Copal, Compur, Prontor, Ilex and Compound. If you're hunting for a lens to fit your large format camera, you have likely come across this topic. Your desired optic comes mounted into one of the shutters mentioned above, but what diameter of hole will you need to mount it onto a lens board? Well, we're here to help. What is a leaf shutter and why do I need a lens board for my camera? Whether they are old, new, wide angle or telephoto; most large format lenses are comprised of two optical cells. These cells are made up of several different groups of individual glass elements. A ..read more

Not sure if your shutter is working properly? If the slow speeds are sticking, or the fast speeds are capping then a service is needed. But how do you know if a repair was successful, and the shutter speeds are accurate? You might end up using a shutter speed tester, an audio app, or even just saying "One-Mississippi" and hoping for the best. However carefully or diligently you might fettle and fine-tune a shutter mechanism, you'll never get the speeds to be exactly right down to the millisecond. That's where an acceptable tolerance comes in. Shutter speed timings that fall in this range can b ..read more

Nowadays, it feels like the cost of buying, processing and shooting film keeps increasing. Kodak seems to be hiking its film prices weekly, the cost of developing photos keeps creeping up and even an entry-level point and shoot can set you back an eye-watering amount. But we believe that analogue photography should be for anybody with any budget. In this post, we’ll show you how you can still shoot film for less than £100. Our cost-friendly budget will set you up with a camera, some film and developing your negatives. So, if you’re looking for a way to shoot film without resorting to only eati ..read more

  When we aren't spending our days looking through other peoples weird and wonderful analogue equipment, we are at home looking through our own! Camera Nerds are nothing if not consistent. At our Wednesday Morning meeting this week, each nerd brought in one (or two... *cough* Adam *cough*) cameras from home. Here they have shared their thoughts on them.    Mike's choice was his Konica Auto-Reflex P w/ 52mm f/1.8. Mike's Two Word Review: Full ↔ Half The camera is a bit of an oddity and is part of a small family of Konica cameras that is able to change between full ..read more

With the dreaded 25th fast approaching, it's seems best to fill you all in on the opening hours this month! Last orders for guaranteed delivery by Christmas eve: Thursday 21st. Christmas Eve falls on Sunday 24th - we're going to be open on this day to ensure you can get any last minute film or gifts for the festive break. During the rest of December we'll be closed on Sundays as usual. We'll be closed the days following Christmas and Boxing Day, up to the new year. Normal service resumes on Friday 5th January. We won't be in the shop at all during this interim period ..read more

By Steve Boylin. Picture the scene: you just found a bargain at a car boot sale or charity shop. A Pentax SLR with 50mm lens for less than the price of a bag of chips. You immediately buy it without hesitiation and are far too excited to check it properly. Once you get home and take a really good look - disaster - you realise the lens is practically alive with a thick layer of fungus inside. You sit, defeated and contemplating if it’s worth repairing. Don’t worry - we might be able to help. Take a look at this guide on how to strip down an SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2. It might just save a lens, and ..read more

By Daniel Walsh and Ethan Delgado Our Dan is extremely fond of shiny objects. His car is shiny, his pokemon cards are shiny, and his most recent acquisition, a Kine Exacta/Exakta, is very shiny too.  The Exacta brand was introduced by Ihagee Kamerawerks in the German city of Dresden. Starting in the 1930's, the Exacta models were available in various film formats, and were some of the first SLR cameras on the market. This “Kine” Exacta uses 35mm film - which was used in movie cameras at the time (Cine, or Kine in German, is short for Cinema - makes sense, right?).  This exampl ..read more

By Ethan Delgado & Howard Parker Adam's favourite item that has recently made it's way into our shop is this Adam's and Co. Half Plate camera from the early 20th century - with a large and fast 8" f/2.9 Dallmeyer Pentac lens. Adam, being an Adam himself, was naturally drawn to a camera with his namesake. However, there are more reasons that make this camera an interesting choice. YAY This particular Adam & Co came to us fitted with the venerable Dallmeyer Pentac. It's not uncommon to see these unusual, oversized lenses hastily attached to a cam ..read more

By Mike Medlock Along with regular price rises on colour film, inflation is making even the cheapest black-and-white emulsions creep up slowly in price. It makes more sense now than ever to get your hands on a bulk roll of film and spool it into reloadable cassettes. Depending on the stock and where you find it, this can work out to be a little - or a lot - more economic than buying individual rolls. Mike’s held on to one of these Kaiser models for several years now, and wanted to share his hot tip with you. Alright - it’s not as interesting to discuss as something super-spicy like a black pai ..read more

By Ethan Delgado Recently, I had the opportunity to shoot with the Rolleicord 'Art Deco' camera while travelling through the south of Spain to visit some family. This camera was first introduced in 1933, and it quickly became a favourite of photographers who were looking for a compact and affordable twin-lens reflex camera. Despite being almost 90 years old, the Rolleicord still holds up as a reliable and enjoyable camera to shoot with.  The Rock of Gibraltar - Kodak Portra 160. Something important to mention is the look of this camera. With its intricate design of interlaced gold, remi ..read more