Here are some street portraits I made a few weeks ago in town. A mate of mine was using his 5×7 camera and I decided to travel with a lighter setup. It’s been a while since I’ve used my Pentacon 6 so that was my tool of choice. The film I used was expired which is why there is some mottling and artefacts. Thank you to everyone who stopped.
[Tech info:] Pentacon 6, 80/f/2.8 Volna lens, Ilford HP5 (expired), ID-11 1+3.
10×8 street portraits to test a large format lens I’ve had for a while. Lighting was very flat due to the overcast sky but it kept things consistent. I used a 10×8 Sinar camera with a Sinar shutter behind the lens as close as I could get it with a bag bellows. I used an aperture of approximately f8 for these to increase depth of focus. This was the same session as the Darlot lens in the previous post. Thank you to everyone who stopped for a portrait.
[Tech info:] 10×8 Sinar, 36cm Voigtlander Heliar lens, Fomapan 400 film @ ISO 200, developed in Rodinal 1+25.
Testing a Darlot petzval lens for portraiture on 10×8 film. The lens is fixed aperture (which I’ve calculated as f4) and most likely from a magic lantern projector. It has a distinctive sweet spot of sharpness and then falls off dramatically which is a characteristic of this lens brand. The vignetting in the bottom corners is from the opening of the Sinar shutter which is smaller than the rear element of the lens. I think using this on 10×8 is pushing it a bit far and I will try it on 5×7 next. I like the results but it’s a shame the family group shot has so little in focus. You can’t learn these things without testing. Thanks to everyone who stopped for a portrait. I enjoyed our conversation.
[Tech info:] Sinar 10×8, Jamin Darlot, Paris lens, FP4 (very expired) film, developed in HC110 1+31.
Street portraits made in Oxford to test a lens I’ve adapted to my Graflex Super D. The lens is designed for quarter plate but covers 5×4 at portrait distance. The problem with my Super D is the internal mirror is quite large and this lens has a long protruding rear element which means when the lens is clear of the mirror swinging up the furthest I can focus is approximately 2.5 metres. Ideal for portraits but not great for group shots of three people. This is what lens testing is all about, to learn these things. The last shot is out of focus because I had to move the lens forward to allow the mirror to swing up but I like it despite the softness. On the day I chose to make these portraits the wind was so strong it almost knocked over my camera with the tripod a few times but I held onto it and made these images in short order. Thanks to everyone who stopped by.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D, 7 inch Aldis lens, Kodak TXP 320 (expired), ISO 200, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Recent large format street portraits made in Jericho, Oxford. Afternoon autumn light can be wonderful when it bounces off glass buildings. I wanted to test out a lens I’ve had for some years but haven’t used much. The film I used is so old it predates when Ilford started printing expiry dates on their film boxes. I added some benzotriazole with the film developer to help reduce base fog. It seems to have worked. Thank you to everyone that stopped to be photographed.
[Tech info:] 10×8 Deardorff, 300/f4.2 Plaubel Anticomar lens, Ilford FP4 @ ISO 25, Rodinal 1+25 in a Jobo expert drum.
Here are street portraits from my first outing with this camera and lens combo in Oxford. It attracted a fair bit of attention and I enjoyed chatting with people about it, I also had some patient volunteers to help me with my testing. The Hektor lens is from a projector and doesn’t have any aperture control. This means the depth of field is wafer thin and exposure can only be controlled by shutter speed which is limited on my Super D. If those limitations weren’t enough, the furthest focus distance is approximately 1.5m because the lens has to be quite far forward for the rear element to clear the mirror. I enjoy portrait photography so this is not a problem.
It seems the more limitations I have, the more enjoyment I get out of photography.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, 200/2.5 Hektor lens, Fomapan 400 @ ISO 200, Developed in Adox XT-3 stock.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
