I have been a little lazy this month, in terms of posting to this site. I have been busy with work, and the weather has sucked. We have gone from a dry summer to a very wet winter. But the main reason, I was in a bit of shock at the 2025 stats. I was preparing a ‘Spotify wrap’ type post with all the films and cameras I have used this year, so I started to count.
I have a good habit of naming my folders, so I started at the beginning of 2025 and made a tally chart. I thought it would be a quick task, but nope, it took a while and left me in awe of myself. Can you guess the number of films and cameras I have used this year?? Have a guess…because I was nowhere near my own pre-estimates.
OK, let’s start with films. I am going to count the half-frame format as 35mm, as that is the cartridge size, and the 127 as 120, because I cut down the film from that to make it. I also did not count the 16mm film as it is the cut-off from the 120. All the film formats are a mixture of fresh and expired.
120 films Shot (including 127 and 16mm) = 22 films
Camden 200
Fomapan 100
Ilford FP4 x4
Ilford HP3
Ilford HP5 x7
Ilford Ortho
Ilford XP2
Kentmere 100 x2
Kentmere 400 x2
Kodak BW400
Kodak Trix 400
As you can see, from 22 films in total, 18 were Ilford/Harman. So I have a clear preference there.
35mm = 84 films …yeap 84!!!!
| Adox 50 Agfa 200 Agfa pro APX 400 x2 Exeter pan 100 x7 Exeter pan 400 x17 Fomapan 100 x5 Fomapan 200 x2 Fukkatsu Revival Fuji Acros 100 Harman Phoenix II Harman Redscale x2 Ilford Delta 400 Ilford HP5 x4 Ilford Pan 50 x2 Ilford pan 400 x3 Ilford XP2 x3 Kentmere 200 | Kodak 200 x4 Kodak double plus x x2 Kodak Gold x2 Kodak Movie x3 Kodak Ortho x2 Kodak portra 160 x2 Kodak proimage x2 Kodak RAR x4 Kodak Tri-X 400 Lucky SHD 400 Orwo bulk find Polypan F No Color 10 Rollei 400s x3 Santa color Street Candy 400 TIHIR 200T |
You can tell I bought some bulk rolls of Exeter as they are represented in high numbers. Many of the other rolls were gifts or freebies from photo walks. But there are still many individual rolls that I bought myself. Holy moly, that is a lot of film. At a total of 106, it is about 2 a week. It doesn’t include the couple of APS films and any instant packs.
And now the cameras. Guess how many individual cameras I used this year? Again, it was way over my pre-estimate.
Cameras = 78 different cameras (I put an X next to them if I used them more than once)
| Agat 18K Agfa Optima Agfa Parat Canon A1 x3 Canon supreme Canon Ixus L1 Canon multi-tele Canon IV SVB Chinon AP700S Chinon CP-7m Contax 137 MA x3 Contax 139 Contax iii Cosina PM1 x2 Fairy Camera Fujica DL20 Holga GCFN Horizon Kompakt x2 Kodak 25 Kodak Brownie six-twenty model E Kodak H35N Konica FT Konica z-up 80RC Mamiya C2 x5 Minolta 16 x2 Minolta 16 QT Minolta AL-F x2 Minolta dynax 60 Minolta SRT101 Minolta V2 x2 Minolta x-400 Miranda MS-1N x2 Miranda FVt x3 Nicca iiiL x4 Nikon Pronea x2 Nikon F90x x2 Nikon FTn x2 Nikon N2000 x3 Nikon zoom 500 | Nikonos IV x2 Olympus 35s-ii Olympus LT-zoom Olympus Mju Panoramic Olympus OM4 x2 Olympus OM40 Olympus SP Olympus FT Olympus XA1 Pentax 17 x3 Pentax 170 SL Pentax PC35AF Pentax MX Picolette Praktica MTL5 Pinhole – Homemade Purma Speed x3 Purma Special Reto 3D Rollei 35T x3 Rollei B35 Stereo Realist x2 Viewmaster Voigtlander Avus x2 Voigtlander Bessa Voigtlander Brillant x2 Voigtlander Brillant S Voigtlander Superb x3 Voigtlander Vito BL Voigtlander Vito CLR Voigtlander Vitoret Wray Stereo Graphic x2 Yashica 44 x2 Yashica A Yashica FRi Yashica FX-3 Zenit 11 x2 Zorki 1 Zorki 4 |
That surprised me. I didn’t think I even came close to that. That is way, way over one a week.
Last year, I said I would borrow more and buy less and that is true. Many of the ones on the list I have borrowed or already owned. However, I did make some big camera purchases, meaning I spent more than £100 on them. These include the Purma Speed, Voigtlander Superb, Rollei B35T, and the Viewmaster.
When I think about the price of the film, developing chemicals, processing colour films, and this website, the costs are incredible. My top goal for next year is to address that.
Apart from this website, I have shared my work in other ways. I have been involved in 2 exhibitions, 1 online article for Ilford, and 2 zines for the Photo Collective. I also helped test a couple of films for Aperture Printing and lead a number of photowalks. Thats not bad. Plus I did two posts for my “develop a difference” project.
Oh and of course there is Instagram. Here are my top nine posts of the year according to their algorithm.
The site also generated a score based on likes.
I like a lot of the shots chosen. My own personal favourites are these…I chose 21, because I can 😉
As for the 2025 goals, I feel I did do those despite the numbers. I did finally use the stereo cameras and have plans for those once the weather brightens up.
The overall stats for the blog are down for the year, but that is a general trend over many blogs as people switch to other platforms.
Also, the impact of AI cannot be understated. When you search for a camera an AI box comes up at the top of the feed. Many people read that and go no further, not to the sites that actually contain the information that has been scalped, like this one. It is life, it is progress. This site remains a personal blog and a diary, as such it will keep going until I am monetarily or physically no longer be able to upkeep it.
So for 2026, more projects as always and simply, keep healthy and happy.
Thank you for coming with me on my journey. If you would like to contribute to a film or such-like there is always Kofi.