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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).

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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: Ensign Reflex test

Monday, June 3rd, 2024

Test shots from my Ensign Reflex camera which unfortunately have failed because of the cheap reading glasses I was using to focus the dim image on the ground glass in the waist level finder. All the shots are out of focus to varying degrees and I can only apologies to the nice people I photographed. It was a fun session so not a complete loss.

[Tech info:] Ensign Reflex, Aero Ektar 7 inch lens, 6×9 roll film holder, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Promicrol 1+14.

20240601_Oxford_Ensign-Reflex_AeroEktar_HP5_Promicrol_01_web

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Tags: 6x9, aero ektar, black&white, ensign, film, HP5, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol

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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Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 210mm, 5x4, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol, students

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: flooding in Hinksey

Wednesday, September 20th, 2023

There was some flooding in Hinksey back in January and here are a few pictures from that time which I made during my lunch break. I had spotted the gravel mounds the previous week and was waiting for appropriate light and a dramatic sky to photograph them in.

[Tech info:] Pentax 645NII, 45-85mm lens, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31.

20230119_Gravel_Hinksey_P645NII_45-85_HP5_HC110B_007_web

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Tags: 45-85, 645, black&white, film, flood, hc110, hinksey, HP5, ilford, oxford

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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Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 125mm, 6x6, adox, black&white, film, fp4, HP5, ilford, leitz, oxford, rolleiflex, SL66, xt-3

Devon: Dawlish

Thursday, December 1st, 2022

Some pictures from a brief visit to Dawlish back in April.

[Tech info:] Nikon FE2, 28-75/2.8 Tamron zoom, Delta 100 film developed in Ilford DDX 1+4, Pakon scans.

20220418_Dawlish_FE2_28-75_DELTA400_DDX_04A_web

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Posted in film, Travel | 3 Responses »
Tags: 28-75, 35mm, b&w, ddx, delta 100, devon, fe2, film, ilford, nikon

Oxford: Graflex Super D street portraits – part 1

Monday, August 22nd, 2022

After the focus issues I was having with my Gowlandflex I decided to take my Graflex Super D into town after work to use it for some more large format portraits. The benefit is I’m able to cycle with the Super D in a rucksack, my Gowlandflex is too large to fit into any rucksack I currently own. The lens I used was designed for aerial photography during WWII and is uncoated which gives a low contrast almost dreamy look which I like.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D, 8 inch Pentac lens, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110B_05_web 20220815_Nicola_Rad-Sq_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110_06_web SuperD

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Tags: 5x4, graflex, hc110, HP5, ilford, oxford, portrait, super d

Oxford: Gowlandflex street portraits – part 1

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

Here are some street portraits from the first trips out with my Gowlandflex large format TLR camera on a Saturday and Sunday morning in Oxford. The camera is a beast and attracted a fair bit of attention. I enjoyed chatting with people and making their portraits – something I haven’t done for a couple of years.

The mirror calibration was completely wrong when I received this camera so I replaced the springs to lower the mirror by 2.5mm. This is the first time I’ve used it properly and it looks like I need to re-check the calibration because most of these shots are front focussed but overall I’m pleased with the results. A couple of the shots have some strange light leaks which might be from the film holder not being seated properly. Further investigation needed.

[Tech info:] Gowlandflex TLR, 180/4.5 Voigtlander Heliar lens, Ilford HP5 & Funi Across 100 film (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

20220813_Bus-Driver_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_01_web 20220813_Gowlandflex_Oxford_HP5_HC110B_01_web 20220813_Radcliffe-Square_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_02_web 20220814_Broad-Street_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_05_web 20220815_Andrew_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_10_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_09_web

20220814_Gowlandflex_Oxford_Acros_HC110B_01_web 20220814_Gowlandflex_Oxford_HP5_HC110B_01_web 52282473538_b15170863a_c

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Tags: 5x4, b&w, film, gowlandflex, hc110, HP5, ilford, oxford, portraits

Dorset: Symmondsbury

Saturday, November 6th, 2021

Some pictures here from a recent trip to Dorset. There are nice views of Colmers Hill from Symmondsbury and it’s also easily accessible from there if you want to walk to the top. The first and second pictures below were a comparison of how different focal length lenses affect the relative size of distant objects. The first shot was with a 28mm lens and notice how small and far away Colmers Hill looks compared to the second image which was made with a longer focal length (either 50mm or 135mm, I can’t remember which). I tried to keep the size of the gate in the frame the same for each.

[Tech info:] Pentax MX, Ilford HP5, developed in Promicrol 1+14, Pakon scans.

20210923_Symondsbury_PMX_HP5_Promicrol_03_web