Red Letterboxes

Before e-mail. Before mobile phones. Before those telephones with flex and dials. When children in primary schools were routinely given lessons in letter-writing, and then encouraged to put their new skills into practice by actually sending a letter which would be slotted into one of these as the first step in remote communication.

Some post boxes have "Post Office" above the slot, like this one, whereas others have "Royal Mail". Royal Mail post boxes manufactured since 1994 carry the wording "Royal Mail", normally above the aperture (lamp boxes) or on the door (pillar boxes). Before this date all post boxes carried the wording "Post Office". Nikon D50 + AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G lens at 30mm and f/9.

Post boxes are interesting, but only up to a point. Of themselves they are simply designed and practical containers with a minimum of ornament and a uniform distinctive colour. Where they are can be interesting of course. Notwithstanding the above, I have nevertheless created an album devoted to my not inconsiderable output of post box pictures. I had no idea until now just how fixated I had become. Nikon D3s + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. I think the 50mm lenses are the best for photographing post boxes. Indeed, they may be the best for photographing any subject.

Bath, Somerset. Victorian Post-Box. Nikon D2Xs and Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical lens.

Perhaps I am on the threshold of becoming a man of letters. This was shot at 210mm, 1/640th; f/5.6. This is the Tamron AF 70-210mm f/2.8 SP LD 67D lens made from 1992 until 2003, a pro spec lens which was presumably priced to compete with the comparable Nikon and Canon lenses (there was a Minolta version too). It relies on screw drive in the Nikon version for its AF. Given the time it was made, that AF was in its infancy, that it was designed to work with film: I think its performance is astounding. I bought it from a bloke on eBay. I had no knowledge of its abilities. I bid for it purely because it was cheap for a pro lens of this type, and I think I got a bargain, (eBay acquisitions do not always work out like this!)

Norton St. Philip, Somerset.

Note the inscription 'Machan Scotland' which denotes manufacture at the foundry of Machan Engineering, Denny, Falkirk. The foundry was dissolved in 2016. Orders for new post boxes had dwindled. There are over 100,000 post boxes in the United Kingdom. The 'ROYAL MAIL' legend first appeared on letter boxes in the early 1990s; prior to this letter boxes had the words 'POST OFFICE' cast onto them. The change was prompted by the separation of Post Office Counters Limited and Royal Mail as independent companies. Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/180th.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/2 AI lens.

Lyme Regis. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 lens.