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Oxford: first outing with Marion Soho reflex 5×4 camera

Monday, November 18th, 2024

Here are some pictures from my first outing with a Marion Soho reflex camera I recently had serviced. The camera is probably around the 100 year old mark but it has been well looked after by the previous owner(s) and certainly doesn’t show its age. When I bought it the shutter curtains were dry and jammed which is very common with old reflex cameras which either haven’t been used regularly or have been stored in poor conditions (heat/humidity). The shutter curtains in mine have been replaced with cloth supplied by Custom Bellows UK and now the camera works like a dream. It’s smaller and lighter than my 5×4 Graflex Super D which makes it more comfortable to carry on my back while cycling into town.

[Tech info:] Marion Soho reflex 5×4, Fomapan 400 developed in Rodinal 1+25.

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Oxford: street portraits with a Graflex Super D 3×4 camera – part 2

Sunday, September 29th, 2024

Second test with fresh Shanghai GP3 100 film in this size (3.25″x4.25″). Processed in a Jobo expert drum without pre-rinse and water instead of stop bath. Looks like there is still mottling and uneven development. Maybe this film doesn’t like constant agitation? More testing needed. For scanning I made holders from old sheets of 5×4 film. Seems to work well and no more newtons rings.

[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 3×4, 152 mm Kodak Ektar lens, Shanghai GP3 100 @ ISO 100, processed in Rodinal 1+25 for 9 mins.

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Oxford: street portraits with a Graflex Super D 3×4 camera

Sunday, September 22nd, 2024

First test with fresh Shanghai GP3 100 film in this (3.25″ x 4.25″) size. Processed in a Jobo expert drum with water pre-rinse and stop bath. Looks like this film might need water instead of stop bath (the same as Fomapan film) because I can see uneven development. Scans made directly on the glass of my Epson V700 which has resulted in some newton rings. I will work on a better method. It’s a real shame about the uneven development but overall I’m pleased with these first results.

[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 3×4, 152 mm Kodak Ektar lens, Shanghai GP3 100 @ ISO 100, developed in Rodinal 1+25 for 9 mins.

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Oxford: large format film street portraits

Friday, September 20th, 2024

Recent street portraits on large format film. Making the most of what will probably be the last week of warm weather this year I took my camera gear into town to make some portraits as the sun was rapidly dropping. There is a glow to some of the skin tones which I think might be down to the warm colour temperature of the early evening light. The camera is from somewhere around the 1950s, the brass lens is around 150 years old, the film is fresh. Thank you to everyone who stopped to be photographed.

[Tech info:] Graflex Speed Graphic, Dallmeyer 2B petzval lens, Fomapan 400 film rated at ISO 200, developed in Rodinal 1+25.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Oxford: Xenotar lens test

Wednesday, December 27th, 2023

Some shots from yesterday when I was testing a Schneider Xenotar lens I recently picked up. Very overcast flat light but the results are OK.

[Tech info:] Chamonix 45F2, 135/3.5 Xenotar lens (yellow filter apart from the portrait), Fomapan 100 @ ISO 64, developed in ID-11 1+1 for 10m 30s.

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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.

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Oxford: portraits by the river

Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

A few portraits made by the river to test a lens I’ve had for a while. Aperture used for these was f8-f8.5.

[Tech info:] Chamonix 45F2, 10 inch f6.3 Kodak Commercial Ektar lens, yellow filter, Fomapan 200 film @ ISO 100, developed in Adox XT-3 stock for 6 mins.

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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.

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