Bill Smith's Photography

My Hasselblad 500 C/M is a camera that can make utterly brilliant photos, at the same time being a frustrating platform. I bought mine off my brother a few years ago, the lens needed some tweaking which I covered in blog posts a few years ago. Now last fall I was shooting with this camera and had some blank negative frames, my worst fear being the leaf shutter in the 80 f2.8 Planar lens was acting up again. It would be an expensive fix and an even more expensive to replace. So I went out a few weeks ago to determine was the lens in trouble or was it user error. Thankfully it was just user error. I'm very happy with what I saw with this roll I shot around Oakville and plan to take this camera with me up to Bella Lake in the fall. Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M, Zeiss 80 f2.8 Planar lens. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.

I was gifted a roll of expired Fortepan 100 at a Classic Camera Revival Podcast recording session a few months ago. I dabbled with this film and Fortepan 400 under the J and C Classicpan label 10 years ago. Both brands are long gone. I know the film is roughly the same age as my nephew so I overexposed slightly at 80 ISO and processed in Rodinal 1+50. I shot around Oakville checking out the Glenorchy Conservation Area for a little while until the mosquitos got so bad I hightailed it out of the park and wend down to 16 Mile Creek. Camera: Olympus OM-1md, Zuiko lenses Film: Fortepan 100, well expired last decade, Rodinal 1+50.

I shot my last roll of Kodak Tmax 400, technically it's a brilliant film, processes nicely in Tmax developer, but for some reason while it's great, I didn't bond with it, I like my 400 ISO films with traditional grain structure. I have shot kilometres of Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X over the years, speaking of which I just picked up ten rolls from Downtown Camera and will be exploring this classic over the next few months. Now if I was stuck with only Tmax 400, I'll shoot it, from my experience the film starts to sing being exposed around 250 ISO when processed in Tmax developer 1+4 dilution. Again depending on developer and your shooting style, results may vary. What bugs me is the fact Tmax 400 just kills fix solution which does not happen with Ilford Delta films. I love my Ilford Delta 100, and someday I'll figure out Delta 400, probably when I finish off the Tri-X. Camera: Canon P, Canon 50 f1.4 M-39 lens. Film: Kodak Tmax 400, Tmax Dev 1+4. ...

The Canon P (Populiare)is a Leica screw mount rangefinder made from 1958 to 1961 with 35, 50, 100 frame lines, I bought it off my friend John Meadows a few months ago and it was a wise purchase. I took the Canon 50 f1.4 M-39 lens off my Leica M4-2 and it felt like the perfect marriage. Anyone who has shot with a Leica III series screw mount camera will appreciate the stupid easy film loading, just open the back like a SLR. I only have two Leica (M-39) screw mount lenses, my Canon 50 f1.4 and the Voightlander 35 f2.5 Color Skopar lens. On my immediate acquisition list is a 1960s production Canon 50 F1.8 which from what I read is a "Double Gauss" lens design and 100mm F3.5 telephoto. Ok, if some really well paying project work rolled in for my day job in marketing communications, a Canon 35 F2 wide angle lens. Wandering around Toronto I was happy with just the Canon 50 f1.4 lens which has earned the nickname "The Japanese Summilux" with Leica shooters. Shooting wi...

I finally got a chance to shoot a roll of Eastman Kodak Double X 200 Daylight motion picture stock at the end of May. If you're wondering what this film was used for, remember opening sequence of the James Bond Film Casino Royale, and Schindler's List back in the 1990s, both were shot on Double X. It has grain but pleasing grain to my eye, and I want to get some in a bulk roll for bright sunny days in the city. Processing is easy, HC110 Dilution B for five minutes, in fact I processed it with a roll of RPX 400 in the tank as well. Camera: Nikon F3HP, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 and Ais 28 f2.8 lens. Film: Eastman Kodak Double X 200, HC110 B.

I had an opportunity to do a photo walk with my friend John Meadows from the Classic Camera Podcast in Toronto's Junction neighbourhood. Instead of doing the long subway or streetcar ride, I hopped the UP Express and while a dollar more than the TTC, I got to Bloor and Dundas really quick. John took me to a Pedestrian Overpass popular with Toronto photographers. There used to be  Canadian Pacific Train Station around here and the Canadian used made its first stop before leaving Toronto and connecting with the Montreal section of the train in Northern Ontario. The Canadian still passes through but doesn't stop in the Junction anymore. The Junction itself is interesting,, a major rail yard for Canadian Pacific,  just south of the Stockyards, and  up until the 1990s it was a dry ward in Toronto. Ironically enough with no liquor, very down on its heels. Today this feels more like Queen West of ten to fifteen years ago and is gentrifying quickly with gastro pubs, ...

Exploring Toronto never gets tired, one part of town that's constantly changing is Graffitti Alley, I'm a little sad Tom and Jerry got tagged over. Camera: Canon F-1N AE, FDn 50 f1.4 and 28 f2.8 lens. Film: Lomography F-Squared 400