Mikeinlagardette's photos with the keyword: rollfilm

1950's Ensign Selfix 16-20, Model II. A very nice 6x4.5 folder, and made in England ! This version has an f4.5/75mm Ross Xpres lens - a Tessar clone, and a folding Albada viewfinder. Takes 16 frames on 120 (or 620!) film. High quality of construction and finish, but spoilt by having no accessory shoe for a rangefinder, and the front cannot be closed with a filter mounted - how stupid !! There were other versions of this camera, with triplet lens and conventional viewfinder, and also a version with a coupled rangefinder, but these last are rare, and thus quite expensive. Ensign was the trademark of a wide range of cameras made by the Houghton Butcher company in London, one of the earliest camera makers in England, but despite several mergers in post war years, they finally ceased production in 1961. Canon Ixus 960is Camera-Wiki article: camera-wiki.org/wiki/Houghton_and_Ensign

This superb art-deco monument is an appropriate celebration of one of the giants of French literature. The main structure, of polished red granite, is by Franz Jourdain, and the bust of Zola is by the sculptor Phillippe Solari. In fact, Émile's body was re-interred in the Panthéon in 1908! It's still the family vault though, and shares this cemetery with many other famous names from the world of arts - Degas, Alexander Dumas, Hector Berlioz, Offenbach, Stendahl, the dancer Nijinski, Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone - to mention just a few! A fascinating, if slightly macabre, diversion in Paris !! 1940's Voigtlander Bessa 66, f3.5/75mm Heliar, X2 yellow filter. Shanghai GP3 100 @200 in Diafine 3.5 + 3.5mins @ 21C Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

Following on from the last pic, here's another church doorway from the 12C, this time in central France, and we can see that although it is more stylish than the one in Guiting Power, it has many similarities. Like St Michael's, the church was drastically altered, here in the 17thC, but again the doorway was incorporated in the later work. The decoration of the arch orders is very elaborate, and it's remarkable to think that it was done more than 800 years ago by men who probably lived in little more than mud and straw hovels! The style of decoration with the polylobal inner arch is quite common to this area, whereas the ball ornaments in the fourth order are more unusual. Taken with the Welmy Six a few years ago. 1952 Tasei Koki Welmy Six, f4.5/75mm Terionar lens, X2 yellow filter. Fomapan 100 in Caffenol C, 10 mins @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

Had to be a train photo in this little set! Taken with a 1952 Welmy Six, - another regrettable sale - which had a wonderful Terionar lens, a triplet of remarkable sharpness. This locomotive has now left the area for more northern parts of France, but I enjoyed several trips behind it when it was based in Limoges. 1952 Welmy Six, f4.5/75mm Terionar lens, X2 yellow filter. Fomapan Ultra 200 in Caffenol C, 10 mins @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

Chateau de La Roche. The Department of Creuse is not famous for it's chateaux - you need to go to the Loire to see the most beautiful examples, - but there are a few here, and this is an impressive building, by any standards Here is a view of the front facade of the chateau, which is surrounded by a very formal, strangely five-sided moat, ornamental, rather than defensive. The original building was built for Gabriel Foucauld, between 1533 and 1588, but only a little of this remains, and we are looking at a largely late 18thC rebuild, by the architect Pierre Berthomier, and the result of further restoration during the 19thC. Taken with a 1942 Voigtlander Bessa 66 some years ago, in fact the very first roll of film I exposed in the camera, which came from the late Robbe Keppens, in exchange for a very strange 35mm Agfa Flexilette! 1942 Voigtlander Bessa 66, f3.5/75mm Heliar lens, X2 yellow filter. Fomapan 100 @200 in Diafine, 4+4 mins @21C

Another outing for the old Kodak Reflex, this time with Foma 100 developed in Caffenol. We have had a fair bit of rain recently, and because the bedrock is quite near the surface and of impermeable granite, low lying fields quickly become water logged. 1948 Kodak Reflex II, f3.5/80mm Anaston lens, x2 yellow filter. Foma 100 in Caffenol 20-20-6-500. 10min @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

This was the end of the last stage of this little steam excursion, up into the western slopes of the Massif Central, to the town of Commentry, and the train was hauled from Montluçon by two of these American built locomotives, one at each end. It's a steep gradient from Montluçon, and the sound of the exhaust of the two locomotives reverberating off the rock faces as they climbed was truly spectacular! Over a thousand of these locos were built in America and Canada at the end of WW2, to replace French locomotives destroyed during the war, this one was built by Alco in Schenectady, NewYork in 1945, and is one of only four still serviceable. 1952 Welmy Six, f4.5/75mm Terionar lens, X2 yellow filter. Fomapan Ultra 200 in Caffenol C, 10 mins @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

To continue this "excursion in reverse," this is where I joined the train. Taken six years ago, here is TD 141 740 arriving in Guèret station from Limoges, ready for the run up to Montluçon. Notice that there is no diesel back up locomotive, which it seems is now mandatory for steam locomotive hauled trains on public lines in France, but not when this photo was taken. I used a Welmy Six folding camera, which I have since sold, and regret doing so, - it was a delightful little camera, made in Japan - an excellent copy of a Zeiss Ikonta. 1952 Welmy Six, f4.5/75mm Terionar lens, X2 yellow filter. Fomapan Ultra 200 in Caffenol C, 10 mins @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

To get to Parsac-Gouzon the line must first cross the deep, densely wooded valley of the river Creuse, and it does so on this spectacular structure. Opened to traffic in 1863, the steel girder viaduct carries the line from the junction at Saint Sulpice Laurière to Montluçon, and onwards across the Massif Central towards Lyon. Built by the Paris Orleans Railway, the total span is 339m (1,112ft), and the height above the river Creuse is 56.5m (185ft). Local people often understandably attribute this work to Gustave Eiffel, but it was actually designed by another eminent civil engineer, and contemporary of Eiffel, Wilhelm Nördling. When it was built it had two tracks, but one of these has now been lifted. Taken with a 1948 Kodak Tourist 620, converted to 120 film. f4.5/105mm coated Kodak Anaston, X2 yellow filter, Rollei RPX400 @800 in Caffenol C + iodized salt, 20-20-6-6 Scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

In contrast to the previous picture, this is how the station at Parsac-Gouzon usually looks! It's a lonely little place, some way between the two towns of it's name, and I think only a couple of trains a day in each direction actually stop here. It is on the single track line from Guèret to Montluçon, which is part of a longer cross country route from Bordeaux to Lyon, although direct services between those cities have been suspended for some time while this section of the route is completely re-signalled 1948 Kodak Tourist I converted to 120, f4.5/105mm Anaston lens, x2 yellow filter. Shanghai GP3 in Divided D23, 5+5 mins @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson 500

Following on from the last photo, this is how I travelled up to Montluçon! Of course, this is not the usual motive power used on this line, (!) but a special train going from Limoges, to the annual Festirail meeting in Montlucon. This locomotive was built by SFCM de Denain in 1932, for the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'Est, it was one of 42 locomotives built for hauling heavy suburban trains in the Greater Paris area, which it did until it was finally taken out of revenue service in 1967. Steam trains cannot go very far before they need to have their water supply refreshed, and here we have stopped at the little station of Parsac-Gouzon to re-fill the tanks, which also gives people a chance to walk about, - and take photos of the locomotive! 1948 Kodak Tourist I, f4.5/105mm Anaston lens, x2 yellow filter. Shanghai GP3 in Thornton's Two Bath, 4+4 mins @21C. Scanned @1200dpi on Epson 500