Agilux Agiflex 1, 120 roll film SLR, results gallery

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Doug the Dog, was the very first image from the first test roll through the Agiflex. Like the Agiflex, Doug is well past his best years with wobbly back legs but he still likes to chase various object around the back garden. He'd urging me to get on with the photo here, so he can get back to his busy schedule.

When the Agiflex arrived it was seized solid, the hatch was corroded closed and the shutter curtains stiff as card. Now, within the limits of its lens, it's back in business. Full frame.

This magnificent thatched barn can be found in Hensting lane, Hampshire I pass it many times on my regular cycling rides, but the sun only shines on this side in the morning. Full frame.

The first roll through the Agiflex returned 12 out of 12 usable negatives, not all are reproduced here though. This image was one of two exposed of Winchester Cathedral, this was the better of the two as the sun was slightly brighter on the grass in the foreground. The Agilux anastigmat lens is not quite as bright as when it was new but still produces usable negatives. Full frame.

Bursledon windmill, another of my favourite subjects. I was a little too keen here, arriving early in the morning before the sun had moved around to put some shape onto the tower's structure. As the lens is coated, the Agiflex may have a colour film put through it at some point, this being a good subject. Full frame.

Bursledon windmill, again. Restored some years back, it can still be seen turning if there's a decent breeze blowing on Sundays. This image is slightly cropped to improve the composition.

The only purpose of this image was to try the 500th sec. shutter speed, as this would need a wider aperture to preserve the short depth of field. The image is slightly cropped, mainly to remove a slight bit of image clipping on the left and a some unpleasant development artefacts along the top edge. For some reason my Paterson spirals tend to promote greater development where the film sits in the spiral, even though I use gentle continuous agitation. Given that the old Agiflex was little more than an ornament when it arrived, this is a good enough outcome.

Hampshire in the UK is a county whose geology is composed of a considerable amount of chalk. Apart from the rather hard water this produces, there's a lot of flint stone associated with it, leading to it's use for construction in the past. Scattered all around Hampshire are buildings with brick and flint in fill as demonstrated by this large handsome home near Farley Mount. The Agiflex is a lump of a thing to carry around in a bicycle pannier for 30 odd miles looking for a suitable subject to finish the last frame of the roll. The long suffering Raleigh cycle is resting against the wall whilst I compose the image doing my best to hide the car in the driveway. All told it was a delight to resurrect this old British Agiflex and return it to working order. Full frame.

A colour film was put throgh the Agiflex to see how it got on, but my scanner struggles with colour negatives, here are a couple. This is all that remains of Royal Victoria Hospital, at Netley in Hampshire, UK. Commisioned by Queen Victoria during her reign is remained in use up until 1963, by which time it was suffering somewhat and was demolished in the 1970s, just leaving the hospital chapel standing.

Full frame with a little bit of a darker left edge, where the second curtain is escaping a shade early.

A colour version of the earlier image of Bursledon windmill, again a bit too early, I should have allowed the sun to go further to the south to get a little more shape into the windmill and project more light into the barn. Next time.

Autumn leaves at the end of October 2020, when the reds were at their best. Taken in weak mid afternoon light with light cloud cover, I elected to use 1/50th at f/8. Generally pleased with the Agiflex as it's settled down. The second roll of colour all came out exposed correctly, although I didn't push my luck at 1/500th again.

All too easy to be seduced by back lit yellow leaves against a blue autumn sky. For all its oddities, I like using the Agiflex. Partly becuase it's a little awkward to use, makes me consider the exposure very carefully. Very happy to note that for the third film through the Agiflex I didn't need to adjust the scan settings at all, so the shutter speeds must be about right.

Just taken as the dawn broke through the curtains and scattered the light across the wall. May 2021.

The shutter was given a further tweak to see if the slightly darker left edge could be resolved, this roll of film showed a slight improvement, I think that's as close as I will get it. The exposures all work out about right, which is the main thing. The camera spent the year as my regular camera, recording various aspects of the year, rather than using the increasingly forgotten digital Pentax K-X.