CameraClara.Com Podcast

Converting your own scans is the part of film photography nobody puts on a postcard. I scan with the film borders, so a big chunk of my time goes into cropping, rotating, fixing the rebate, then moving the file from one piece of software to another because the white balance broke or the gamma got encoded wrong somewhere along the way. It works. It’s also a small pile of hacks I’ve made peace with...

Something that has been sitting with me since I did this shot: Here is the project I mentioned: Hope in Shadows. You can find their website here . It’s such a beautiful and nice project! If you like this post, don’t forget to send to a friend, leave a comment, or subscribe. You can listen directly here, or find the CameraClara podcast on your favorite app: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * cameraclara....

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Twenty minutes. Just me, close to the microphone, thinking out loud. Podcast episode on air! You can listen directly here, or find the CameraClara podcast on your favorite app: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * cameraclara.com/podcast In this episode I talk about the technical and philosophical differences between shooting film and digital. Not in a gear way....

Last week I had Max Adams on the Photography Community Camera Clara livestream/podcast. He runs a YouTube channel with almost 80,000 subscribers (as April 2026, important to say, because it’s growing fast!). Max is known professionally for doing restaurants/food and real estate photography, and on his own time he’s a film photographer like us. We showed up wearing the same hat. We talked for over...

Kat and Everett from FridgeFilm joined the Camera Clara live stream last week, and it was one of the most fun episodes we’ve done. If you don’t know them yet: they’re two LA-based film photographers who develop film in the most chaotic places imaginable , film the whole process, edit it with great energy, and post it on YouTube. Think about Spider Man asking for 50 bucks (lmao), a Scientology secu...

I spent the afternoon on the Staten Island ferry with a full battery and high hopes. The light was perfect coming off the water, Manhattan doing its thing in the background, and I kept shooting. Felt like one of those rare sessions where everything lines up. Got home, pulled the SD card, plugged it in. Nothing. Completely empty. No error message, no corrupted files, just blank. I still have no ide...

Note 1: this is a video-article. Make sure to click on the video to play the full thing (I know, Substack is confusing sometimes). Note 2: This is not a traditional review in the sense we will fully cover tech specs. That’s not what CameraClara is for (go to PetaPixel or DPReview for that, they do a better job). Of course we will talk about specs here and there, but our conversation is focused on...

I had a fantastic conversation with Anson, the man behind Tahusa. This is the second time Camera Clara features Tahusa. This time, we are talking about what we have in common when building a film photography community around the world. Timestamps and topics As usual with our livestreaming videos here in Camera Clara, I split our conversations into different parts and included the corresponding tim...

In this live stream, I invited my friend Brian Chambers to walk us through the legendary Hasselblad V System. Brian brought his collection to the table and demonstrated why these 50-year-old cameras still captivate photographers today. We explored the remarkable modularity of the 500CM, witnessed the magic of mounting a modern 100-megapixel digital back onto vintage camera bodies, and got a peek a...

Infrared photography reveals a hidden dimension of light invisible to human eyes. In this livestream, I sat down with photographer Michael Pacheco to explore what makes infrared such a compelling artistic tool, how the technology works, and the 12-year journey behind his personal project called Kindling for Reality . PS: Connect with Michael via his instagram or personal website . Michael brought...

Note: This post derived from a live streaming. You can see the live streaming video by clicking above. I am providing both the live streaming and a long-form written text, so you can consume in the flavor you most like. On November 3, 2025, my wife ran the New York City Marathon. 59,226 runners took to the streets that morning, pushing through 26.2 miles across all five boroughs. Two million spect...

My proven Negative Lab Pro workflow for scanning film negatives. Convert RAW files to stunning positives with proper color matching, presets, and efficiency. Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe

Converting a medium format (6x7) with Negative Lab Pro. The film is a CineStill 400D. Hope you like it! Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe

In this blogcast episode, Colin Czerwinski and I discuss a collaborative photography project, focusing on the magic of Kodak G old , to photograph old cars, and abandoned towns. Our conversation highlights the beauty of everyday life through the lens of film, emphasizing the textures, colors, and stories that emerge from our photographic work. Together, we selected the best shots from the three ro...

How I transformed the slow, often tedious process of film scanning into an efficient and enjoyable workflow. Inspired by Henry Ford’s principles of industrial efficiency, I optimized my scanning setup using batch processing, automation, and a Stream Deck to streamline repetitive tasks. By scanning in batches and editing entire rolls together, I achieve more consistent results while making the proc...

Summary: After carefully shooting and developing three rolls of film from a special trip to Brazil, I discovered they were completely blank. The culprit? An exhausted developer that failed just before reaching its advertised limit. This loss was devastating—not just because of the images, but because of the effort and meaning behind them. Yet, this is what makes film photography so brutal and so r...

On a rare sunny winter day in New York City, I embarked on a long-anticipated bike ride to the George Washington Bridge, armed with my Voigtländer camera and two distinct film stocks—Kodak Ektar 100, known for its rich, warm tones, and SantaColor 100, a repurposed Kodak Aero film designed for aerial reconnaissance and clarity over aesthetics. The journey, filled with breathtaking contrasts of snow...

Most 35mm film scanners crop out film borders , removing sprocket holes and text markings that prove an image was shot on film. This post explores why film borders matter , from preserving composition integrity (as Henri Cartier-Bresson emphasized) to acting as a certificate of authenticity for analog photography. While some photographers see borders as unnecessary, others value them for their aes...

Developing my first ten rolls of film revealed ten key insights: understanding the deeper “why,” feeling the therapeutic rhythm of the darkroom, chasing consistency, embracing surprise color casts, shooting more deliberately, savoring the slow scan process, welcoming the wait, working with ISO limitations, celebrating a warm, supportive community, and finally, inviting others to experience the mag...

A deep dive into the magic of CineStill 800T and why it thrives in neon-lit environments like Times Square. From the film’s tungsten balance to its signature halation, I explore how it transforms the urban nightscape into a cinematic dream. Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe

When the snowstorm hit, I couldn’t resist the urge to go out and capture it. While others stayed warm indoors, I braved the cold with my CineStill 800T, juggling an umbrella, a manual-focus lens, and the ever-present risk of moisture damaging my camera. My destination? Basile’s Pizza—the shot I knew would be the best of the night. Battling wind, snow, and fogged-up gear, I pushed through, improvis...

A long-awaited Leica camera arrives, craving light but lifeless without a CR123A battery. With urgency, the missing heartbeat is found, and something shifts as the red dot flickers to life. The camera doesn’t just work—it speaks, and has feelings! Loaded with CineStill 800T, it pulls its photographer into a neon-drenched world, firing instinctively, guiding each frame like it has a will of its own...

(Check Substack for original text and photos on https://blog.rafalop.es) -- This episode explores the journey of developing 35mm film at home, framed by Walter White’s quote on chemistry as change. We discuss the thrill of managing the entire process—from mixing chemicals to revealing hidden images—and highlight the challenges of temperature control and reel loading. The conversation covers why la...

This episode recounts a once-simple plan—driving to Princeton on a winter day to shoot film—that unexpectedly turned into a night of flat tires, thick snowfall, and impromptu photography adventures. You’ll hear about the roadside mishap that forced an overnight stay, the tense drive through whiteout conditions, and the late-night snapshots that captured gas stations in swirling snow. It’s a reflec...