QR40 softbox with grid, and enough output to handle even the brutally low ISO of black and white paper reversal. Honest hands-on review.
  20. Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520 review: a 90-year-old 645 folder for £20 The original Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520 was first produced in 1932. It is fully mechanical, properly pocketable, has a 70mm f3.5 Tessar lens and a Compur Rapid shutter to 1/500th, and you can pick one up on eBay for around £20. The results are genuinely extraordinary for the price. Honest review.
  21. Multi-exposure paper reversal self-portraits for a Vienna exhibition Asked to submit work to a photography exhibition in Vienna, I made a series of multi-exposure self-portraits on black and white paper reversal. The technique produced something unexpected and rather lovely. A piece about introspection, self-sabotage, and the Tolifo PL100 RGB Palm Light that lit it all.
  22. Jaggle Berlinova review: making darkroom prints in daylight at the kitchen table The Jaggle Berlinova is a daylight printing system that lets you make analogue enlargements with no darkroom, the same way daylight developing tanks let you process film without one. Hands-on with a pre-production prototype, including all my mistakes and the designer telling me to stop messing around and read the instructions.
  23. Finding the Best Paper and Developer for Black and White Paper Reversal: a four-day contrast test Sixteen papers, eleven developers, four days in the darkroom, trying to find the combination that reduces contrast in black and white paper reversal. Ansco 120 made the decisive difference. Bromide papers do not work at all, and here is how I found that out.
  24. Harman Phoenix 120 review: a new colour film for medium format, finally Harman Phoenix arrived in 120 in 2024, the first all-new colour film for medium format in a long time. I tested it across confetti fields, a Holga, and a proper studio shoot. It is unrefined but fun, it loves yellows and oranges, and it wants a good camera and proper exposure. Honest first review.
  25. Lomo LC-A 120 review: a point-and-shoot medium format camera with a brilliant lens The Lomo LC-A 120 is an auto-exposure point-and-shoot that shoots 6x6 on 120 film. I took it across Botswana and Namibia, loved the lens when it was sharp, struggled with the zone focusing, broke the camera, and came away wanting one anyway. Honest review.
  26. Zhiyun Cinepeer CF100 review: a stick light for film photography? The Zhiyun Cinepeer CF100 is an LED stick light aimed at video shooters. I tested it for analogue film portraits, including dry plates at ISO 2, to see whether a strip light has a place in a film photographer's kit. It does, and the shape of the light is the reason.
  27. Stenopeika Air Force 4x5 long-term review: a great first large format camera Eighteen months and only one large format camera. This is the long-term review of the Stenopeika Air Force 4x5, the entry-level field camera I have used exclusively for 4x5 work. Portability, the 65mm lens trick, the time I dropped it and it crumbled, and why I love it anyway.
  28. AstrHori XH-2 review: a good hot shoe light meter and a comedy of my own errors The AstrHori XH-2 is a compact reflective hot shoe light meter that styles beautifully on a Bronica ETRS. It took me three days and a string of self-inflicted disasters to review it, including a dead battery I diagnosed as a gummed-up lens. The meter is great. I am the problem.
  29. Freewell V2 Hybrid VND/CPL review: combining a variable ND and circular polariser The Freewell V2 Hybrid combines a 3-to-7-stop variable ND and a circular polariser in one filter. I tested it on 4x5 in the countryside. The clever bit is how the stop markings account for the polariser's light loss, which makes film exposure calculations genuinely easy. Honest review from a non-landscape shooter.
  30. Fuji GX680 review: a £40 beast with insane image quality The Fuji GX680 is the biggest, heaviest medium format SLR I have ever owned, and it produces the sharpest, most detailed images I have ever got from film. Dead batteries make these cameras dirt cheap, and the fix is simple DIY. Here is how I got one working and a flash-and-smoke portrait shoot to prove what it can do.
  31. Mamiya RB67 review: a great camera, but most of them have been ruined The Mamiya RB67 is a great medium format camera in good condition. The problem is that most of the ones for sale are not in good condition. I bought three. I returned two. I bought four lenses and returned two. Here is what to look for if you want to buy one that actually works.
  32. How I scan film negatives at home: a DSLR scanning setup with the pixl-latr My complete setup for scanning 35mm, 120, 4x5 and glass plate negatives at home using a digital camera and the pixl-latr negative holder. The kit, the process, the problems it solves, and why a holder I expected to dislike turned out to speed up my workflow.
  33. Hasselblad 500C/M review: are Hasselblads really that special? Are Hasselblads worth the hype and the money? I borrowed a Hasselblad 500C/M for a day of portraits to find out. The honest answer: yes, they really are that good, and that is almost the problem.
  34. What is 120 film? Everything you need to know about medium format 120 film is the medium format roll film most photographers move on to after 35mm. Here is what it is, how it differs, how to load it, how the frame sizes work, and the bits that confuse everyone the first time.