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Oxford: Rolleiflex Tele – part 2

Thursday, September 19th, 2024

Here are some more pictures from my Rollei Tele which I was using last week in Oxford. The sun drops quite quickly this time of year and the maximum aperture on the Rollei Tele is f4 which meant I was struggling in areas of shadow so I rated this roll at ISO 200 to give myself a little breathing room. I spot metered for the darkest shadows (in some cases black fabric) and I like how these have turned out – not too contrasty.

The first picture below is the closest focussing distance with the built-in lens and the second picture down is with the clip-on close-up lenses. Same exposure. Notice how the depth of field changes and how the background falls nicely out of focus. I really like how the texture in the black leather coat has turned out.

[Tech info:] Rollei Tele, Ilford FP4 rated at ISO 200, developed in Promicrol 1+14.

20240919_Oxford_Rollei-Tele_FP4_ISO200_Promicrol_01_web

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Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, fp4, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol, rollei tele, rolleiflex

Oxford: Rolleiflex Tele – part 1

Tuesday, September 17th, 2024

Some years ago I bought a Rolleiflex Tele which has a 135mm f4 lens and my plan was to use it for portraits with a flatter perspective than you can achieve with the standard 80mm lens. The problem I found was the minimum focussing distance is quite limiting when you want to create a head and shoulders portrait. Clip-on lenses are required to focus closer and this clunky design put me off using it. Last week I decided to dust it off and try it out for general photography without the clip-on lenses. The shots below are from my first roll testing it out. It’s a heavy beast to walk around with for any length of time but I really enjoyed the reach compared to the standard lens and the image snapped into focus nicely which made focussing a breeze.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex Tele, Ilford FP4 @ ISO 64, developed in Promicrol 1+14.

20240917_Oxford_Rollei-Tele_FP4_ISO64_Promicrol_001_web

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Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits, Street style | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol, rollei tele, rolleiflex, summer

Oxford: Ilford F.P.4 Glass Plates – part 1

Sunday, September 15th, 2024

Here are some portraits I recently made on Ilford F.P.4. dry glass plates which expired circa 1950. The box doesn’t have a visible expiry date that I can find but the label design (see below) was dated by Nicholas Middleton who has done some research about it. His excellent photo blog contains a wealth of information about various old film stocks, cameras and glass plates he has tested. Following his advice I rated these glass plates at ISO 5 which gave me an exposure time of approximately 2 seconds in shade. The Ross reflex camera I used has been serviced and inside is a date of manufacture from 1915 written in pencil. The camera is in excellent condition considering it’s over 109 years old. I still have two more plates to develop and six left to use.

[Tech info:] Ross reflex, Zeiss 11.5 inch f6.3 lens, Ilford F.P.4. glass plates @ ISO 5, developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour semi-stand (slow agitations at 30 mins).

53977997204_303dd330c7_c 53896482609_c5e83e1af8_c 53993299077_f4b38bd66d_c 20240914_FP4_Glass_ISO5_Ross-reflex_Zeiss_11.5inch_RDNL_1-100_03_web

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Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 2024, fp4, glass plates, ilford, oxford, rodinal, ross reflex, zeiss

Oxford: large format portrait

Sunday, May 5th, 2024

Here’s a quick large format portrait from last weekend when I was testing a 210mm f4.5 Docter Wetzlar lens. Thanks goes to these guys who were very obliging. I believe this was at f6.8.

[Tech info:] Chamonix 5×4, 210mm f4.5 Docter Wetzlar lens, Ilford FP4 film, ISO 80 (expired but stored frozen), developed in Promicrol 1+9 5 mins.

20240504_Oxford_Chamonix_210-4.5_FP4_Promicrol_1-9_02_web

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Tags: 210mm, 5x4, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol, students

Oxford: glass dry plate portrait

Friday, March 1st, 2024

Here is my first portrait on dry glass plate. I found a box of old Ilford FP4 glass dry plates at home and have no idea when I bought them. The box doesn’t have an expiry date on it. As luck would have it they’re the correct size (2.5 x 3.5 inches) to fit the Mamiya Press plate holders I’ve got but so far have been unable to make use of. This portrait of another fellow photographer during his visit to Oxford was made last weekend in Radcliffe Square. I don’t know him but I enjoyed chatting about photography with him as I set up the shot. I’m very pleased with this result (it has a vintage feel to it) and look forward to making more portraits with the remaining glass plates. The emulsion is very fragile when wet and you can see it lifted along the right hand side.

[Tech info:] Mamiya Press Super 23, 100/2.8 lens (at f4), FP4 glass dry plate exposed at ISO 10, developed in Rodinal 1+25. (Thanks to Nicholas Middleton for his inspiration and blog posts full of info about using old glass plates).

