Half-frame camera

Last updated
An Olympus Pen F half-frame SLR Olympus Pen F.jpg
An Olympus Pen F half-frame SLR
Half-frame film (left and right) with standard 35 mm (centre) Half-Frame 4442.jpg
Half-frame film (left and right) with standard 35 mm (centre)

Half-frame cameras, also called single-frame or split-frame cameras, are analog cameras compatible with 35mm film types. These cameras capture congruent shots that take up half of each individual frame in the roll of film. They can be still frame or motion picture cameras and are the standard format of 35mm movie cameras. This is commonly expressed, more technically, as 18×24 mm using 18×24 mm of a regular 135 film. It is closer to the normal frame size of a 35 mm motion film. This leaves half frame cameras to derive their film plate size from the aspect ratio, and frame size that was first designated by Thomas Edison (24.89 by 18.67 millimetres or 0.980 by 0.735 inches) at the dawn of the motion picture industry. [1] Traditionally, the additional film width on motion picture film is used for audio in later film standards, although the original patent for sound on film is derived from the 1880s. [2]

Contents

General context

For still cameras using 35 mm film, the usual format of 35mm film size is 24×36 mm, however, half-frame cameras take 18×24 mm only, so, while a roll of 36 photos with 35mm size film for a normal camera can take 36 images; a half-frame camera, can take 72 images, since it only takes half size for each frame (18×24 mm only).

Therefore it is called "half-frame" as it exposes half of the film plate size of 35mm stills cameras, despite its similarity in width to 35 mm film when used in motion picture cameras. [1] Half frame came into vogue as a shooting experience as a cheaper option to full frame cameras in the 1960s. This trend developed mostly out of Japan. [3] The half frame trend began its origins with cameras such as the Olympus Pen models. [3] Half frame cameras allowed for more compact cameras to exist alongside full frame cameras, particularly in rangefinder styled cameras, due to the lack of a traditional mirror, instead using a much smaller, "rangefinder" styled mirror, along with the smaller frame size and therefore smaller lenses required. The smaller lenses could cover the smaller imaging circle. [4] This resulted in far smaller cameras such as the Olympus Pen cameras. [5]

Meanwhile, in the 1960s, along with a growing list of smaller full frame cameras, such as Kodak, with the Kodak Instamatic in 1963, the concerns about the economic benefits of half frame photos began to appear. [6] While allowing 72 shots on a standard 36 shot roll seemed economically beneficial, when taken into account of the reduced image quality, the benefits did not provide the average photographer with the better shooting experience they may have been looking for. [6] This would also become true for many other formats including 110 film and APS film that attempted to and failed to augment 35 mm film. [6] However unlike APS, as a separate format, half frame survives as it can be shot on standard 35 mm film. [7] On half frame cameras this can still be achieved today by using modern film produced by companies such as Fuji and Kodak in the 35 mm format.

Due to the fact that half frame cameras use standard 35 mm film stocks, "half frame" continues to exist as a niche photographic format to the present date for diptych photography. [8] The irregular frame markers and its novelty of exposing two frames on one slide or negative has led to the growth of half frame cameras as a diptych format. [8] The diptych format allows photographers to convey meaning through multiple images in one frame. [6]

The nature of the exposures of a half frame camera also, however, means that they have a vertical (portrait) orientation as opposed to the horizontal (landscape) orientation of a 35 mm SLR or rangefinder. The exceptions are cameras that were sold at the time that chose to use vertically run film mechanisms (examples including the Konica Recorder and Belomo Agat 18).

The necessity to hold a half frame camera in portrait orientation to take a landscape photo did not always align with consumers' choices for numerous reasons, but predominately ergonomic factors. The half frame camera can be seen as defying traditional camera ergonomics often due to the nature of having to hold the camera vertically to take a horizontal shot leading to rejection of the format through confusion. Although more recently through social media, the portrait aspect has been seen as beneficial, particularly with Instagram changing from the 1:1 aspect ratio to 4:5 and 9:16 to fit more image on a phone/tablet device. The 3:4 aspect ratio of half frame photos can easily be cropped to 4:5 in portrait orientation without a significant reduction in image quality producing an "Instagram ready" photo shooting experience among younger photographers using half frame cameras. This has been reinforced by Kodak's reintroduction of half frame cameras [9] through the Kodak Ektar branded H35 half frame camera.

Technologically, the most advanced electronic half-frame camera designed as such from its design inception is the Yashica Samurai single lens reflex. [10] Although, the earlier Olympus PEN and Konica Auto Reflex reached a pinnacle for mechanical half frame cameras, from the 1960s onwards, by offering fully functional rangefinder styled options such as the Olympus Pen and SLR options respectively they remain popular among film shooters today.

