News

Don't panic. We've already done enough of that for everyone. While inspecting the latest shipment of SP-445s, we found that many (in fact, almost all) of the film holders were "warped." Heck, let's just do a video: Film holder Rev 3. In case you skipped the video, here's the summary:We had asked the factory to reduce the "flash" present on the previous batch of film holders. They said they could fix it by adjusting the pressure in the molding process. Turns out that was a bad idea.The change in pressure caused the film holders to warp. We made two changes...

Back in September we had a blog post on building your own viewing filter (Filter Hack). We even posed the question: how hard could it be? Harder than we expected! We experimented with dozens of different filters in untold combinations. Finally deciding to replicate the defacto standard: the Wratten #90. Of course, we could have just bought the genuine filter material from Kodak but what fun is that (besides, it's expensive.) Instead, we came up with our own version. It's very similar to previous implementations but with several differences: 1.  The ZoneView allows a bit more blue/green light to pass through....

Even The Canary Knows When is probably the first photo of yours that I ever saw. So how much is "real" and how much is Photo-shopped?"Everything in the photo was actually there. The set was built outside when it was about 10ºF. Don't worry, the model was in position for only a few minutes and the baby for only a few seconds. We had to move fast! The only thing photoshopped: the wire that held the canary was removed.  "My philosophy of photography is that it's okay to delete things but I never add an element to the scene. For...

We've been working on hosting a photo contest for some time. Finally, after overthinking the name for it, we decided to just keep it simple and take the plunge. As we said, we're keeping this first contest simple: any subject matter, any film. It just has to have been processed in a SP-445 film tank. Of course, there are prizes: First prize: box of FomaPan 100 or 400 film (winners choice) Second prize: box of Shanghai 100 film Third prize: package of our "Special Cut" contact paper To enter, just post your favorite photo on either Twitter, Instagram or our...

Editor's note: technical details and contact info are listed at the end of the interview.  You mentioned in your bio that you had been a professional photographer, how long did you “exchange money for photographs?”Only for about four years.  I quickly found that I didn’t like the pressure of weddings and dealing with demanding clients.  It began to sour my love of photography.  Now, I do it for myself or I give my work away to kids that can’t afford a photographer for Senior Photos, etc.  What do you do now in exchange for money?For the last 30 years, I’ve...