photo from week 273 - Agfa Flexilette

This skeleton was standing outside a local physiotherapy clinic, it looked to me rather like an xray view of the queen waving to the crowds.

photo from week 273 - Agfa Flexilette

The staircase in a medieval castle. The light was fairly low here, so I used full aperture and the slowest shutter speed I thought I could get away with.

photo from week 273 - Agfa Flexilette

I was rather embarrassed to see that I had put the hat on upside down!

Week 273 - Agfa Flexilette

The Flexilette is a rare beast, one of the very few 35mm twin lens reflexes. This one belongs to my dad, it functions in the same way as a traditional 120 TLR, the top lens is the focusing lens, and the bottom the taking lens. The Prontor shutter has a full range of speeds, and they all sound about right.

photo from week 272 - Kodak Brownie SIX-20 Model F

Because I was unsure about how much sensitivity the 60 year old film would have lost, I hedged my bets by operating the shutter multiple times. The camera was placed on the ground, and the shutter fired 15 times as a train was approaching the station platform. I've cropped the image to remove the expanse of plain platform in the foreground.

photo from week 272 - Kodak Brownie SIX-20 Model F

This model is unusual in having a threaded cable release socket, so I was able to use a cable release for this indoor self-portrait. I also used the slide in portrait lens, the exposure was about 15 seconds. This is a cropped image.

photo from week 272 - Kodak Brownie SIX-20 Model F

Given that the film is 60 years old, the results were really pretty good. This one was taken in the atrium of a modern building, I held the camera firmly against the wall, and using the "B" setting made a one second exposure.

Week 272 - Kodak Brownie SIX-20 Model F

Many Brownies were made in the 20th century, this one dates from 1955-57, and has an unusual cream and brown colour scheme. There is a slide across lens for closer subjects, and a green filter to use with black and white film.
I've had a roll of Ilford FP3 black and white film sitting in a drawer for some time now, it expired in 1957, so was proably made a couple of years earlier, making it coincide very nicely with the dates for the camera.
It remains to be seen what (if any) images come from this elderly emulsion, but previous experience leads me to believe it will not be a complete failure.

photo from week 271 - Ricoh FF-3 AF

I chanced upon this scene during the week. I presume the people are students learning surveying techniques, the mural depicts Harry Brearley, who invented stainless steel in Sheffield in 1913, the mural was painted in 2013 to mark the centenary.

photo from week 271 - Ricoh FF-3 AF

The camera performed well in lower light levels, and for once the auto-focus wasn't fooled by the mirror.

photo from week 271 - Ricoh FF-3 AF

I needn't have worried about the expired Ilford Delta 100 film, it was labelled develop before 2006, but seems to have stayed in good condition.

Week 271 - Ricoh FF-3 AF

The FF-3 is one of the early auto-focus cameras, it has a fully automatic exposure system, and a 35mm f3.2 Rikenon lens. I can't remember where this one came from, probably a charity shop. The auto-focus is quite noisy, as is the film advance. I've loaded it with a roll of Ilford Delta 100 Pro black and white film, which expired in 2006.

photo from week 270 - Jenoptik JA 30

The 25th and last frame of the roll. This was taken with the zoom lens at the full 80mm.

photo from week 270 - Jenoptik JA 30

For a change, rather than using my bathroom mirror, this self-portrait was taken in the dressing up area at Lyme Park, a National Trust property near Manchester. I switched the flash off, so the aperture would have been wide, and the shutter speed slow, which probably accounts for the softness of the image.

photo from week 270 - Jenoptik JA 30

Despite the London bus, this picture was taken in Sheffield, outside my favourite pub, The Fat Cat. The film is expired Agfa ISO 200, the negatives seemed rather thin, and this may be because my Tetenal C41 kit is getting exhausted after nearly 50 films.

Week 270 - Jenoptik JA30

This was a recent charity shop find for £1.99, it's very compact, but of course uses the now obsolete APS film. I have a small stash of this, which is now 10 years past its expiry date, so the APS cameras will get some use in the months ahead.