Bill Smith's Photography

I haven't been to a Camerama Camera Show in ages and I've been on a Minolta kick, I wound up with two bodies, a mint SRT200 which was their entry-level camera and a cosmetically nice SRT101 but it needs a serious overhaul. Considering I only paid $10 for that particular body, once rebuilt will last me a lifetime, and you can't have enough SRT 101's. Getting back to the SRT200. It was Minolta's entry-level model, it still had the great CLC metering and depth of field preview. It lost mirror lock up and the self-timer. Also in the viewfinder, you lost the aperture read out. This isn't the end of the universe, Nikkormats and the original Canon FTB's didn't have aperture readouts and the SRT200 is way better than a Pentax K1000 because you have an on-off switch and you have access to the sweet Rokkor glass. Shooting with an SRT200 is like shooting a de-contented SRT102 or 202. If you're a Minolta SRT fan and come across one, and the price is right, ...

I was back in the Beaches in Toronto's east end for the last two weeks of August. I packed Minolta this time out and I also picked up a pro pack of Kodak Portra 160. I'm a Kodak Ektar kinda guy but my brother Alex had been shooting with it recently in medium format and I wanted to give it a try. Portra 160 doesn't quite get the attention that Portra 400 and Ektar 100 gets, the quiet medium speed film shares the same Eastman Vision technology that renders no grain and easy scanning properties. Unlike Ektar, Portra 160 has a neutral colour palette that I surprisingly liked. The other strength of the  Portra series is how well it handles skin tones. I have a few rolls left, I plan to use them soon and get some more. Camera: Minolta XD, MD and MC Rokkor X lenses. Film: Kodak Portra 160