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10-29-2017, 08:26 PM   #16
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I have a couple of half frame cameras too - Konica Auto-Reflex and Olympus Pen FT.



Unfortunately I don't have a collection of lenses for either but I do have an OLYMPUS-PEN F MOUNT ADAPTOR N which allows me to use my Nikon lenses and autobellows with the Pen.



I am not bothered by the small half frame size given that I was using 110 film on plastic cameras for a long time. But with today's exceptional films and the use of a Coolscan, I can get plenty of detail on a half frame shot.

This one shot with the Pen using the Nikon autobellows + macro lens on Kodak TMAX100 processed in XTOL.


Full res version -> Kodak TMAX 100-14-34

I believe the Olympus Pen F series was first to offer various adapters for practically all the lens mounts available back then. I had a link to a site that showed them all. If I can find it I will post it unless someone else knows.

10-30-2017, 08:35 AM   #17
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Great post!

I once saw an Pen F with a lens on the auction site. The description didn't mention it, but the lens was an m42 mount, mounted via the m42 adapter made for the Pen, something only clear to see by looking carefully at all of the excellent pictures of the camera the seller included. Unfortunately, the camera zoomed out of my price range at the time!

I felt lucky to find the Konica AR-mount m42 adapter. I actually got it before I had a working Konica Auto-Reflex full/half-frame body, but I thought it would be fun to use with my Konica Autoreflex TC. I suspect that there may have been a Konica AR body to Pentax K mount lens adapter, but they might be a bit rare. It might not be terribly hard to make one out of parts, though, with the m42 adapter as a model for the maximum thickness needed to keep infinity focus.

LesDMess, to post any informative links on the half-frame subject you area aware of! ...as well as more pictures with and of equipment.






QuoteOriginally posted by LesDMess Quote
I have a couple of half frame cameras too - Konica Auto-Reflex and Olympus Pen FT.



Unfortunately I don't have a collection of lenses for either but I do have an OLYMPUS-PEN F MOUNT ADAPTOR N which allows me to use my Nikon lenses and autobellows with the Pen.



I am not bothered by the small half frame size given that I was using 110 film on plastic cameras for a long time. But with today's exceptional films and the use of a Coolscan, I can get plenty of detail on a half frame shot.

This one shot with the Pen using the Nikon autobellows + macro lens on Kodak TMAX100 processed in XTOL.


Full res version -> Kodak TMAX 100-14-34

I believe the Olympus Pen F series was first to offer various adapters for practically all the lens mounts available back then. I had a link to a site that showed them all. If I can find it I will post it unless someone else knows.
11-04-2017, 10:43 AM   #18
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Ok I found the Olympus Pen site was I posted about -> Olympus Pen Cameras. The various lens adapters are in the SLR Pens, Lenses & Adapters section which includes one for Canon, Exacta, Leica, Nikon, OM series, M42, Minolta and even the Pentax K mount.

The Sub Club is another website that has a list of half frames - as well as the various subminiature format cameras and others.

I shot with 110 format film for a long time and finally got a chance to scan them using my Coolscan. It was tedious but it only takes tens of seconds to actually perform the scan. I was surprised what I got out of plastic lens toy cameras. On this image, I superimposed the various film formats I have used - 110, half frame 35mm, full frame 35mm and medium format 6X7 using different film types.

11-17-2017, 05:28 PM - 1 Like   #19
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My wife has a Disc camera, and the grief I gave her over that silly thing has been one of the challenges in our marriage that I can't seem to overcome (it's been 25 years now...)

So this year, in an attempt to be a bit fun, I bought her a Bell and Howell (nee Canon) Dial 35 (the 2nd one).
It has the round ISO selector on it, which is mildly reminiscent of the disc film.
But it shoots half frame, which is a) readily available and b) about three times the size of a disc negative.
It shoots shutter priority auto by default, or full manual with a weird aperture override. And it zone focuses with an external scale and an internal graphical indicator.
And it auto-advances with a spring-wound motor in the unusually shaped handle.

I'll be darned if this silly thing takes pretty decent pictures.

And for something of its age, it even mostly works... the film counter only counts up and doesn't reset right, but it's not a bad little shooter, especially with the 'motor drive'

Personally, I have other cameras I would rather shoot with, but this one is better than I expected.

Also better than I expected: my local lab can scan and print the half frame correctly, no doubles...



Early morning, not a lot of light, but nice. Ilford XP2



Inside, holding very still... Ilford XP2

11-17-2017, 07:33 PM   #20
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Those shots look great! XP2 looks like a great film to shoot in the half-frame format.

