SL66
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Sunday, July 15th, 2012
A new burger restaurant has just opened here in Oxford on George Street, it’s Byron Hamburgers but don’t be fooled by the name because the veggie burger on their menu is mighty tasty. I went for lunch there with two of my work colleagues and I have to say it was a very enjoyable experience, tasty food in a nice atmosphere. I really like both the exterior and interior of the building and the light inside is particularly nice with sunlight streaming in through frosted skylight panels in the ceiling at the back of the restaurant. Of course I happened to have a film camera with me (much to Rachel’s horror), so I couldn’t help making a few images while we waited for our food to arrive. Our waitress did a great job and we were all surprised to find out at the end that we were the first people she’d ever served! I’ll be going back there for sure and hopefully I’ll make some more nice images there when I do.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66 and 80mm lens, loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film. Processed in Kodak HC110 dilution b (1+31).
Stacked shelves.
Rachel's drink.
Water jugs. (Notice the distinctive shaped highlights from the Zeiss 80mm lens).
Some of the friendly staff. Our waitress is on the left.
Nice light on a chair next to our table.
Rachel and Michael.
Posted in film, Oxford | 1 Response »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, byron, film, hc110, oxford, people, SL66
Thursday, June 7th, 2012
These images are from the first roll of film through my Rolleiflex SL66 on the day that I received it. As I bought the camera sight unseen it was clear to me early on that the camera and I were going to get along just fine. One of the many nice things about using manual mechanical film cameras is not having to spend time navigating unfamiliar menus or having to trawl through an instruction manual just to change one simple setting. You just set the exposure, compose, focus and then *click*.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66 camera with Zeiss Planar 80mm/f2.8 lens, loaded with expired Kodak Tri-X film. Processed in Rodinal (1:50) by me.
Estate agents' window, Walton Street, Oxford.
Walton Street, Oxford.
Walton Street, Oxford.
Right after the previous fruit and veg shot I turned around and grabbed this shot. There was a coach blocking this Mini from turning, that's why the driver looks so unhappy.
Posted in film, Oxford | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, rodinal, SL66
Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
I managed to shoot a whole roll of film through my Rolleiflex SL66 camera during one of my lunch time walks a few weeks ago. Here are the first 5 frames. I’ve got so many images still to post from the college ball’s that I photographed recently and then on top of that I have a backlog of other images that I can’t wait to share from my lunch hour sessions and test shoots. Some people have asked if I sell prints of my photography and the answer is yes. Although I don’t make it obvious on this blog I assume that anyone wishing to purchase a print would contact me so please get in touch. All prints are hand done by me.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66 camera, 80/2.8 lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film processed in Kodak HC110 dilution B. Processed and scanned by me.
Cool glasses, Broad Street.
Gone to the beach.
Matt Sage - musician and promoter, outside The Randolph Hotel.
Taylorian Institute steps.
Unicorn window display, Ship Street.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, SL66
Sunday, May 27th, 2012
While cycling home from my dress rehearsal shoot at Lady Margaret Hall (see previous post) I passed this nice looking motorbike (MZ Trophy) as it was waiting in the line of traffic at the South Parks Road traffic lights. I asked the rider (Simon) if I could do some quick photography of him on his motorbike with the cool film camera I had in my bag and he agreed so we carried on down to the Bridge of Sighs next to Hertford College. The motorbike is from 1971 so it’s a similar age to the camera I used. The camera I had with me was a Rolleiflex SL66 that had arrived in the morning so these are some of the first shots through it. Naturally I was a little nervous about whether or not they would come out because with old cameras you just never know. Fortunately they turned out great and I had both colour and black & white film backs loaded with me so I was able to do a bit of both. On the b&w roll I had a few blank frames at the start of the roll and I’m missing a few shots from the end so I’ll have to look at why that happened, possibly user error. Thank you Simon for stopping and for being so patient while I juggled with the film backs.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66 and 80mm/2.8 Zeiss lens, loaded with Kodak 160NC (rated at ISO100) and Fuji Acros 100. Processed with a Rollei digibase C41 kit and Kodak HC110 dilution H (8.5 mins).
In front of the Bridge of Sighs.
I'm not sure where the light leak came from but I quite like it.
On the corner. (Movie trivia: the building in the background was used as the front of The Eagle pub in X-Men First Class).
Cool goggles (I'm in there).
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, film, oxford, people, portraits, SL66
Sunday, April 22nd, 2012
The weather forecast turned out to be wrong so instead of a week of endless rain we were fortunate enough to have some nice sunny weather during the past couple of days and when the sun is out so am I. These shots are from the first roll of film through my Rolleiflex SL66 camera. It’s similar to a Hasselblad in that it uses the same Zeiss 80mm lens design and the image format is 6x6cm square but that’s where the similarities end. In my opinion the SL66 is a lot more versatile and has features the Hasselblad can only dream about. I breezed through a roll of film in my lunch break and because this camera is lighter than most of my other cameras I was able to cover a lot more ground than I usually do when carrying heavier cameras.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66 with 80mm and 150mm lenses. Ilford HP5+ film (expired in 2005) processed in Ilford DD-X.
Rolleiflex SL66. The previous owner was a food photographer who recently retired, he used this camera for 30 years.
Going nowhere. Shop doorway, Little Clarendon Street.
James (aka Cowboy Mod). Wellington Square. You can see me reflected in his sunglasses.
I love the way the background here looks like a painted theatrical backdrop. That's the Ashmolean Museum in the background.
Waiting for the bus outside the Randolph Hotel. The man was very pleasant and told me he used to work in the photo trade many years ago. We chatted about photography.
Ship Street.
A quick grab shot to see how well the camera coped with moving subjects. Turl Street.
Lunchtime at the coffee shop.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, HP5, oxford, people, SL66