The Houghton-Butcher Enfield Greyhound is a true artefact from the 1930s, a camera that captures not only images but also the essence of an era when photography was a burgeoning art form. As a modern film photographer, using the Greyhound with 120 film is an experience steeped in nostalgia and marked by both its charm and its quirks, and it does have some quirks!
The shutter speed
One of the first things you come across is the camera's fixed-focus lens with a focal length of 105mm. Shutter speeds on the greyhound are limited to just three options - Time, Bulb, and Instantaneous. Like modern cameras, Bulb (B) mode keeps the shutter open as long as you hold down the shutter release, allowing you to manually control the exposure time. It’s useful for very long exposures, like capturing light trails or nighttime scenes. Time (T) mode works similarly, but with a slight difference in that you press the shutter button once to open the shutter, and then press it again to close it. This mode is handy for long exposures without having to keep your finger on the button the entire time. Instantaneous on the Enfield Greyhound is a bit of a mystery. Some online reviews and forums suggest that it's 1/30s, but my own timings based on roughly two dozen tests showed it coming in at 1/50s, two thirds of a stop faster.
The Aperture
The lens is complemented by a rudimentary aperture system, offering "small," "medium," and "large" settings controlled by Waterhouse stops. These are a type of aperture mechanism used in early cameras and lenses, named after the British inventor John Waterhouse, who introduced them in the 19th century. Unlike the more modern iris diaphragm, which allows for continuous adjustment of the aperture size, Waterhouse stops consist of a set of removable metal plates, each with a different-sized hole cut in the centre. To change the aperture, the photographer would slide a different plate into a slot in the lens barrel, selecting the desired size for the aperture opening, which in turn controls the amount of light entering the lens and also affecting depth of field. The options on the Enfield Greyhound provide a basic range of exposure control, though they are kind of limiting depending on the lighting conditions. However, in the same way of a modern day iris, the small aperture delivers the most depth of field, while the large aperture offers a dreamy, shallow focus.. However, with no actual f-stop markings, you’re left to estimate exposure based on experience, adding an extra layer of challenge to your shooting process.
However, what are the aperture values?
No one on the internet seems to know what the aperture values are, and I'm not about to take my lens apart (it's 8pm on a Sunday eve, sorry!), but I'll give my best estimates here.
The formula for calculating the aperture f-number (often referred to as the f-stop) is:
f-number = f/D
So, I've measured the centre of the meniscus lens to the film plane and it's exactly 105mm - great!
Next the three aperture diameters are:
Small = 4mm
Large = 8mm
Therefore, based off those measurements the aperture values of the Enfield Greyhound folding bellows camera are: Small = f26.25
Medium = f19.09
Large = f13.125
I've not tested these figures yet, but I will do soon and will either write a new post or update this one.
Examples of Portraits
The focussing system
The Enfield Greyhound operates on a zone focusing system, with two slots on the camera bed to adjust the lens for focusing. One slot is designed for subjects up to 9 feet away, and the other for anything beyond that distance. In theory, this should provide reliable focusing, but in practice, I found it somewhat unreliable. The difference in focus between the two positions isn’t always clear-cut, especially when shooting closer subjects. As a result, achieving focus was a bit of a gamble, particularly in situations where precision is required, such as portrait photography.
The Viewfinder
Another quirk is the so called "Brilliant Finder," a small, mirror-based viewfinder that, despite its name, proved less than brilliant in use, but come on - this camera is close to a century old! That said, on my camera, it was noticeably inaccurate, often leading to compositions that didn’t match what I saw through the finder. This issue is compounded by parallax error, particularly when focusing closely for portraits. The difference between what the viewfinder shows and what the lens captures becomes more pronounced at shorter distances, making it difficult to frame your subject accurately.
The lens
Despite these challenges, the Enfield Greyhound rewards patience and careful consideration. The large 6x8 cm negatives it produces are a fab and offer a great aspect ratio that stands out when compared to the 3:2 of more mainstream 35mm photography. The images have a distinct vintage quality, with a soft, almost focus that is really hard to replicate with modern equipment. Images have a timeless, painterly feel, while portraits, though challenging to get right, can possess a character and depth that make the effort worthwhile. The coatings on modern lenses, whilst great for controlling flair, optical abberations, contrast etc, tend to rob the charm a bit and leave the images feeling a little clinical. Not so on the far simpler basic lenses of the olden days! The Enfield has a really simple meniscus lens - a single-element lens that has one convex (outward-curved) surface and one concave (inward-curved) surface. This type of lens was often used in basic or early cameras, as it gave a basic level of focus and image quality and whilst not as sharp or distortion-free as more complex lens designs, meniscus lenses were inexpensive to produce and were commonly used in early photography for their simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
How I decided to shoot it
I took the camera to Lytham's 1940s War Weekend on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th August 2024 as I figured there'd be some synergy between the camera and the subjects available. I agonised far harder than I needed to about how to shoot the camera, but in the end I just blagged my way through it as I only had a couple of rolls of Ilford's HP5+ in. Back in the 1930s, an ISO 100 film was considered to be super speedy, as indicated by the slow shutter speed. However, a 400 speed film on a sunny day would clearly overwhelm the camera, so I decided to pull the film two stops and stand develop it in Rodinal, which I did at a dilution of 1:100 for an hour and 10 minutes. I must confess that I was absolutely made up when I pulled the negs from the developing tank! I scanned them and processed them in Negative Lab Pro within Lightroom.
Additional photos
The Houghton-Butcher Enfield Greyhound is not a camera for those seeking precision or ease of use. It’s a camera that requires time, experimentation, and a willingness to embrace its imperfections. But if you're looking to connect with interwar period photography, it offers a richly rewarding experience, filled with the unpredictability and charm of a bygone era. Plus, they're really cheap - mine cost me the princely sum of a fifteen quid at a car boot sale about 6 years ago! Nice!
It doenst always focus well, it isnt particularly sharp, and the shutter speeds are limited to, well, just one speed and even that's not entirely known but I have to say it's a great cmaera to use!
It's got loads of foibles, but I really love shooting mine, there's something just excellent about this stripped back, happy-go-lucky type of camera. If you want to get one yourself, just make sure that the shutter fires as you can always measure it's speed when you get home using the Shutter Speed App, and use the torch on your phone to shine through when the bellows are extended to check for pinholes, and if those are all good then you're golden!
Thanks for reading! Ol
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