A Conversation with Sissi Lu

Analog.Cafe Podcast takes a trip to C41 Coffee in Kitsilano to chat about coffee and cameras with its owner, Andy. Andy talks about his business, his relationship with photography, specifically film photography, and his life before Vancouver in Kenya, where he found his love of cameras and the brew.

Adam James is the creator of the Shitty Camera Challenge — an informal, welcoming community and an annual event for photographers who like to use subpar cameras.In today's episode of the Analog.Cafe Podcast (a first on video!), we play "Shitty or Not," where Adam rates Dmitri's cameras, including one made entirely out of gingerbrad.We also discuss creative problem-solving, inclusion, and community building with a veteran (in Internet terms) who found his people on the old Twitter within the film photography communities, like the #believeinfilm.Shitty Camera Challenge runs from July 1st til September 30th this year. You are invited to post your photos made with shitty cameras to BlueSky using the #ShittyCameraChallenge hashtag. You may or may not win a couple of new friends, but you will certainly find inspiration: https://bsky.app/hashtag/Shittycamerachallenge Find Adam on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/papashittycams.bsky.social Interviewed by your hosts Daren (https://www.youtube.com/@LearnFilmPhotography) and Dmitri (https://www.analog.cafe/@dmitri).This is season 2, episode 4 of the Analog.Cafe Podcast. You can find previous episodes and links to more places to listen here: https://www.analog.cafe/podcast.Show links: Shitty Camera Challenge merch: https://shittycamerachallenge.threadless.com/ Gingerbread camera: https://www.analog.cafe/r/building-the-worlds-first-gingerbread-camera-twpg

Daren and I get nerdy about film scanning and negative inversions. We talk about the current options (Silverfast, VueScan, NLP, and others) and why they didn’t work for me. Then, I did a live demo of an app that fixes those problems (film Q).

Daren and I are back after a short hiatus. We discuss the new films and cameras, examining their histories, origins, prices, and whether they are worth it. We also chat about the business side of film production and Kodak’s new products (not all of which are film). I’m attaching sample photos of Harman Azure film boxes to the show notes on Analog.Cafe (here, https://www.analog.cafe/comments/tag/podcast) that illustrates some of the things we’re talking about. Check out Soft Grain Books, Daren’s creative print publishing company with a focus on art and film photography: https://softgrainbooks.com/ --- Show links & notes: - Harman Switch Azure film review: https://www.analog.cafe/r/harman-switch-azure-film-review-d49s - Harman Switch Azure vs. Lomography Lomochrome Purple: https://www.analog.cafe/r/harman-switch-azure-vs-lomochrome-turquoise-i0vp - Harman vs. Ilford: https://www.analog.cafe/r/ilford-hp5-film-review-ntu0#a-brief-and-very-confusing-history-of-the-ilford-film-brand - Bleach bypass (on colour-negative film): example photog attached (see https://www.analog.cafe/comments/tag/podcast) - Developing C-41 colour-negative film: https://www.analog.cafe/r/developing-colour-film-as-an-absolute-beginner-n3q4 - Lomochrome Metropolis: https://www.analog.cafe/r/lomochrome-metropolis-ko2u - ORWO NC200 (KONO Color 200/OptiColour 200): https://www.analog.cafe/r/kono-color-200opticolour-200orwo-nc200-film-review-fltu - SantaColor 100 film: https://www.analog.cafe/r/santacolor-100-film-review-n4pm - Lucky colour film: https://www.analog.cafe/r/lucky-c200--film-review-p0zm - VZ-6617, a medium format camera that can change aspect ratios on the fly: https://www.analog.cafe/comments/xp2k - WideluxX camera backstory: https://www.analog.cafe/r/widelux-fake-cinestill-a-fix-and-colour-film-25-lwca - The Tsushima Cyanotypes book review: https://www.analog.cafe/r/the-tsushima-cyanotypes-19fl - Developing slide film with Rodinal: https://www.analog.cafe/r/how-to-make-slide-film-positives-with-rodinal-and-c-41-quew - Film inversion app: https://www.analog.cafe/app/film-q - Spring blossoms on film: https://www.analog.cafe/r/26-spring-blossoms-on-film-5i1w --- This episode was published on April 28, 2026. 1 hr 17 min.

In this episode, you’ll hear me accidentally open my loaded film camera and ruin a few frames (gasp!). But more importantly, Daren and I shoot, develop, scan, and share our first impressions with the new RETO/Kodak film camera. We are impressed.