20240224_MUnivPress_23_100-2.8_FP4_Rodinal_1-25_web

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Tags: 1+25, 2024, fp4, glass plates, mamiya universal, oxford, portrait, rodinal

Oxford: graduation day 2023

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

Graduation day, end of September. I was channeling some Diane Arbus with my C330f and fill-flash on a sunny day – a combo I haven’t tried before. The flash was a small Rollei model without any power setting. I think it worked quite well overall. The low perspective is from using a waist level finder – not an obvious choice with a wide-angle lens when photographing people but it helped to include some architecture in the background.

20230923_Grad_C330_FP4_XT-3_001_web 20230923_Graduation_C330_FP4_XT-3_008_web

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Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 65mm, 6x6, black&white, c330, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, students, xt-3

Oxford: Misty morning

Tuesday, September 19th, 2023

Some misty morning shots from April this year. I have photographed this location with various different cameras but this was the first time with a wider format. I feel 6×12 worked perfectly for these shots.

[Tech info]: Wista 5×4, 90mm Schneider lens, Ilford FP4+ developed in Adox XT-3 stock.

20230422_6x12_90mm_FP4_XT-3_stock_07_web

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Tags: 5x4, adox, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, mist, oxford, wista, xt-3

Gear: Rolleiflex SL66 & 125mm f2.5 Leitz lens

Monday, September 18th, 2023

Recently I came across an interesting lens I was curious to try out – a Leitz 125mm f2.5 modified for use on a Rolleiflex SL66. The lens was originally designed for use on a 35mm format system but amazingly it covers 6×6 without any issues. The previous owner carried out the modification and it’s very nicely done. Here are the first test shots from a photowalk with a photographer mate of mine.

[Tech info]: Rolleiflex SL66, 125mm f2.5 Leitz lens, shots 1-3 Ilford FP4, the rest are Ilford HP5, developed in Adox XT-3 stock.

20230902_SL66_125mmf2.5-Leitz_FP4_XT-3_003_web

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Tags: 125mm, 6x6, adox, black&white, film, fp4, HP5, ilford, leitz, oxford, rolleiflex, SL66, xt-3

Endeavour 9: FILM 1 – part 2

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour 9 | FILM 1 in Oxford, May 2022. The location was New College fellows garden which isn’t within the main New College grounds but tucked away on the opposite side of New College Lane.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 50/2 Voigtlander Nokton and 75/1.8 Voigtlander lenses. Ilford FP4 film developed in HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.

20220523_Endeavour_S9E1_New_College_M6_FP4_HC110_28_web

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Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, fp4, hc110, leica, m6, new college, oxford, pakon, people, s9e1, sx70, voigtlander

Oxford: Happy Valley

Thursday, April 7th, 2022

Some pictures from an evening walk around Happy Valley in March 2021. I was experimenting with depth of field as the sun was dropping. I keep meaning to go back here with a larger format camera and feel the pond there has potential in different seasons.

[Tech info:] Nikon FA, 50/1.4D, Ilford FP4, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.

20210327_Happy-Valley_FA_FP4_HC110B_02A_web

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Tags: 35mm, black&white, film, fp4, happy valley, hc110, nikon, oxford

Oxford: Foggy Boxing Day

Tuesday, January 4th, 2022

Here are some shots made during a foggy night in Oxford on Boxing Day last year, between 10pm and 12am. I chose to develop the film in 510 Pyro to see how well it held the highlights and I’m pleased to say it did exceptionally well as you can see from the pictures. The dynamic range between the street lights and the dark shadows in these night shots is huge but it didn’t seem to give 510 Pyro any problems. One of the last shots I calculated to be a 4 minute exposure with reciprocity but in hindsight I feel I miscalculated and overexposed the shot by at least 1.5 stops but the shot it still totally usable.

[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 55/2.8, Ilford FP4, developed in 510 Pyro 1+100 for 11mins.

20211226_Fog_Oxford_P645N_510Pyro_004_web

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Tags: 510 Pyro, 645, 645N, black&white, fog, fp4, Milford, night, oxford, pentax

Oxford: quiet morning in Jericho

Thursday, November 4th, 2021

Here are some pictures from a recent walk around Jericho with a mate of mine. I wanted to test out a camera and it’s been quite a while since I walked around Jericho so it was nice to combine the two. This roll of FP4 film is part of the blotchy batch I have and rather than throw it away, I use it for testing.

[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 ProTL, 80/2.8N, Ilford FP4, developed in HC110 1+31.

20211023_M645ProTL_80mm_FP4_HC110B_1_web