Bill Smith's Photography

 I love shooting in the snow, it makes familiar landscapes look fresh and different, also what a difference 24 hours makes, while I was struggling in the gloom last post. I was getting nothing but gold here, same camera, same roll of film. Those not used to shooting in the winter, a hand held incident light meter is your friend, alternately over expose by two stops so your snow doesn't look grey, like the skies over the Great Lakes region.  I loved being out in the snow, it was Christmas Day and the last day prior to Lockdown 2.0, it has pretty much melted as of writing this post and feels more like March instead of early January but I'm not skiing at the moment, so, at least the kosher sea salt isn't being rubbed into the open wound. A serious dump of snow would have been really cruel for all the Ontario alpine skiers out there.  Camera: Nikkormat FTn, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens.  Film: Lomography Berlin 400, HC110 B. 

It was a grey December, and it shows.   Nikon F, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens, Nikkor H 28 F3.5 lens.  Film: Lomography Berlin 400, HC110 B. 

Sometimes I have to take dad's camera off the shelf and give it a workout. My blog posts are all over the place in terms of order, but that's ok, we're in lockdown again so enjoy the ride.   Dad's Nikon F was made in mid to late 1960 and I usually have either a Nikkor H 50 2 or S 50 f1.4 lens on it. The camera is a basic tank, no meter though a clip on meter was available in the accessories line up before the Photomic meter heads came along. The camera is a joy to shoot with and metering isn't a issue with a handheld meter.  Film wise I'm using Lomography Berlin 400 black and white film which is re-spooled ORWO N74, am I going to grab more when it's done, probably not, I'm planning to go deep on Fomapan 400 for a while.  Camera: Nippon Kogaku Nikon F, Nikkor S 50 f1.4, H 28 F3.5 and P 105 F2.5 lenses.  Film: Lomography Berlin 400 Film, HC110 B. 

The Canon EF is a one of those below the radar cameras that deliver. Long overshadowed by the AE-1 and A-1 in the back half of the 1970s, the EF was a technology testbed for later innovations, like using a hybrid mechanical/electronic copal shutter, shutter priority. In some ways the EF, was Canon's answer to the likes of the Nikkormat EL and the Asahi Pentax ES(II), advanced cameras filled with technology for advanced amateurs. There's much to love with this camera in terms of ergonomics, and the fact with the bridge circuits you can use modern voltage batteries.  In terms of winter photography, it has been all over the place, we have been getting some snow, then it melts. In terms of the classic white Canadian winter  I haven't seen one of those in a while in Southern Ontario. I like winter photography but the really cool stuff will happen once I start skiing for the season and get out of Oakville, if there's a ski season.  Canon EF, FD 50 f1.4 and 28 f2 SSC lenses....

 I have a weak spot for Canon FTBn's, I re-homed one to my friend Alyssa of a Aly's Vintage Camera Alley, and I plan to re-home another soon to another friend in the film photography community  It still leaves me with a chrome FTBn and now this lovely black example I purchased recently in fit of gear acquisition syndrome. If you're looking for an altrenative to the AE-1(P) and the A-1, and you don't have the budget for an F-1, this is the camera you want to look at and are still accessable price wise, for now.  This was a Christmas present to myself as the test roll results show below, no issues with the shutter, the meter however, while responsive, one of the parts is broken from a hack repair job. No big deal, I use a hand held meter instead. The meter will get fixed some day, I have a parts body, that will be a post pandemic thing, but then, the hand held meter works just fine.  Another fun tip to prevent dreaded water spots on Ultrafine Extreme 400 which is preve...