Camera Talk

Over the past 30 years I have used a dozen or so half frame 35 cameras. I thought that I might report on some of them that haven't received as much notice as the Olympus Pen series which are well covered. Photography Today has a sub-forum that includes HF so it will be a good place for such reports. I hope that others will post about their experiences.

I'll begin with the one from Fujica which dates from about 1967. Here is the camera: The FUJICA HALF is a fairly large camera with a full set of features: programmed exposure that relies on a selenium meter; a 5 element 28mm f/2.8 lens that stops down to f/22 and is threaded for 22.5mm filters; Seikosha shutter with speeds from 1/25 to 1/300 + B; full manual option is available simply by moving the aperture ring off of "A"; self-timer; lever advance; frame & parallax lines in the VF. It's full metal and fairly heavy (440 grams). Handling is secure because of the weight and design; but, two features are bothersome-- a so-so viewfinder and a shutter release with too long a throw (the soft release shown in the photo didn't come with the camera but it is a necessity). The bothersome features don't interfere with the results which are truly excellent: accurate exposure (I think that the read-out in the vf overstates the actual exposure), sharpness, contrast, and color. I don't often go beyond 6x8 inch prints and at that size there's little to complain about. Here are 3 examples, scanned at home with some lightening of shadow areas and a little unsharp mask.

Old Fire Truck from 1940's
Frontier Church (moved to Rice County fairgrounds from original location in Cannon. MN) Turbine used in Power Plant at Ford Dam on the Mississippi river
If you don't find the vf & shutter releaswe too annoying, I think that the Fujica Half would provide a good and satisfying sample of HF photography. (Fujica Drive is the same camera with a spring drive for the film advance; Fujica made several other HF cameras which I haven't used.)

(edited 7-18-17 to replace photos taken down by Photobucket)

Nice shots, and camera. I keep getting out-bid on half frame cameras, though I was able to get a Yashica Samurai X3.0. I don't shoot it much because it is such a ghastly looking thing.

PF

Lovely pictures. I like the idea of a thread on half-frame cameras! Thanks Minoly, for starting it. It is my favourite 35mm-and-smaller format, and I like it mostly for that default portrait aspect ratio. Phil, that's one of the other things about the Samurais -- they tried to make it more usable by turning the film on its side and making it a landscape-aspect camera: I don't like that as much.

Minoly, your pictures are good examples of what I think of as the half-frame sensibility: simplicity. And, for me, that's one reason why they make good portrait cameras. If you're not married to sharp pores and facial hairlets, and you like a little grain, HF makes really effective people pictures.

The Fujica half-frame cameras really were lovely little things, with solid mechanicals and better-than-just-decent glass. Five elements is nothing to sniff at in a small camera! I have a Fujica Drive which, as you say, is a very similar camera to yours but with a spring-driven auto-advance. Noisey, so it's more a laugh than a serious machine.

Thanks for the reply, Phil (PF). You might remember me from Nelsonfoto where I go by Olypen, though I haven’t posted there for quite a while. I notice from the next thread that you’ve been out with the Samurai and had good results. Maybe it’ll grow on you with all those exposures on a roll.

Minoly (Bill Delehanty)

Thanks for the reply, Philip, and for your ideas about HF which I share. In the U.K. based Half Frame Group in years past, simplicity was often brought up; several of the members took most of their pictures with the Olympus EE-3, auto-exposure and fixed focus, and their results were impressive. I’m sorry to hear that the Fujica Drive is noisy because the rest of the camera should do a good job.

Bill Delehanty (Minoly)

minoly wrote:Thanks for the reply, Phil (PF). You might remember me from Nelsonfoto where I go by Olypen, though I haven’t posted there for quite a while. I notice from the next thread that you’ve been out with the Samurai and had good results. Maybe it’ll grow on you with all those exposures on a roll.

Minoly (Bill Delehanty)

I was thinking some of your stuff looked familiar, Bill. One other reason I haven't used the 3.0 in some time is it's hard to fit it into the rotation. I was going to shoot a car show last weekend, but my body wasn't cooperating with the plan. I'll find a good use for it soon though. I hate leaving un-used film in a camera.

PF

Very decent shots with that pretty little camera. I bought a Pen F recently - partly to save on film, which matters these days

This is a nice thread. Bill, I like your shots, especially the church. Five-element f/2.8 normal lenses are a bit unusual. My Olympus 35RC has one. I think that your images look very sharp.

Happy Fourth of July to all.

Dennis

Funny that this thread was started. The Animal Humane thrift store had advertised this camera on craigslist a couple of months ago. I went and looked at it. It was priced at $60, more than I thought it was worth, plus I've been trying to cut back on buying cameras. Stopped by the store today to drop off a donation. The camera was marked down to $20 and it was half price day. Long story short, I paid $10 for a near mint, seems to be in perfect working order, Fujica Half. A quick Google search says they were first made in 1963 but I could not find out how long they have been made.