I just got my negs and scans back from the first roll of film I shot in my Fujica Half. I used some expired Fuji 200, and the colors look a bit off. Perhaps I can tweak them satisfactorily, or they might look good converted to black-and-white. I can see I didn't nail the focus on all of the shots but the auto exposures look mostly accurate. In a day or few, I'll post some examples.





QuoteOriginally posted by TwoUptons Quote
My wife has a Disc camera, and the grief I gave her over that silly thing has been one of the challenges in our marriage that I can't seem to overcome (it's been 25 years now...)

So this year, in an attempt to be a bit fun, I bought her a Bell and Howell (nee Canon) Dial 35 (the 2nd one).
It has the round ISO selector on it, which is mildly reminiscent of the disc film.
But it shoots half frame, which is a) readily available and b) about three times the size of a disc negative.
It shoots shutter priority auto by default, or full manual with a weird aperture override. And it zone focuses with an external scale and an internal graphical indicator.
And it auto-advances with a spring-wound motor in the unusually shaped handle.

I'll be darned if this silly thing takes pretty decent pictures.

And for something of its age, it even mostly works... the film counter only counts up and doesn't reset right, but it's not a bad little shooter, especially with the 'motor drive'

Personally, I have other cameras I would rather shoot with, but this one is better than I expected.

Also better than I expected: my local lab can scan and print the half frame correctly, no doubles...



Early morning, not a lot of light, but nice. Ilford XP2



Inside, holding very still... Ilford XP2
11-18-2017, 05:33 AM   #21
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I think the XP2 is a good trade for doing snapshots.
It's fast enough to use inside with good light, but slow enough to not be a grainy mess.
And it has enough exposure latitude to forgive primitive light meters...
It frankly looks better here than some full frame 800 I shot this summer...

The Dial 35 has a 28mm f2.8 lens, which is not really quick for a normal lens, but it gives good depth of field since you're zone focusing.
It also only goes down to 1/30 s shutter speed, which was annoying until I realized there was no way I was going to hand-hold slower than that.

Almost like the folks at Canon knew what they were doing when they made it :-)

-Eric
11-24-2017, 07:37 PM   #22
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As mentioned previously, I bought a Fujica Half half-frame 35mm camera, toward the end of last spring, after continuing to have problems with a sticky auto aperture system in my Olympus Pen EE2. The Fujica is similar to the Pen in several ways, except that it's seleinum light meter cell is on an upper corner of the front of the camera body, not in a circular array around the front of the camera lens. This makes it possible that a person with large hands might be more likely to put a finger tip in front of the cell on the Fujica leading to an incorrect light reading. Also, while not externally apparent, the Fujica has a more conventional aperture system, functioning more as one might expect, whether in auto exposure or manual mode.

In late May I loaded a roll of expired Fujicolor 200 into the Fujica. I forget how expired it was, but apparently I set the Fujica for the film's box speed, rather than lowering the iso setting to allow for loss of sensitivity. I shot some exposures in late May, some in late summer, some in early October, and I finally finished the roll in early November. I sent the film to Dwayne's Photo, in Kansas, who will develop and individually scan 35mm half-frame scans for $5 over their regular price per foll for develop and scanning of c-41 color rolls. I got the CD of scans about a week ago. Some of the shots seemed to have problems with overly contrasty lighting, and some had a slight magenta cast that a slight tweak of the Tint slider in Shotwell Viewer program corrected. I also made slight adjustments to exposure level, and shadow and highlight brightness, as I would normally do.

Here area a few samples from the roll. All of them were shot using the camera's Auto mode, since my first tests of the camera's meter readings matched my external light meter's readings pretty well --











The last shot was taken in a very dimly lit blacksmith shop, with only a little window light coming in from the side. The Fujica Half's auto mode handled the situation well, even the blur of the smith's moving hammer is helpful in conveying the experience.

The Fuji 200 seems like a good film for half frame, since it seems to have fine enough grain for half-frame. I would just use fresh-dated Fuji 200 next time! Since the Fujica Half's meter can't be set for a higher iso than 200, super grainy fast films could only be used with it in manual exposure mode, unless one used pull-processing. The exception might be XP2, which a lot of people shoot at 200, rather than the rated iso of 400, without changing processing from it's standard C-41.

As long as I am mentioning the balck-and-white chromogentic c-41 film, Ilford XP@, perhaps I should post a one of my black-and-white conversions of one of these Fujicolor 200 scans taken with the Fujica Half, clouds over a cornfield:





.


Last edited by goatsNdonkey; 11-24-2017 at 07:51 PM.
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