10 seconds exposure, Tri-X 100 film.
This image of comet Bennett was taken on March 28, 1970, when the comet was magnitude -0.3 and had a tail 10 degrees long to the naked eye, despite the presence in the sky of a bright moon.
The photograph was taken with a home-made camera based on a 50mm f/2.5 slide projector lens. The film was cut from 120 sized roll film and placed in a frame made from a tin can. The body of the camera was a simple box of wood. To stop stray light hitting the film, the back of the box was covered with a black cloth. The exposure was taken by removing a cover from the lens, hopefully without bumping it! The camera was aimed by sitting it on the roof of the car, propped up by books.
This is a sketch of the comet made just after I took the photograph.
The comet made an indelible impression as it rose tail first over the rooftops across the road. The slightly curved tail was reminiscent of a searchlight. Until comet Hyukatake in 1996, it was the most memorable comet view I had observed.