A Konica Auto Reflex full/half-frame SLR, with hot shoe "eye piece" adapter attached for electronic X flash cable attached units or manual bulbs. Vintage Konica Auto-Reflex 35mm SLR Film Camera, Made In Japan, First Focal-Plane-Shutter Auto Exposure 35mm SLR, Circa 1966 (13490913093).jpg
A Konica Auto Reflex full/half-frame SLR, with hot shoe "eye piece" adapter attached for electronic X flash cable attached units or manual bulbs.

The Konica Auto Reflex can also switch between full and half frame while shooting. The Auto Reflex SLR gives access to the full Konica AR lens library in half frame, and additionally Nikon F, M42, and Leica M mount with adapters under the provision of stop down metering. Konica at the time created a camera with some deliberation, so that due to its lens flange register, and therefore mount distance, it could be used by photographers from other brand manufacturers with simple lens mount adapters. The diversity in technology showed that multiple manufacturers would try to define their specific visions for the half frame format at the peak of half frame cameras.

In other usage cases, for half frame cameras, for some specific needs, there were cameras originally designated for use as full-frame cameras that were produced or custom modified in very small production runs as half-frame models, for example some Leica (1950 made in Canada Leica 72), Nikon (1960–61 Nikon S3M 18x24mm rangefinder, Nikon FM2 SLR), Konica (FT-1 Pro Half) or Robot (Robot 24x24mm camera) rangefinders, and some Alpa (Alpa 18x24 SLR) and Minolta SLRs. [11] These limited production run cameras are mainly of interest as collectibles rather than daily use cameras. Due to scarcity value these cameras attract more value as a stock commodity than as a commonly used camera. In other cases, the smaller size of the cameras at the time, coupled with the increase in image quality saw half frame as a viable replacement option for the 110 film format.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single-lens reflex camera</span> Camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system

A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin lens reflex and rangefinder cameras, the viewed image could be significantly different from the final image. When the shutter button is pressed on most SLRs, the mirror flips out of the light path, allowing light to pass through to the light receptor and the image to be captured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rangefinder camera</span> Camera fitted with a rangefinder

A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most varieties of rangefinder show two images of the same subject, one of which moves when a calibrated wheel is turned; when the two images coincide and fuse into one, the distance can be read off the wheel. Older, non-coupled rangefinder cameras display the focusing distance and require the photographer to transfer the value to the lens focus ring; cameras without built-in rangefinders could have an external rangefinder fitted into the accessory shoe. Earlier cameras of this type had separate viewfinder and rangefinder windows; later the rangefinder was incorporated into the viewfinder. More modern designs have rangefinders coupled to the focusing mechanism so that the lens is focused correctly when the rangefinder images fuse; compare with the focusing screen in non-autofocus SLRs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">135 film</span> Photographic film format

135 film, more popularly referred to as 35 mm film or 35 mm, is a format of photographic film used for still photography. It is a film with a film gauge of 35 mm (1.4 in) loaded into a standardized type of magazine – also referred to as a cassette or cartridge – for use in 135 film cameras. The engineering standard for this film is controlled by ISO 1007 titled '135-size film and magazine'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advanced Photo System</span> Still image film format

Advanced Photo System (APS) is a discontinued film format for still photography first produced in 1996. It was marketed by Eastman Kodak under the brand name Advantix, by FujiFilm under the name Nexia, by Agfa under the name Futura and by Konica as Centuria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leica Camera</span> German optics company

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subminiature photography</span>

Subminiature photography is photographic technologies and techniques working with film material smaller in size than 35mm film, such as 16mm, 9.5mm, 17mm, or 17.5mm films. It is distinct from photomicrography, photographing microscopic subjects with a camera which is not particularly small.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Focal-plane shutter</span> Mechanism that controls the exposure time in cameras

In camera design, a focal-plane shutter (FPS) is a type of photographic shutter that is positioned immediately in front of the focal plane of the camera, that is, right in front of the photographic film or image sensor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minolta</span> Former Japanese imaging corporation

Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten. It made the first integrated autofocus 35 mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its final name, an acronym for "Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima".

Konica was a Japanese manufacturer of, among other products, film, film cameras, camera accessories, photographic and photo-processing equipment, photocopiers, fax machines and laser printers, founded in 1873. The company merged with Japanese peer Minolta in 2003, with the new company named Konica Minolta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosina</span> Japanese optical equipment manufacturer

Cosina Co., Ltd. is a manufacturer of high-end optical glass, optical precision equipment, cameras, video and electronic related equipment, based in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital single-lens reflex camera</span> Digital cameras combining the parts of a single-lens reflex camera and a digital camera back

A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">APS-C</span> Image sensor format

Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field diameter. It is therefore also equivalent in size to the Super 35 motion picture film format, which has the dimensions of 24.89 mm × 18.66 mm and Ø 31.11 mm field diameter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full-frame DSLR</span> Image sensor format

