SL66
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Monday, September 18th, 2023
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
Friday, April 20th, 2018
For the past few years I’ve have had a lens sitting around that I wanted to make use of but never quite got around to it, until now. The lens originally came off of the Polaroid 110B Land Camera that I had modified to a 5×4 large format camera and I didn’t see much point in mounting it to a lens board to use on a different 5×4 camera so it’s been sitting around doing nothing. I wanted to adapt it to work on my Rolleiflex SL66 but the only place I knew of that made an adapter was asking around $80 which is more than I wanted to pay but fortunately a friend mentioned RAF Camera where an adapter cost just under half the price.
After modifying the adapter slightly (two small holes need to be drilled so that small screws on the back of the lens can stop it from twisting) it was ready for testing. Below are some test shots from the first roll. A few things to mention are firstly the focal length is a surprise if you’re mostly used to using the 80mm standard lens as I am and I frequently found myself taking a few steps back from where I thought I would need to stand to a given composition. Secondly, the depth of focus is extremely shallow even at f8 and because the image through the viewfinder gets darker as you stop down it’s difficult to get precise focus without a bright focussing screen in your camera – something that affected my hit rate of sharp shots on this roll. I’ll use a tripod for the next roll I use with this setup to see the difference. All shots made during my lunch break.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, Enna Werk München 127mm f4.7 lens, Ilford Delta 100 (expired), developed in Tetenal Ultrafin T-Plus.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, delta 100, film, ilford, land camera, oxford, rolleiflex, SL66, tetenal
Sunday, July 27th, 2014
Waterbird is a short film directed by Alex Darby which was being filmed in Oxford a few weeks ago. Alex invited me along to shoot some behind-the-scenes stills during a night shoot in the Westgate car park. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for very much of it but I did manage to shoot a roll of film of some of the cast and crew.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Kodak Tri-X @ ISO800, processed in Kodak HC110 for 9 mins.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, filming, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66, students, Tri-X
Monday, July 14th, 2014
Waterbird is a short film directed by Alex Darby which was being filmed in Oxford last week. Alex invited me along to shoot some behind-the-scenes stills during a night shoot in the Westgate car park. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for very much of it but I did manage to shoot a roll of film of some of the cast and crew. More to follow.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Kodak Tri-X @ ISO800, processed in Kodak HC110 for 9 mins.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, People, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, backstage, black&white, film, filming, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66, students, Tri-X
Monday, July 7th, 2014
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already since Giffords Circus was in town especially as I remember it so well and it feels more recent than that. This year there are familiar faces that I saw last year and also some new people. I saw the show this afternoon and it was fantastic – very different from last year. If you haven’t been to see the show yet I highly recommend it. Here are some portraits I made back stage.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, circus, film, giffords, hc110, oxford, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66, summer
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
Here are some images that I made back in autumn 2012 that I thought I had already posted but after checking back I realise that I hadn’t. Last week I bumped into the guy in the top left shot and after he told me that he hadn’t seen his shot yet it prompted me to check. He looked a little different but I still managed to recognise him and he remembered me making this picture during my lunch break which is nice considering it was over a year and a half ago. Some of these shots were made during my lunch hour photo walks and a couple are from a day trip to London. Same camera, different rolls of film.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar. Fuji Velvia 100 and Kodak Ektachrome 100G films. Processed in a Tetanol E6 kit.
Posted in film, London, Oxford, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, e6, film, london, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66
Friday, May 16th, 2014
Chelsea Clinton received her doctorate degree last Saturday in a ceremony at The Sheldonian Theatre. Bill and Hillary were also there along with Chelsea’s husband and they all looked extremely proud when I saw them exit the Sheldonian and be photographed for their family group shot while a mass of students (who had also just graduated) looked on. I managed to photograph them as they casually walked through Radcliffe Square on their way back to University College on the High Street. It all happened so quickly and I did my best to maintain focus on my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera while walking backwards and trying not to trip over. They were surrounded by secret service agents that insisted that I stayed back which added another element of difficulty because I had to keep an eye out for when they were about to step in front of my camera. A group of paparazzi were quite a way off behind me concentrating on Chelsea and her husband who were walking off ahead of Bill and Hillary. I only had seven frames left on the roll in my Rolleiflex so I had to make every frame count and I’m very pleased with my shots.
