Bill Smith's Photography

My friend John Meadows gave me a roll of Bergger BRF Plus 400 and Pancro 400 a couple of months ago. I love Pancro 400 in 120, haven't really shot it in 35mm, BRF 400 Plus, I have and quite enjoyed it. Now Bergger no longer sells this film as Pancro replaced it, and some quick internet sleuthing reveals it's non other than ORWO N74 which is also now sold as Lomography Kino Berlin 400, if you don't feel like bulk loading. I loaded up one of my Nikon F's and went into town to drop off a camera at my brother Alex's office at University and Queen and I slowly made my way to Downtown Camera to load up on some Color Plus 200, they were out and Argentix got the business. It was a sunny day and I had to play with harsh lighting, some people wait for golden hour, I go out in the bright sun and make it work. Anyway, I miss shooting with this film, and I think I'm going to do a big buy of Lomo Kino Berlin in 35mm once I burn down my Fomapan stocks. I really like the c...

I got my Nikkormat FT2 back from my new repair tech and I wanted to try it out. After a run to Burlington Camera, I went over to Brant Street and shoot my last roll of Bergger BRF 400. The camera works fine, the meter overexposes by a stop but no big deal. What got my attention with Burlington's downtown was downright hopping compared to Lakeshore Road in Downtown Oakville which is currently suffering from at least 24 vacant storefronts. Burlington and Oakville population-wise are roughly the same size, both are on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton, both communities could not be more different. Burlington allowed condo, office and apartment development in its downtown to co-exist with low-rise retail and heritage buildings. Another observation, Burlington's Town Hall is downtown and is front and center. As a result, downtown Burlington has a much lower commercial vacancy rate and a more diverse retail cross-section than downtown Oakville. As a long time Oakville ...

I had a chance to wander around Harbourfront Thanksgiving Weekend before the temperatures dropped. I pulled my Nikon FM2n out for a workout and rolled with a two lens set up, a 50mm and 28mm lens. Partly to keep the weight down as I was carrying a bottle of wine for a dinner party I was attending later on in my camera bag and to keep the decision making simple. Bergger BRF 400 is a great black and white film and I hope B&H is restocking it soon because I need to buy another 10-pack of this film. Camera: Nikon FM2n, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.8 and 28 f2.8 lenses. Film: Bergger BRF 400, D76 1+1. s

The Don Valley is one part of Toronto I really haven't explored all that much. I've been to the Brickworks a few times before the big renovation and to a few events afterward, I have also explored a few ravines to lead into Rosedale and Moore Park over the years. This is the dividing line of the city in some regards, a large channel of green space and a transportation corridor. The fun part was exploring some abandoned bits of infrastructure, a mothballed spur line now owned by Metrolinx that connects Union Station with the Canadian Pacific main line through Toronto. Yes I got my "Stand by Me" moment on the rails. The other urban artifact is the abandoned Eastern Avenue Bridge, you've seen if it you were travelling on the Don Valley Parkway. The highway when it opened in the early 1960s re-directed Eastern Avenue. I have always wanted to check this bridge out ever since I first saw it from my parents' car driving down the DVP in the early 1980s. You can get...

I own three Canon F-1's, a pair from the mid 1980s and an early example from my guess 1971 or '72. Now the early Canon F-1 had this mystery light leak that was driving me nuts and testing the patience of my camera repair tech in Hamilton. We finally figured out what the problem was, there's a gasket between the focusing screen and the mirror box, well some repair tech forgot to put it back in, figured that out after four ruined rolls of film. Now for the test drive, I took the camera in with me last Thursday in the afternoon before an IABC/Toronto panel discussion on trends in interactive design. The F-1 is a great camera, also a heavy one too especially mated with the FD 35 f2 lens. I'm not complaining because the problem's solved. Yay!! The other thing I did is play around with Bergger BRF 400, to date I have been processing it in HC110, I get good results but curly negatives. This time out I used D76 1+1 (one part developer stock solution, other part water) ...