Bill Smith's Photography

The Saturday started dismal but the cloud cover cleared by the time we got to Yonge St., this time walking north of Lawerence to find a gift shop the sold smaller 100 pc jigsaw puzzles for my mom. Sadly 100 pcs is about all she can handle now. The local BIA between Eglington and Lawerence held a Winter Carnaval only all the snow had melted (it's been a very mild February so far).  The one bummer this weekend was my chrome nose Nikkor H 28 F3.5 focusing seized up for no apparent reason. The lens is in otherwise pristine condition so the game plan is it will get repaired when I send off my Nikon F "Flag Switch Photomic off for restoration. I still have the Nikkor N 28 F 2 lens which is an optical beast and I'll run with that for a while.  Camera: Nikkormat FT2, Nikkor H 28 F3.5 lens (kaput), Nikkor H 50 F2 lens.  Film: Ilford HP5 400, Ilfotec HC 1+31. 

 I shot this set over a year after buying a Nikkor N 28 f2 lens. I already have the Nikkor H 28 F3.5 lens but had an opportunity to get this fast piece of glass for a decent price. I found that my copy of the 28 F3.5 lens has a tendancy to vignette a bit around the edges. That doesn't exist with the 28 F2 lens.  The big question of course is, should I get one? That depends if you have a lot of Pre Ai Nikon Fs, F2's and Nikkormats in your collection, if the answer is yes. I would roll up the nickels and dimes. Bonus points if you can find a factory Ai converted Nikkor N 28 F2 and you can use it all the way through up to the F4 but not the FA.  The other thing I forgot is I shot this on Ultrafine Extreme 400, everyone's favourite bargain basement film, pushed to 1600 really well but I hated it was a magent for water spots and space junk that you have to clone out like mad. Camera: Nikkormat FT2, Nikkor N 28 F2 lens.  Film: Ultrafine Extreme 400, HC110 B.  ...

 March is a crazy month weatherwise in Southern Ontario, middle of the month Winter gave us "I'm not done with you yet" blast of weather starting with wet snow and then on the Saturday with our walk around the neighbourhood. It got bitter cold as Saturday afternoon went on with windchills around -18c. My Nikkormat FT2 even struggled, my guess the damp windchill was to blame. Usually Nikkormats can take the cold, not this mid March weekend even my go to winter camera fleet was done with winter.  With Spring here, that's no longer the case. Walking around the neighbourhood will no longer be a bone chilling experience for a few months, and this is from someone who likes winter.  Camera: Nikkormat FT2, Nikkor Pre Ai 50 F1.4 (K Series), N 28 F2 lens.  Film: Ilford HP5 400, Ilfotec HC 1+31.