I always fancied the idea of a half frame camera. 72 frames instead of 36 on a roll of 35mm. Being the frugal sort, it always appealed but I never got around to it. Prices have shot up of course, so I took a gamble on a poorly described example on Facebook Marketplace. It was very cheap so of limited risk.
So, heres my 1960s Canon Demi half frame camera. Its a solid piece of kit, that took me by surprise. It looked in excellent condition when it eventually arrived. Even the light meter seems to work. We will see how accurate it is in a mo.
Here you can see the half frame film window.
Sadly the light seal foams had disintegrated. I had some old replacement parts/foam strips from other repairs and found a handy guide as part of an Ebay advert.
Not the neatest of jobs but worth doing prior to putting a roll of film through it. Seems to have done the trick.
Fomapan 400 processed in Kodak HC110 Recipe B for 7 minutes. Mobile phone digi snaps inverted whilst the film is hanging to dry.
I am pleasantly surprised considering the limited settings. I’ll have to wait to print a few frames in a couple of weeks time.
The camera did manage to tear the last couple of frames on its sprockets whilst winding on.
I’ve had a few half frame cameras.
The first was Olympus PEN EE3 bought from Campkins in Cambridge, brand new.
I used the EE3 with Kodachrome 200, a perfect match, on quite a few holidays. I sold it eventually as the meter became unreliable.
Then, in a moment of weakness, I bought an Olympus Pen. I’ve been using it as a sort of notebook camera, in parallel with other gear. It works well apart from the highest shutter speed which is a bit slow. The pictures stand up with the best, given the tiny film format.
All being well your Canon will work and you will get some great pictures. I’m sure the Canon lens is at least as good as the Olympus.
Hi Peter,
I hope you are well.
I’m presently surprised by the Demi. And yes a notebook camera was what I was thinking, still alongside my mobile phone though. I got 77 frames out of that test roll and the meter looks fairly accurate when I paid attention to it. 🙂
Cheers
Tony