A full-frame DSLR is a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) with a 35 mm image sensor format. Historically, 35 mm was one of the standard film formats, alongside larger ones, such as medium format and large format. The full-frame DSLR is in contrast to full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, and DSLR and mirrorless cameras with smaller sensors, much smaller than a full 35 mm frame. Many digital cameras, both compact and SLR models, use a smaller-than-35 mm frame as it is easier and cheaper to manufacture imaging sensors at a smaller size. Historically, the earliest digital SLR models, such as the Nikon NASA F4 or Kodak DCS 100, also used a smaller sensor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the single-lens reflex camera</span> Aspect of photography history

The history of the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) begins with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura described in 1676, but it took a long time for the design to succeed for photographic cameras. The first patent was granted in 1861, and the first cameras were produced in 1884, but while elegantly simple in concept, they were very complex in practice. One by one these complexities were overcome as optical and mechanical technology advanced, and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double-Gauss lens</span>

The double Gauss lens is a compound lens used mostly in camera lenses that reduces optical aberrations over a large focal plane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konica Hexar RF</span> 35 mm rangefinder camera

The Konica Hexar RF is a 35 mm rangefinder camera which was sold by Konica. It was introduced to the market on 13 October 1999. and subsequently discontinued some time before the end of 2003. The camera used the "Bayonet Konica KM-mount", a copy of the Leica M-mount, thus sharing interchangeable lenses with those designed for Leica cameras and others compatible with them. The Hexar RF has a combined rangefinder/viewfinder modeled on that of Leica cameras, a similar body shape and size - and so is similar to Leica M-mount cameras in many aspects of operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lenses for SLR and DSLR cameras</span>

This article is about photographic lenses for single-lens reflex film cameras (SLRs) and digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs). Emphasis is on modern lenses for 35 mm film SLRs and for DSLRs with sensor sizes less than or equal to 35 mm ("full-frame").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konica Hexar</span> 1990s 35 mm autofocus camera

The Konica Hexar is a 35 mm fixed-lens, fixed focal length autofocus camera which was produced through the 1990s. It was introduced to the market in 1993. While styled like a rangefinder camera, and intended for a similar style of photography, in specification it is more like a larger "point and shoot" camera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of photographic lens design</span>

The invention of the camera in the early 19th century led to an array of lens designs intended for photography. The problems of photographic lens design, creating a lens for a task that would cover a large, flat image plane, were well known even before the invention of photography due to the development of lenses to work with the focal plane of the camera obscura.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikon I, M and S</span>

The Nikon was the first camera introduced by the optical manufacturer Nippon Kogaku KK. It is a 35mm rangefinder camera, in retrospect known as the Nikon I. The original design was approved by September 1946, and the camera was released in March 1948. At first, it was sold locally, and it did not come to the attention of the western media until 1950, when photographers from the magazine Life were shown photographs taken with these cameras. The lenses draw special attention, like the Nikkor-P.C 1:2 f=8.5cm. A demand to fit Nikkors to the reporters' Leicas were immediately met at the factory in Tokyo, and soon the word spread about these Japanese lenses which were just as good as, or possibly better than their German counterparts. The camera design was strongly inspired by the German Contax and Leica cameras. After careful studies of these, Nippon Kogaku had decided to base their camera on the Contax, but substitute the complicated shutter design for the cloth focal plane shutter of the Leica, these being considered the best features from either camera.

References

  1. 1 2 Belton, John (1992). Widescreen Cinema. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN   978-0-674-95261-4.
  2. ↑ Fayne, John G. "(History of) Motion Picture Sound Recording" (PDF). The Journal of Audio Engineering Society . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Photography". Popular Science . United States: Bonnier Corporation. 1965. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  4. ↑ Adams, Ansel. 1980. The Camera. The New Ansel Adams Basic Photography Series/Book 1. ed. Robert Baker. Boston: New York Graphic Society. ISBN   0-8212-1092-0
  5. ↑ "Focal length and image circle – only images".
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hirsch, Robert (2013). Exploring Color Photography Fifth Edition From Film to Pixels. New York: Routledge. p. 29. doi:10.4324/9780240813363. ISBN   9781136089749.
  7. ↑ "Camera Shows". Popular Science . United States: Bonnier Corporation. 1963. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Hirsch, Robert (2013). Exploring Color Photography Fifth Edition From Film to Pixels. New York: Routledge. p. 150. doi:10.4324/9780240813363. ISBN   9781136089749.
  9. ↑ Martyr, Johnny (July 12, 2022). "Kodak Ektar H35 Half Frame Camera Review: Out-Of-The-Box Fun". PetaPixel.
  10. ↑ "Keppler's SLR World Samurai: Autofocus zoom half frame SLR!". Popular Photography . Los Angeles: Diamonds Communications Inc. 1988. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ A batch of 30 Minolta X-300 35 mm full-frame SLRs custom modified to half-frame for the police in the Netherlands Forum article in German Minolta-Forum as of 2007

This article was originally based on "Half-frame" in Camerapedia, retrieved at an unknown date under the GNU Free Documentation License.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.