Since the 1960s, Canon SLRs have had their power switch confusingly labelled as A and L. This has persisted through many different generations of camera and confused beginners through the ages. But what do the letters A and L stand for? Why not use On and Off, or a red dot and a white dot, […]
Read more "The mystery of the Canon A/L switch"It was recently announced that a new building is being constructed next to my office. It’s not any old building – it’s going to be a 26-storey tower, the tallest in Bristol! Working on the second-top floor of an adjacent office block, this is a great opportunity to get a birds’ eye view of the construction […]
Read more "Time lapse photography"Anyone interested in photography will surely have heard of the “nifty fifty” – the 50mm standard SLR lens. Almost every single SLR manufacturer had a 50mm lens with and f/1.7, f/1.8 or f/2.0 aperture that was sold as the “kit lens”, and Canon was no exception. These days, “kit lens” has become a dirty word […]
Read more "Canon 50mm f/1.8: the evolution of an icon"I’ve moved house a few times over the last 10 years and at each place I’ve set up my own darkroom. I started with a rented flat, where I would develop film in the bathroom sink but there was no room for printing. At a later rented house, I made a makeshift darkroom in the […]
Read more "Building a darkroom from scratch"I’ve moved into a new house now and it doesn’t yet have a darkroom. I thought I’d try something a bit different and launch a Kickstarter appeal to fund the construction of a new darkroom so I can continue my photographic work. In return for your backing, there are rewards such as silver-gelatin prints, film […]
Read more "Building a new darkroom"A little while ago I was given a Vest Pocket Kodak (VPK) by a gentleman at church. It had belonged to his grandfather. When he rediscovered it recently, his grandchildren weren’t interested in it, so he kindly offered it to me. It was in poor condition but I promised to fix it if I could. One of […]
Read more "Restoring a Vest Pocket Kodak"Double 8mm motion picture camera, with clockwork-powered operation
Read more "Bell & Howell 624"