Bill Smith's Photography

 I'm lucky to have some spots by the water I can go to recharge my batteries, even in the dead of winter.  Camera: Nikon F Photomic Tn, Nikkor H 50 2 lens.  Film: Fomapan 400, HC110 B. 

 I am still wandering around my neighbourhood, I gave my Nikkormats a break and picked up my early 1968 Nikon F Photomic Tn, which I've owned for the past 15 years and was overhauled by the former service manager for Nikon Hong Kong, sadly he's long retired from camera repair. I rolled with two lenses , the Nikkor NC 28 f2 lens which I love and the solid performer the Nikkor H 50 f2 lens. I don't trust the meter as much as I used on overcast days, that's what incident meters are for. I walked east for a change starting at EJ James, I went there for grades seven and eight. I've seen the inside, and it hasn't change all that much.  Camera: Nikon F Photomic Tn, Nikkor NC 28 f2 lens, Nikkor H 50 f2 lens.  Film: Fomapan 400, HC110 B. 

I'm not done collecting Nikkormats, I have a black FT2 in transit and of course it will get a test drive when it lands. In a fit of weakness, I grabbed a second chrome FT2 that will act as a replacement for my problem child chrome Nikon FM.  The Nikomat FT was the firing shot in a camera category making solid workhorse cameras for both advanced amateurs and as a back up body for photojournalists and a great entry point into the Nikkor lens system.  Camera: Nikomat FT, Nikkor H 50 f2 lens.  Film: Ultrafine Extreme 400, HC110 B.  

  The Nikon F was a top of the line system camera built to stop a bullet, one problem while it had a full lens line up to support it, the camera was expensive and only within reach of photojournalists, press pools, and wealthy amateurs. Nikon wanted to widen the market for the Nikkor lens system introducing the Nikkorex F, it was a dog. The company went back to the drawing board coming up with the Nikkormat FT (Nikomat for the Japanese home market) and meterless FS. This was bleeding edge for Nikon in 1965, a vertical copal shutter and TTL average metering like the Nikon F Photomic T. The camera was a hit, while only made for two years the FT was the foundation for the Nikkormat FTn, while cosmetically the same, had an improved view finder showing  the shutter speed and had an eight year production run.  The FT has the same durablity of later Nikkormats, you can tell the shutter speed layout is slightly different than the later FTn, FT2 and FT3. My example the meter is pr...

 Yeah, it was interesting shooting Lomography Berlin 400, but I prefer otther stocks. What bothered me was this film attracted what I call space junk and the odd hair folicle which is odd because I'm currently rocking a Covid buzz cut. I don't get that anywhere near as much with other black and white films.  Camera: Nikkormat FTn, Nikkor Pre Ai lenses.  Film: Lomography Berlin 400, HC110 B.