Behind the scenes (socially distanced) photography during filming of Endeavour 8 episode 1 on Merton Street in Oxford. I can’t remember the last time the streets were this empty while the Endeavour crew were here – it was rather nice.
[Tech info]: Leica M6, 50/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double X film developed in D96. Pakon scans.
I’ve borrowed a Contax T2 point and shoot camera from a kind friend of mine and have been taking it with me on a few walks recently to see if it lives up to its reputation. So far I can’t say it has. Below are some examples from a recent walk and you can see in three of them only the centre of the frame is in focus and the outer edge of the frame looks so distorted I wonder if there’s an alignment problem with the lens. Surely it can’t be down to a shallow depth of field. The strange thing is in the shot of the moss covered branch (second image) the blurry edges aren’t there so maybe it’s more to do with focussing at infinity? Maybe this is normal for this camera but no one has mentioned it in any reviews? Not sure.
[Tech info:] Contax T2, Eastman Double X film, developed in FPP D96 for 7mins 30secs. Pakon scans.
The Sunny 16 photography podcast arranged a photowalk in Oxford back in February and I agreed to show the group of film photographers around my home town. After 9 months I’ve finally managed to develop my films from the day and here’s a selection from the first roll. Part of the delay was because I wanted to wait until I had enough rolls to develop at once before ordering special developer to bring the best out of this motion picture film – Eastman Double-X.
There are different developer options on the market but on this occasion I decided to give FPP D96 a try partly because one packet of powder mixes into 3.8 litres of stock solution which is great value. I’ve been using 1 litre of stock to develop my rolls with 70ml of replenishment from fresh stock per roll. After 8 rolls developed the results still look great.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double-X, developed in FPP D96 stock for 7min 30secs, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 7 | FILM 1 in the Goodman Library at the Oxford Union, August 2019. This location is a favourite of mine and one I am very familiar with having photographed quite a few speaking events there over the past few years. Once the artificial sunlight came streaming in through the windows and the library was filled with haze the space was completely transformed.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in XTOL stock, Pakon scans.
The last day of filming on Endeavour 7 was mostly interiors but I can’t show any of the action without spoilers so those will have to wait until after UK broadcast. In the meantime here are some non-spoiler shots from the day, mainly the hardworking crew. I had taken along with me some rolls of Kodak TMZ P3200 b&w film because I was expecting low light levels inside and so far I’ve been very impressed with the results since using Kodak TMAX film developer (1+4 dilution, one shot). More to come.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 35/1.2 Voigtlander Nokton, Kodak TMZ P3200 @ ISO 1600, developed in TMAX developer 1+4, Pakon scans.
Some shots here from a lunch break photo walk where I was testing a lens and a film + filter combination. The lens is a Nikon 28mm f2.0 AIS that is very beaten up. There’s a slight rattle inside if I shake it so I’d say all is not well with it but I’m beginning to like the strange almost lens-baby-style blur it gives when used at wide apertures. The film and filter combination I was testing was Eastman Double X motion picture film combined with an orange filter. The D96 developer I’m using is a 1 litre stock solution that I’ve developed 7 rolls through and these negs look fairly thin so I think I should be increasing the development time although there is no mention of doing that from Nik & Trick (the supplier I purchased it from). The 1 litre solution is said to be good for 18 rolls but I’m not so optimistic.
[Tech info]: Nikon FA (aperture priority), Nikon 28mm f2.0 AIS lens, orange filter, Eastman Double X (expired) developed in D96 for 7 mins.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 7 | FILM 3 in Merton College, Oxford. A cold day for the cast and crew but at least it wasn’t raining! As usual, no spoilers. More pictures to follow after UK broadcast.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 50/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double X film, developed in D96. Pakon scans.
The Endeavour crew were back in town to work on FILM 2 of Endeavour series 7 and I did some behind the scenes photography. As usual you won’t find any spoilers here. More pictures will follow after UK broadcast. There was a brief passing shower in the morning and then the rest of the day stayed mainly overcast which seems to have worked nicely with the film I was using (Eastman Double X). Usually I would develop this film in Kodak D76 but I decided to splurge on the correct developer which is Kodak D96 and I’m glad I did because these are the best tones I have seen from this film considering the dull light.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 50/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double X film, developed in D96, Pakon scans.
Some shots from a test roll I put through a Nikon FA which I recently bought. The first roll had some light leaks so I added light seals for the edges of the back of the camera using strips from a foam sheet I bought at Hobbycraft. Looks like it’s fixed the problem. These were all shot in aperture priority mode using matrix metering. The matrix metering mode only works in aperture priority on the FA, something I didn’t realise. I much prefer to use full manual mode.
[Tech info:] Nikon FA, 35/2.0D Nikon lens, orange filter, TMAX 100 (expired), developed in Tetanol Ultrafin developer. Pakon scans.
Filming has begun on Endeavour series 7 and I was fortunate enough to document the cast and crew at work in Oxford recently. Lots of familiar faces and some new ones too.
For this roll I rated it at ISO1600 because of the low light level indoors but when I went outdoors I knew the highlights were going to blow out so I reduced development time by 10% to reduce the contrast a little. This is something I have started to do more recently and so far I like the results.
As usual on this blog, all images will be spoiler-free until after each FILM has been broadcast.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 pushed to ISO1600, developed in XTOL stock. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 6 | FILM 4 in Oxford, October 2018. This is the ‘pelican man’ scene that was filmed on New College Lane on a very overcast day with a rapidly dropping light level. As usual the crew pulled it off just as the street lights started coming on.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford Delta 400 developed in DDX 1+4. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 6 | FILM 6 in some of the interior sets including the new CID set for this series. This was the penultimate day of filming for series 6 and it was a busy day for the cast and crew with lots of different setups.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 35/1.2 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 pushed to 1600, developed in XTOL, Pakon scans.
