Bill Smith's Photography

  I had a stash of Kodak Max 400 a former classmate of mine gave me, expired in 2009 and freezer stored. It was the predecessor to Ultramax 400 and has a strong resemblence to Lomography 400. For an expired film Max 400 is pretty easy to scan. I plan on stockpiling either Lomography 400 or Kodak Ultramax 400. Both films plain deliver results on point, pleasing to the eye, look great printed and are cheaper than Portra 400 or Fujifilm Pro 400H. I expose my 400 ISO colour film at 200 ISO, and I learned that years ago from a night photography workshop.  Stay tuned, I have another two posts of colour in all its goodness, some Kodak Ektachrome slide film.  Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ai lenses.  Film: Kodak Max 400. 

 The beautiful days are getting fewer and farther between as it gets darker before winter solstice, the grey skies look a lot like a dirty white T Shirt left in the Line Two subway tunnel near Ossington Station for two weeks, or, sandblasted sterling slver, you get the idea. Now on occasion you'll get a nice later fall day and the sun comes out and you just want to go out for a walk.  The Nikon F2A is one of my workhorse cameras, and, they have been up to the NLP photography retreat in the past and never failed. They will head back north with me, maybe next year. We'll see.  Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens.  Film: Kodak Max 400. 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe happy 2019! Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Kodak Max 400

I haven't been to Kelso Conservation Area in Milton for a very long time. The Oakville Camera Club held their fall outing at the inagural Hops and Harvest Festival. The weather that weekend was chageable, we had mostly overcast skies that day, and my go to film for that sort of light is Kodak Portra 400 for it's sheer latitude. I also had an opportunity a new to me Micro Nikkor Ai 50 f3.5 lens I bought of my friend John Meadows, the results were really good with the old trunk with the fungus growth. The main reason why I don't go to Kelso for hikes is the constant din of the 401, kinda kills the being one with nature feeling. What also took me a back a bit is the mount of development creeping towards the Escaprment from the west side of Milton. If you're looking for a more "get away from it all" in the Conservation Halton network, check out Lime House, Rattlesnake point, Mt Nemo or Crawford Lake Conservation Areas. Personally next year I'm going much fu...

I led a photowalk with the Toronto Film Shooters Facebook Group two weekends ago and it was a blast. Unlike the dry run, I shot only black and white, now, I started off with Rollei Retro 400s but then switched to Fomapan 400 for the second roll. Up until now,  I've been exposing Fomapan 400 at 250 ISO when processing with HC110 dilution B and Xtol stock solution. The result would be a gritty old school Kodak Tri-X look from the 1960s and '70s. Loved the tonality and grittiness but Classic Camera Revival ringleader Alex Luyckx played around with Fomapan 400 in medium format and discovered how it behaved in different developers . How to put this, Fomapan 400's true ISO is really dependent on your choice of developer. When you use Tmax at 1+4 dilution, you get box speed and more shadow detail. You know what, Fomapan 400 looks fabulous in Tmax developer. Camera: Nikon F2a, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Fomapan 400, Tmax 1+4.