So. .. ... You use a 1/2 frame? Which one do you perferr?

[red_robin]

<p>Hi everyone, I own and use two different brands. First a Minolta REPO a tiny little number with a working electric eye! Truly a pocket sized camera this bad boy REALLY DOES fit in your shirt pocket. Beware! If your not prone to shooting a lot a roll of 36 exp. , like with other 1/2 frames, will last a long, long, long time. The little REPO (Reporter) can be a good choice for street shooting. The 30mm f=1:2,8 is, like other Rokkor glass, a good value and a very sharp shooter. Handling is easy as the layout is predictable, a Minolta trademark. My other 1/2 frame user, a Olympus - Pen EE 's' is another palm-sized shooter is as small as the pocket sized Repo. and as easy to use. The 3cm 1:2.8 lens gives the sharp results that's expected from the D.Zuiko glass. Frame changing is also done also by using a tiny thumb wheel. Film loading is achieved by actually removing the back. No regular hinge like with the Minolta Repo. All in all not much to choose between the two Me I like'em both! What's your favorite 1/2 frame?</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

Pen D, back when Kodak was still mounting half frame Kodachrome instead of delivering in strips.

[Dustin McAmera]

<p>I only have one 35 mm half-frame camera, a FED Mikron. It's a copy of a Konica camera. It has a 30 mm f/1.9 lens; 30 mm is the same as the diagonal of the frame, so this lens is a little wider than a 50 mm on a full-frame camera. The Mikron has auto-exposure, or you can set manual aperture with a fixed 1/30 second shutter speed. Focus is manual, and you can see the focus scale in the VF. I'd like proper manual exposure (i.e. a manual shutter-speed control), but otherwise it's one of my favourite cameras. It depends on a big selenium meter cell, which I guess will fail one day; hope not.</p>

<p>This is my FED Mikron set at Flickr:<br>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/century_graphic/sets/72157594149487932/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/century_graphic/sets/72157594149487932/</a></p>

<p>There's a half-frame format on 120 film too: 120 was invented for 2¼x3¼ inches, and the 2¼x1⅝-inch size, which we mostly call 6x4.5 cm, is half-frame, but doesn't have the same minority status as 35 mm half-frame. I have several cameras in that size. I also have some half-frame cameras for 127 film, which give 3x4 cm pictures, almost the same as full-frame 35 mm.</p>

[Aoresteen]

<p>As Pete said, my 1/2 frame is my Mamiya 645 1000s. Full frame to me is my 6x9 Cambo view camera :)</p>

[tom_harvey3]

<p>A buddy of mine from long ago once said that his half frame was a 5X7 Gowlandflex. I'm still LMAO about that!</p>

[red_robin]

<p>Pete, I understand that the selenium meter cell's last longer if kept in the dark when not in use. I have a pair of soft leather-like zipper pouches that help protect the small gems. Overall my working selenium cell meters were kept in cases, also there is a fellow (no-name) that replaces the old cells. See it written about sometimes. Sure it's on the net somewhere. Red</p>

[User_502260]

<p>Konica Auto Reflex with 28mm f/1.8 UC Hexanon.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Pens Pens Pens!<br /> Well, actually down to 3 working VF type Pens and a Pen F with a few Zuikos for it. <br /> My earliest Pen is a Pen from April/May 1960, just before Olympus took over production from Sanko Shoji, a company set up to manufacture the original Pen VF camera until Olympus could master the techniques necessary to produce it to sell for 6000 Yen and still make a profit. <br /> I have another one lug Pen standard from July 1960 by Olympus. <br /> These Pens have a 4 element, 3 group lens, 28mm f3.5 with click stops to f22, that scale focuses to 2 feet. A Copal 2 blade shutter with 1/25 to 1/200 + B that is X synced. And a really nice projected frame viewfinder with close focused correction marks. All manual, no meter, you can select any shutter speed/aperture combo you wish.</p>

<p>The angle of view of a 28mm lens on 18X24 is 'roughly' the equivalent of 40mm on 24X36. <br /> I also have a altered Pen D that has the top from a Pen S, and viewfinder of a Pen standard. The 28mm frame lines do not match the 32mm AOV of the Pen D lens but I just adjust mentally to frame 'inside the box'.</p>

<p>My Pen F is probably from about 1965 and is just a regular old Pen F.</p>

<p>Sorry, but I don't have a favorite.</p>

<p>A PS; The first Pen sold for $40, adjusted for inflation that is about $320 today. </p>

 

[SCL]

<p>No longer own it, but I had an Olympus Pen FT for several years in the 1960s, which I sold to buy my way into Leica. My recollections were that the finder wasn't very bright, and it took a while to coordinate the exposure meter with the lenses, having come from a non EV system. On the positive side, it took forever to use a 36 exposure roll, which was now 72 frames. On the very positive side....the standard 38mmf/1.8 lens had terrific resolution. I recently came across some negatives I shot in 1967-9, which survived a flood in my home, and scanned them. WOW - I had to double check...they were as sharp and contrasty as my Leica ones from the same period...a little more grain. I did embarrass myself with this little gem though....first date with the lady who eventually became my wife, I wanted to impress her with my "high end" new photo gear, and discovered after a day of shooting I hadn't firmly attached the film and all the shots were for nothing. She was forgiving, and next day I got it right, shots of her and historic rural Virginia locations. A great little camera!</p>

