Bill Smith's Photography

The grey season in Toronto can really tax people's pysches. The grey season lasts sort of from mid November to the end of April and covers fall, winter and spring. The grey season refers to the polished concrete skies and less so to temperature and precipatation. For a film photographer, the only solution is to push a 400 ISO black and white film to 1600 and work with what you have. In this case Ultrafine Extreme 400 delivers in spades. I used a nine minutes at 20c with HC110 in dilution B developer, and it delivered. I really love what I get with pushed UFX 400 and Ilford HP5 400, both films look beautiful at 1600, and the big bonus, it dries flat, which is great for scanning. Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.8 lens. Film: Ulrafine Extreme 400 pushed to 1600, HC110 B.

I sense a 'Zine theme coming on...... Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ais 24 F2.8 lens. Film: Ultrafine Extreme 400, pushed to 1600, HC110 B.

Merry Chirstmas and have a safe happy hoiday season! Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ais 24 F2.8 lens. Film: Ultrafine Extreme 400 pushed to 1600, HC110 B.

I took my 3.5 C Rolleiflex out last week. I haven't used it in ages since the 3.5 F Rolleiflex came into my possession back in the spring. To shake things up I shot a roll of Portra 400 I've been shooting mostly black and white during this grey season and haven't shot any medium format since my annual Muskoka photography retreat. This set is all local, all below Robinson St. which is a really tight space to focus photography and I've shot around here for years to the point of being bored. Now shooting a Rollei with colour film in early December a rather bleak time of year, there's no sugar coating it. Camera: Rolleiflex 3.5 C Planar Twin Lens Reflex camera. Film: Kodak Portra 400

The only thing in the first photo I paid for was the coffee. The AF 50 f1.8 lens was a Christmas present from my brother Alex, the F90 was a recent gift from my friend and fellow co-host of Classic Camera Revival Alex Luyckx  . My old N90S/F90X died on me last fall and has been nothing but a door stop. I missed this camera. The F90 (N90 for the Americans in the studio audience) was a prosumer body released back in the early 1990s, considering this camera is going on for 30 years old, I didn't get a bad shot at all on this roll. So what's the difference between the F90 and the replacement F90X? Weather sealing and and upgraded autofocus sensor, that's the short answer. I would love a replacement F90X with the battery pack and the portrait shutter release button. The other thing, these cameras are still a steal. The big bonus, Nikon went with AA batteries, same with the F4. While other autofocus cameras of the era went with more exotic batteries. Camera: Nikon F90, Nik...