Bill Smith's Photography

I love hiking Forks of the Credit Provincal Park, especially mid week when it's super quiet. I think there were only three people in the park that morning, and I loved it because I needed the solitude. Camera: Canon New F-1 AE, FDn lenses. Film: Rollei Retro 400S. HC110 B.

I got my Canon New F-1 AE back from Rene at Service Camera Pro, the meter needed a minor repair  and I wanted to take it out for a workout. The New F-1 was Canon/s reply to the Nikon F3 in the pro camera market botth cameras have their strengths and weakenesses, I own both and will be talking about that in an upcoming Classic Camera Revival episode. Speaking as an unrepentent Nikon fan boy who just so happens to own a fair chunk of Canon FD mount gear, and I own three Canon F-1's, a first generation and two New F-1s, one with the eye level prism, the other being the AE head. At first glance if you squint, you would think the New F-1 AE was a Nikon F-3, not even close, it's a different animal altogether. New Canon F-1's had a hybrid shutter, one that was mechanical above 1/60 of a second, and electronically controlled below 1/60 of a second. The camera was powered by a 4SR44 battery that's in the same spot as the Canon AE-1 (Program) and A-1. The New F-1 was a tough...

I finally got my chrome Nikon FM fixed by Service Camera Pro, namely a shutter transplant. It looks almost brand new considering it's a 41 year old camera. I gor this camera a few years back at the London Camera Show, the shutter speeds sounded fine and the price was right. Well, lesson learned. Check the shutter because a shutter curtain wasn't opening properly if at all. One repair tech did a sort of repair and the camera worked for a while but it started to mis behave again. I sent it to another tech, he sat on it for six months and returned the FM back to me saying he couldn't find a replacement shutter. A quick Google search found me a replacement shutter assembly in five minutes. Then both camera and part went to Service Camera Pro in Quebec City. The FM is now working just fine. I wandered west on Harbourd from University of Toronto into Little Italy. Part of it was a dry run for a possible Toronto Film Shooters Photo Walk. I still haven't quite figured out t...

One final walk along Queen St. before returning to Oakville. Camera: Nikon F, Nikkor S 50 f 1.4 lens Film: Rollei Retro 400S, HC110 B.