Bill Smith's Photography

We had a great walk just east of Trinity Bellwoods Park one June Wednesday morning. We met up at the Queen St. West location of Nadege Patisserie, nice enough spot but I prefer Cafe 23 a block east, they have better coffee. I chose my Canon F-1n from the late 1970s along with a the chrome nose 35 F2 with the thorium element along with the SSC 24 F2.8 and the SSC 100 F2.8, that honesty, I could have left at home. I mostly used the 35 F2 lens but the 24 F2.8 SSC came in handy in the alleyway.  Camera F-1n, FD Chrome Nose 35 F2 Lens.  Film: Kodak Tri-X 400, Ilfotec HC 1+31. 

 It was a nice afternoon for a walk, a bit cool but it was mid May. I'm gong to sad when my stash of Agfa colour film goes to zero, it's really nice to shoot with.  Camera: Rolleiflex Type F. 75 F3.5 Zeiss Planar Lens Twin Lens Reflex.  Film: Agfa Optima 100, lab scanned at Graination Lab. 

 Lets roll the clock back for a blog post to a cool grey and grim very early May, I bought a new lens for my Leica kit, a classic actually, no, it's not a 50 F1.4 Summilux, it's a Carl Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50 F1.5 T lens, a recreation of the classic pre war lens formula that was available in Leica M39 and Contax mounts.  The current 50 F1.5 is made in Japan by Cosina for Carl Zeiss and retails for $1361 USD on BH Photo.  Being a classic recreation of a 1930s lens but with modern construction, materials and lens coatings, the 50 F1.5 Sonnar is a character lens, as in, if you are chasing contemporary perfection, the 50 F2 Planar will be more your cup of tea. With six elements within four groups along with ten aperture blades and alluminum construction, the 50 F1.5 has a solid feel for a modern lens, I bought mine in the matte silver finish. The big difference between Leica and Zeiss glass is Wetzler glass has half stop increments and the ZM lenses have third stop increments for ...