Lacock, Wiltshire

Nikon D700 + 180mm AF Nikkor f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D700 + 180mm AF Nikkor f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D700 + 180mm AF Nikkor f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D700 + AF-D Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens.

Nikon D700 + 180mm AF Nikkor f/2.8 lens.

It looks aged enough to be a door once used by the pioneer of photography. Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI lens.

On a pleasantly warm day, what better to do than stretch out in the flower bed for a bit of shut-eye. Obligingly, however, this feline agreed to be photographed by a succession of visitors, astutely recognising what side its bread was buttered on. Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI lens.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 200mm f/4 AI lens with Nikon TC-16A teleconverter.

Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 lens.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 lens.

Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 EF USM lens. 200 ISO, f/8, 1/350th, lens at 150mm.

Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 EF USM lens.

Coincidentally I was in Lacock the day before a film crew arrived to record scenes for an episode of the television drama 'Downton Abbey'. Lacock briefly became 'Malton'. None of the actors was present. The street was simply being dressed with period props by people who specialise in that work.

Nikon D700 + Tamron AF 70-210mm f/2.8 SP LD lens made sometime between 1992 and 2003. ISO 400; f/11; 1/500; focal length 210mm.

A chamber off the cloisters, photographed with a Nikon D700 and a Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. The chief reason I bought into the Canon EOS system was to use this lens. Fortunately the low cost of secondhand discontinued digital SLR cameras enables such indulgences. The design of the Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm F2.8 Tessar stretches back at least to the 1930's where countless examples exist in different forms, formats, and mounts. This is a fundamentally simple lens of just four elements in three groups with five aperture blades. It is not the best 50mm lens that I own. However, it is certainly the cheapest. So it is something of a mystery why I find it so satisfying to use. It is slow for a 50mm lens at f/2.8. The focus throw is very wide, allowing precision at the expense of fast handling. It seems sharp, but nearly all 50mm lenses are sharp. It performs well wide open; so do many others. Colour rendition is good. Distortion is not a problem. Contrast is strong. You could say the same about practically all 50mm lenses. But I like this particular lens very much.

Photographed with a Nikon D700 and Tamron AF 70-210mm f/2.8 SP LD lens. This lens was in production from 1992 to 2003. The Billingham 550 camera bag was introduced in 1983 as a reworking of the 1979 System 1 bag, the first soft camera bag manufactured in Britain. It has remained in continuous production. It is a bag much favoured by professional photographers. The bag is made of canvas and leather, and internally there is nylon covered padding. It is spacious enough to hold at least two camera bodies with a full load of lenses and other accessories. Doing that would, of course, be a mistake. You would end up with an over-stuffed bag which was too heavy to carry and too full to find what you wanted. The bag alone weighs over two and a half kilos. It’s a specialised, well-made and stylish piece of luggage. You can attach additional pockets at either end. I prefer to leave my pair at home. They make the bag look too long. One reason professional photographers like it is its internal height of 10 inches which allows tall lenses and hammerhead flashguns to be stowed upright. Another reason might be the fairly slim profile compared, for example, to a box-like Billingham 555, or indeed any of the Billingham five series which tend to hang from the shoulder four-square like wooden cabinets (and they’ll always do this if they’re filled to capacity). Many camera bags are built square and get in everybody’s way. The 550 will get in everybody’s way anyhow, despite not being square. It’s just generally big. Access is a bit awkward but in my experience that is a general criticism of Billingham bags and a concomitant of high standards of gear-protection. To carry it by hand you have to do up the straps which secure the cover to the bag, which is a nuisance. The only other criticism is the price. Mine is second-hand, with plenty of wear left in it, yet it cost more than many new bags. If you want a real fright, look up the cost of a new one. Don’t confuse it with the 555. Google ‘Billingham 550’. Be sure you’re sitting down when you do this.

Billingham 550 Khaki-Tan camera bag as foreground interest. The Billingham 550 camera bag was introduced in 1983 as a reworking of the 1979 System 1 bag, the first soft camera bag manufactured in Britain. It has remained in continuous production. It is a bag much favoured by professional photographers. The bag is made of canvas and leather, and internally there is nylon covered padding. It is spacious enough to hold at least two camera bodies with a full load of lenses and other accessories. Doing that would, of course, be a mistake. You would end up with an over-stuffed bag which was too heavy to carry and too full to find what you wanted. The bag alone weighs over two and a half kilos. It’s a specialised, well-made and stylish piece of luggage. You can attach additional pockets at either end. I prefer to leave my pair at home. They make the bag look too long. One reason professional photographers like it is its internal height of 10 inches which allows tall lenses and hammerhead flashguns to be stowed upright. Another reason might be the fairly slim profile compared, for example, to a box-like Billingham 555, or indeed any of the Billingham five series which tend to hang from the shoulder four-square like wooden cabinets (and they’ll always do this if they’re filled to capacity). Many camera bags are built square and get in everybody’s way. The 550 will get in everybody’s way anyhow, despite not being square. It’s just generally big. Access is a bit awkward but in my experience that is a general criticism of Billingham bags and a concomitant of high standards of gear-protection. To carry it by hand you have to do up the straps which secure the cover to the bag, which is a nuisance. The only other criticism is the price. Mine is second-hand, with plenty of wear left in it, yet it cost more than many new bags. If you want a real fright, look up the cost of a new one. Don’t confuse it with the 555. Google ‘Billingham 550’. Be sure you’re sitting down when you do this. The photograph was made using some quite cheap second-hand kit: an AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G lens on a Nikon D50.