[paul_wheatland]

<p>Olympus Pen F with 38mm f1,8 and 18mm Spiratone with T-mount(don,t have YS mount in Pen F mount). I also have Vivitar 200mm preset in T thread though haven't used it on this camera.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>For that "Back to the Future" look, the Yashica Samurai is pretty cool<br>

http://www.photo.net/modern-film-cameras-forum/00YvJm Yashica Samurai </p>

<div></div>

[JDMvW]

<p>For the record, the original "full-frame" was the movie ~18x22mm, so these 'half-frame' are actually 'full-frame' cameras.<br>

The 24x36mm is properly a double-frame camera. </p>

<p>But I'll bet you callow youths don't give a sh*t, do you? Well, do you?<br>

:)</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Cripes JDM, and I thought I was a "rivet counter"!<br /> But yeah, I know, it's really a 'cine frame', 4 sprocket holes per frame. (Although my VF Pens don't really have consistent spacing from model to model) <br /> Not much of a youth, my first Pen was bought used at Altman's in Chicago in 1971 and I've been hooked ever since.</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Aah, JDM...we are all old enough to know that :) My preferred half frame is the wonderful Pen FT, shown here with a Zuiko F1.4 40mm.</p><div></div>

[john_shriver]

<p>The only "half frame" I have is a Univex Mercury II, which like the Pen FT has a rotating sector shutter. But it's not really half frame, it's 6/11 frame. It takes 11 exposures on the amount of 35mm film a full-frame camera would use for 6 frames.<br>

I could call my Foth Derby a "half frame" 127 camera, shooting 16 exposures on a roll.<br>

The native vertical format of half-frame cameras has always annoyed me.</p>

[bill_delehanty1]

<p>I come up with two favorites, depending on conditions:<br>

<br />Condition 1: I have assured access to batteries and technical repairs-- Yashica Samurai.<br>

Condition 2: I want to be able to take photos without needing anything but camera and film-- Olympus Pen D .</p>

<p> </p>

[MathewDH]

<p>I have a complete Kodak Duex 120 half-frame plastic camera. I say complete as I tracked down all of the accessories the manual listed for it. The expandable lens hood is a bit tricky to work with. I found some shots taken with one on a different website. Gotta use it this year.</p>

[greg_nixon2]

<p>Well, John, I did know that and if that takes me out of the "callow youth" category, then I'm not too upset. I was the 35mm projectionist at the local Civic Hall, and projected the flics whenever any community groups wanted to put on a show.<br>

Do the Callow Youth also know that the 7,6,5,4 etc countdown on the film leader is feet of film and not seconds?<br>

I have 2 half frame Olympus-Pen cameras. One is an early model with a 2.8cm 1:3.5 lens, all manual. It has only one strap lug on the side which is supposed to make it rare. The other is a later model with a selenium meter.</p>

[glen_h]

<p>120 film is numbered (on the paper) for 8, 12, or 16 exposures. 127 is only numbered for 8 and 12.<br>

It might be that 120 didn't used to be numbered for 16, I think I have seen 120 cameras with two red windows.<br>

So, I might say that 16 frame 127 is half frame, but not for 120. </p>

<p> </p>

[greg_nixon2]

<p>120 has 3 formats 6x9, 6x6 and 6x4.5cm. All 3 were is common use at on stage or other.<br /> 127 has 3 formats 4x6, 4x4 and 4x3.<br /> So you could say that both 120 and 127 had a 1/2 frame format, although they are not the ones that I would have first thought of.<br /> If you really want to go way back there are the English full plate, half plate and quarter plate.</p>

[Dustin McAmera]

<p>120 film, at least some brands of it, used to be numbered only 1-8. Certo's Super-Sport Dolly (late 1930s camera) has two red windows on the left, to let you shoot 6x4.5, and a third in the centre to let you shoot square; but in case your film isn't numbered for the square format, some models of the camera have numbers 1-12 engraved on the winding knob.</p>

[Alex_Es]

Olympus Pen F. Just rediscovered mine. Will post shots eventually.

[polka]

<p>My prefered 135 half-frame camera is this Fujica Drive, with a spring loaded motor (20 picts per full load) and both full automatic and full manual exposure (working selenium cell). The 28mm/2,8 lens is excellent.<br>

Paul</p><div></div>

[polka]

<p>And this is an example of what I get with this little camera<br>

Paul</p><div></div>

[polka]

<p>Beside, my prefered 120 half frame camera is this one : A little 645 folder called "citonette" and sold by Rodenstock around 1934. It has a rather fair anastigmat lens (75mm/2,9) and a classic compur shutter (1/250..1sec, B, T)... and two red windows in the back to pull the film halfway while using the 6x9 pict. numbers.</p><div></div>