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Oxford: street portraits with 10×8 Deardorff camera

Tuesday, October 13th, 2026

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.

20261011_Oxford_300-f4.2_Anticomar_FP4_Rodinal_1-50_01_web

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Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 10x8, 300mm, black&white, deardorff, fp4, ilford, oxford

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.

20240917_Oxford_Rollei-Tele_FP4_ISO64_Promicrol_001_web

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Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits, Street style | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol, rollei tele, rolleiflex, summer

Oxford: Ilford F.P.4 Glass Plates – part 1

Sunday, September 15th, 2024

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).

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Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 2024, fp4, glass plates, ilford, oxford, rodinal, ross reflex, zeiss

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.

20240601_Oxford_Ensign-Reflex_AeroEktar_HP5_Promicrol_01_web

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Tags: 6x9, aero ektar, black&white, ensign, film, HP5, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol

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.

20240504_Oxford_Chamonix_210-4.5_FP4_Promicrol_1-9_02_web

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Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 210mm, 5x4, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, promicrol, students

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.

20230923_Grad_C330_FP4_XT-3_001_web 20230923_Graduation_C330_FP4_XT-3_008_web

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Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 65mm, 6x6, black&white, c330, film, fp4, ilford, oxford, people, portraits, students, xt-3

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.

20230119_Gravel_Hinksey_P645NII_45-85_HP5_HC110B_007_web

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Tags: 45-85, 645, black&white, film, flood, hc110, hinksey, HP5, ilford, oxford

Oxford: Misty morning

Tuesday, September 19th, 2023

Some misty morning shots from April this year. I have photographed this location with various different cameras but this was the first time with a wider format. I feel 6×12 worked perfectly for these shots.

[Tech info]: Wista 5×4, 90mm Schneider lens, Ilford FP4+ developed in Adox XT-3 stock.

20230422_6x12_90mm_FP4_XT-3_stock_07_web

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Tags: 5x4, adox, black&white, film, fp4, ilford, mist, oxford, wista, xt-3

Gear: Rolleiflex SL66 & 125mm f2.5 Leitz lens

Monday, September 18th, 2023

Recently I came across an interesting lens I was curious to try out – a Leitz 125mm f2.5 modified for use on a Rolleiflex SL66. The lens was originally designed for use on a 35mm format system but amazingly it covers 6×6 without any issues. The previous owner carried out the modification and it’s very nicely done. Here are the first test shots from a photowalk with a photographer mate of mine.

[Tech info]: Rolleiflex SL66, 125mm f2.5 Leitz lens, shots 1-3 Ilford FP4, the rest are Ilford HP5, developed in Adox XT-3 stock.

20230902_SL66_125mmf2.5-Leitz_FP4_XT-3_003_web

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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

Devon: Dawlish

Thursday, December 1st, 2022

Some pictures from a brief visit to Dawlish back in April.

[Tech info:] Nikon FE2, 28-75/2.8 Tamron zoom, Delta 100 film developed in Ilford DDX 1+4, Pakon scans.

20220418_Dawlish_FE2_28-75_DELTA400_DDX_04A_web

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Posted in film, Travel | 3 Responses »
Tags: 28-75, 35mm, b&w, ddx, delta 100, devon, fe2, film, ilford, nikon

Oxford: Graflex Super D street portraits – part 1

Monday, August 22nd, 2022

After the focus issues I was having with my Gowlandflex I decided to take my Graflex Super D into town after work to use it for some more large format portraits. The benefit is I’m able to cycle with the Super D in a rucksack, my Gowlandflex is too large to fit into any rucksack I currently own. The lens I used was designed for aerial photography during WWII and is uncoated which gives a low contrast almost dreamy look which I like.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D, 8 inch Pentac lens, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110B_05_web 20220815_Nicola_Rad-Sq_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110_06_web SuperD

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Tags: 5x4, graflex, hc110, HP5, ilford, oxford, portrait, super d

Oxford: Gowlandflex street portraits – part 1

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

Here are some street portraits from the first trips out with my Gowlandflex large format TLR camera on a Saturday and Sunday morning in Oxford. The camera is a beast and attracted a fair bit of attention. I enjoyed chatting with people and making their portraits – something I haven’t done for a couple of years.

The mirror calibration was completely wrong when I received this camera so I replaced the springs to lower the mirror by 2.5mm. This is the first time I’ve used it properly and it looks like I need to re-check the calibration because most of these shots are front focussed but overall I’m pleased with the results. A couple of the shots have some strange light leaks which might be from the film holder not being seated properly. Further investigation needed.

[Tech info:] Gowlandflex TLR, 180/4.5 Voigtlander Heliar lens, Ilford HP5 & Funi Across 100 film (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

20220813_Bus-Driver_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_01_web 20220813_Gowlandflex_Oxford_HP5_HC110B_01_web 20220813_Radcliffe-Square_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_02_web 20220814_Broad-Street_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_05_web 20220815_Andrew_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_10_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_09_web