Bill Smith's Photography

 The Nikkor AF-D 50 f1.8 is an autofocus cheap and cheerful nifty 50 that while a flyweight can take down heavyweights with little effort. This lens replaced the second genration Nikkor AF 50 f1.8 with improvement for camera being able to perform better in 3D colour matrix metering mode and two, estimate distance better making auto focus more accurate. On the likes of the F100 body, it becomes lighting fast when focusing.  Pair this lens with the F100 you have an extremely powerful point and shoot, and extremely comfortable to use.  Camera: Nikon F100, AF-D 50 f1.8 lens.  Film: Bergger Pancro 400, HC110 B. 

 I'm big on mid week escapes during this pandemic, for the main reason so I have the place to myself and avoid the weekend crowds.  I found out on Saturday and Sunday during fall colours season there's about a half hour wait to get the down the stairs to the lower platform, yeah, no. I'll stick to my Wednesdays and Thursdays. I like my solitude.  Mono Cliffs has been a regular hiking spot for the past decade or more and I've shot there a lot. I still haven't explored quite everything, there is a loop north of the part I haven't quite made it too, so that will have to be on the agenda at some point before all the leaves are gone. I shot black and white here because the colours were still pretty much green.  Camera: Nikon FE, Nikkor Ai lenses.  Film: Fomapan 400, ID 1+1. 

 The Nikon F100 is a very powerful camera, and it earns the nickname of F5 lite honestly. With the 28-105 lens, you can easily head use this for travel. With the added bonus the camera using AA batteries, you won't be in the lurch when the juice runs out. Sadly the F6 went with CR123 lithium batteries so if you're in the middle of nowhere, having spares is mandatory.  In some ways my kit for my annual NLP Muskoka retreat has morphed, running with a pair of lenses, the 28-105 and the 70-210 telephoto zoom, I just shaved a ton of weight off the kit that goes into the backpack. Run with the F100 kit for colour and a Rolleiflex for black and white. Something to ponder until next year.  I still want a Nikon autofocus pro body, most likely the F5 but part of me, if a huge pile of money fell into my lap would just say fuck it, I'm only here once, get the F6 and some AF-S or G glass, I'll have to live with the lithum batteries, but if you can swing the camera financially, batte...