Bill Smith's Photography

I shot my last roll of Kodak Tmax 400, technically it's a brilliant film, processes nicely in Tmax developer, but for some reason while it's great, I didn't bond with it, I like my 400 ISO films with traditional grain structure. I have shot kilometres of Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X over the years, speaking of which I just picked up ten rolls from Downtown Camera and will be exploring this classic over the next few months. Now if I was stuck with only Tmax 400, I'll shoot it, from my experience the film starts to sing being exposed around 250 ISO when processed in Tmax developer 1+4 dilution. Again depending on developer and your shooting style, results may vary. What bugs me is the fact Tmax 400 just kills fix solution which does not happen with Ilford Delta films. I love my Ilford Delta 100, and someday I'll figure out Delta 400, probably when I finish off the Tri-X. Camera: Canon P, Canon 50 f1.4 M-39 lens. Film: Kodak Tmax 400, Tmax Dev 1+4. ...

The Canon P (Populiare)is a Leica screw mount rangefinder made from 1958 to 1961 with 35, 50, 100 frame lines, I bought it off my friend John Meadows a few months ago and it was a wise purchase. I took the Canon 50 f1.4 M-39 lens off my Leica M4-2 and it felt like the perfect marriage. Anyone who has shot with a Leica III series screw mount camera will appreciate the stupid easy film loading, just open the back like a SLR. I only have two Leica (M-39) screw mount lenses, my Canon 50 f1.4 and the Voightlander 35 f2.5 Color Skopar lens. On my immediate acquisition list is a 1960s production Canon 50 F1.8 which from what I read is a "Double Gauss" lens design and 100mm F3.5 telephoto. Ok, if some really well paying project work rolled in for my day job in marketing communications, a Canon 35 F2 wide angle lens. Wandering around Toronto I was happy with just the Canon 50 f1.4 lens which has earned the nickname "The Japanese Summilux" with Leica shooters. Shooting wi...

A small hamlet in Caledon Ontario.... Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M, 80 f28 Zeiss Planar Lens Film: Kodak Tmax 400, HC110 B.

Shot from the side of road on the way up and back from skiing. Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M, 80 f2.8 Zeiss Planar lens. Film: Kodak Tmax 400, HC110 B.

Alrighty, it's going to be +13c today and +17c Christmas Eve, a year ago we had something more along the lines of this: Camera: Nikon F3HP, Nikkor Ai 28 f2.8 lens. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400, Xtol 1+1. Camera: Mamiya C220f, Sekor 55 f4.5 lens. Film: Kodak Tmax 400, Tmax Dev. 1+4. It just feels weird being the Christmas season with it feeling like more late October out there so I went back into the archives to pull some gems I shot up in Belfountain a few years back when there was snow on the ground. Have a very merry Christmas, or an extremely belated Happy Hanukkah and all the best for a happy healthy 2016. Hopefully we'll get some winter because I want to go skiing! 

So glad April has arrived and spring has a strong foothold. It was a rough March on several fronts and I'm not going to miss one, well the skiing was nice but I'm done with the following phrases and words: wind chill, polar vortex and special weather statement, my personal favourite. Well get out there and enjoy the sunshine, we deserve it.

Winter has finally been kicked to the curb, see you again on December 21, 2014. Camera: Rolleicord IV K3B, 75 f3.5 Schneider Xenar Lens. Film: Kodak Tmax 400 processed in Xtol 1+1.