Back in the summer of 2012 Bill visited Oxford to give a presentation at a conference in town. I didn’t know this and while I was on my lunch hour photo walk I came across one of his secret service agents standing outside Blackwell’s bookshop on Broad Street. I noticed him from across the street but I didn’t realise he was an actual secret service agent until I got closer and noticed the white coiled wire connected to an ear piece. We had a brief conversation and he was nice enough to allow me to make a quick portrait (below). At that point I didn’t know that Bill Clinton was inside Blackwell’s and I only found out when I got back to my office and one of my work colleague’s told me because a friend of his was working at Blackwell’s and Bill in there. Later that evening I went to the Malmaison hotel to photograph an event and when I got there I noticed lots of vehicles with blacked out windows parked in the front. When I left the hotel after I had finished my photography, standing at the door was the same secret service agent that I had photographed at lunch time. We had a nice chat and I explained a bit about this blog and my passion for film photography and just as I was about to leave he handed me a secret service pin badge which I thought was a very kind of him. I didn’t ask his name but whoever he is I hope he gets to see the portrait I made of him two years ago.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80mm Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Secret service agent: Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | 4 Responses »
Tags: 2.8f, 6x6, acros, black&white, clinton, film, hc110, oxford, people, rolleiflex, SL66, summer
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
Some test shots from a roll of Ilford FP4+ that expired 20 years ago (1994). I picked up a box of this film as part of a mixed lot of expired rolls and I’ve been waiting for some sunny weather to test it out. Spring seems to have finally sprung so this is the first test roll that I used on my lunch break photo walk around town in very sunny and contrasty light. The contrast of this film seems to have gone way down which is perfect for using on a very sunny day. I bumped up the contrast in post by an unusually high amount to achieve the results below. Overall I’m very surprised and pleased with the results.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired 1994), rated at ISO 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 12mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, fp4, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66
Monday, April 14th, 2014
Last week a movie crew were in town filming a period drama called Testament of Youth which is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain. It was wonderful to see a large scale production crew transform parts of Oxford to how it would have looked 100 years ago with the use of various props, old cars, horses, carriages, people dressed in period costumes and lots of grit to cover modern day tarmac and double yellow lines. There was a lot of interest from tourists and locals so there was plenty of security on hand to keep things under control with the use of barriers which made it difficult to move around for photography. While most people concentrated on photographing the main actors, I’m always drawn to photographing the crew, the unsung heroes who are usually the first ones to arrive on set in the morning and the last ones to leave at the end of the day.
Below you’ll find pictures of one of the lighting trucks, a 20K fresnel light waiting to be deployed, the Gaffer (Julian) with his ND filters at the ready, the lighting crew during their lunch break in the sun, Security guards (Neil and Duncan), stills photographer (Laurie) and old bicycles used as props in Radcliffe Square. It was very nice chatting with some of the crew members especially Julian and Laurie who have previously worked on some great projects.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired 1994), rated at ISO 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 12mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, filming, fp4, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66
Thursday, April 10th, 2014
A few shots here of Richard from Clements & Church Tailor’s on Little Clarendon Street that I made to test out some film last summer. This roll of film has been in my fridge with a batch of others waiting to be processed. I had originally planned to build up a stash before mixing some fresh chemistry but I probably won’t get a chance for that until later this summer so I decided to send them off for processing. Since these shots were made quite a few things have changed – Richard has moved to the Leamington Spa branch of Clements & Church, the tree in the background of the first shot has been heavily chopped back so there won’t be any leaves on it for a long time to come and the Barclays Bank on the right hand side of the picture along with the cashpoints has now closed. That’s why I’m so passionate about photography, making photographic memories to have something to look back on.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar lens, loaded with Kodak Portra 160 VC (expired), processed by Ag Photo lab, scanned by me.
Posted in Fashion, film, Oxford, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, clements, film, oxford, portraits, richard, rolleiflex, SL66, street style, tailor
Thursday, April 3rd, 2014
This is how some students celebrate the end of their exams, Oxford style (aka trashing). After weeks of not coming across anyone in my lunch hour I finally managed to bump into quite a few students on the same day. These shots are from last summer but I didn’t want to post them too soon because I didn’t want anyone to get into trouble for it. I think almost a year after the fact is probably fairly safe.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Kodak Portra 160VC (expired), processed by Ag Photo lab, scanned by me.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, c41, exams, film, oxford, people, Portra, portraits, rolleiflex, SL66, students, summer, trashing
Monday, September 9th, 2013
The fair has just rolled into town along St Giles so I went along there yesterday to see some of the rides and stalls being set up. I can remember the images I made there last year, one of which was a man on a coconut shy stall who is back here again this year. When I saw him setting up yesterday I stopped to say hello and he remembered that I had photographed him last year. After looking back at my previous posts I notice that this shot of that man didn’t get posted for some reason so I’m posting it here so that he can see it. I’m hoping the weather will stay dry long enough for me to do some more photography at St Giles’ fair over the next couple of days.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/f2.8 lens, Fuji Acros 100 processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 10 mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, fair, film, oxford, people, portraits, rodinal, SL66, st giles
