Bill Smith's Photography

Jo-Anne and I hit the road a month ago for a day trip to both Cambridge and Paris Ontario between Brantford and Kitchener-Waterloo. Call it a mini European tour without dealing with a seven hour plane flight and several hours of time suck at airports. Downtown Cambridge used to be called Galt prior to being merged with Hesplar over 50 years ago. The Canadian series Murdoch Mysteries is filmed in downtown Cambridge because the heritage buildings were by and large left intact.  I ran with my eye level prism Canon New F-1 with two lenses, the FDn 35-105 F3.5 Zoom lens which by all rights should have recieved the L designation in the Canon catalogue back in the 1980s. The the second lens is from the middle 1970s breech lock FD SSC 24 F2.8 lens which I used when I needed something wider than a 28mm focal length. For day trips during the spring, summer and fall, the 35-105 along with the 24mm is a great travel combo if you're running with Canon.  Camera: Canon New F-1, FD lenses....

Matrix metering can be addictive for colour film. Camera: Nikon F4, Nikkor Ais 35 f2 lens. Film: Kodak Ektar 100.

The fun part of being part of the Classic Camera Revival podcast is the meetups. We held one in Hamilton two years ago, hopefully, this will be an annual event going forward. A dedicated group of people met up in downtown Galt which is now part of Cambridge Ontario. I've been through Cambridge twice, but I was on my way somewhere else on both occasions first to a stag and doe party 18 years ago and the Glen Morris ruins two years ago. Galt is a fun spot to explore if you're looking for a day trip. Now my camera of choice for this meet up was my new to me, and so new looking you wonder if it came here via time machine, a Nikon F4. While officially an autofocus camera, it, in reality, is the last manual focus, Nikon. I also popped on my Nikkor Ais 35 f2 lens and shoot with a wide-normal lens. I packed a 105 f2.5 lens but never used it. The whole idea was to reduce decision making. Shooting with colour film, I left it on matrix metering. Of course, you will see the results bel...