half frame suggestions

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Kat

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Hi, I've been thinking of getting a half-frame for a long time, but couldn't decide on a model. I looked at the Canon Dial 35 and Demi EE17, but so far haven't had much luck on the 'bay. For some reason I've not really looked into the Pens, but trying to keep an open mind. Also considered the FSUs.

Can someone suggest nice half frame cameras? My top criteria would be cost (cheap) and size (small). A cds meter would be very nice, selenium ok, no meter is ok too if the price is low.
 
Kat said:
Hi, I've been thinking of getting a half-frame for a long time, but couldn't decide on a model. I looked at the Canon Dial 35 and Demi EE17, but so far haven't had much luck on the 'bay. For some reason I've not really looked into the Pens, but trying to keep an open mind. Also considered the FSUs.

Can someone suggest nice half frame cameras? My top criteria would be cost (cheap) and size (small). A cds meter would be very nice, selenium ok, no meter is ok too if the price is low.
Click to expand...

hi kat,

have you seen this?:
HALF FRAMES


been wanting to get a Yashica Half 14 or 17 because of it's 1.4 or 1.7 aperture.
 
I can definitely recommend the Olympus Pen EE series (Flickr set) as a sharp little number. Downsides are a selenium meter (though both of mine still work just fine) and although you can set the aperture manually, it was really meant for flash only and so there's just one shutter speed. Oh, and it's fixed focus. Which is either a plus or a minus depending on what you prefer (it's a great pocketable camera for quick snaps and the lens is fantastically sharp).

If you want something that will do fully manual, the Pen D series offers full manual shutter speed/aperture settings, has a light meter (though all the ones I've seen it's been non-functional) and guess focusing. Of course, there's also the Pen F series of half-frame SLRs -- never tried one, but they're supposed to be great (though pricey).

I have a Canon Dial 35-2, but it needs a bit of TLC before it's ready to shoot. It's a great looking camera (definitely a conversation piece), but the spring tends to gum up over the years and needs cleaning.
 
I would be careful of the Yashica Halfs, except for the Samurai which is an excellent camera. I had a Yashica Half for awhile and it was a surprisingly finicky camera, as was the meter. It was constantly breaking down, jamming. Maybe I just had a bad example. Olympus Pens are your best bet. Very easy to find. The Subclub is an excellent resource that describes the various models and manufacturers of half frame cameras.
 
Cheap, simple, and small: Agat 18.
Plastic camera but a pretty good glass lens.
No meter but it has decent controls. Not a rangefinder camera, though.
Rob
 
It's hard finding a Dial 35 that still works. People seem to run them as fast as they can until they break.

The Demi EE17 is a good camera. bigger than a Pen, and it uses a PX-13 mercury battery. The Pen D3 also has an f1.7 lens, but uses an S76 silver battery.

-Paul
 
The two I am suggesting are not really half frames they take square 24x24 photos

Zeiss Tenax kind of steep pricing ($400+ for the rf version)

Robots (oh so sweet): They have schneider and zeiss interchangable lenses. My suggestion is not to buy the robot I or II, spring for the robot star models. The I and II do not have rewind capabilitied. This is a link to my robot photo set on flickr

http://flickr.com/photos/trittium/sets/72157594417956123/
 
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filmgoerjuan said:
I can definitely recommend the Olympus Pen EE series (Flickr set) as a sharp little number. Downsides are a selenium meter (though both of mine still work just fine) and although you can set the aperture manually, it was really meant for flash only and so there's just one shutter speed. Oh, and it's fixed focus. Which is either a plus or a minus depending on what you prefer (it's a great pocketable camera for quick snaps and the lens is fantastically sharp).

If you want something that will do fully manual, the Pen D series offers full manual shutter speed/aperture settings, has a light meter (though all the ones I've seen it's been non-functional) and guess focusing. Of course, there's also the Pen F series of half-frame SLRs -- never tried one, but they're supposed to be great (though pricey).

I have a Canon Dial 35-2, but it needs a bit of TLC before it's ready to shoot. It's a great looking camera (definitely a conversation piece), but the spring tends to gum up over the years and needs cleaning.
Click to expand...

Love your flickr set. Very neat color combinations.
 
Can someone suggest nice half frame cameras? My top criteria would be cost (cheap) and size (small). A cds meter would be very nice, selenium ok, no meter is ok too if the price is low.
Click to expand...

Canon Demi has not been mentioned. It has limitations: selenium meter; program exposure via match needle; no flash shoe. On the other hand, it is quite small, very handy to carry and to use, has the best direct vf I've used, has a classic design and it gives excellent results. If you can find one with the meter working, I don't think you would be disappointed.

I'd second some earlier comments: Canon (or Bell & Howell) Dial takes wonderful pictures, but the spring advance gives problems; Yashica Samurai's are great Automatic SLR HF cameras; Olympus Pen EE's are fine if meter is still working (it's worth a check to see what ISO-ASA range is accepted-- Early EE models only go to 200; EE-2 goes to 400.)

Olympus Pen (1959 original model), Pen S, and Pen W (collectible so price may be too high) are all small and all manual; Pen D line is fatter and heavier with unlinked meter.
 
wamjam said:
hi,

so what are the half frame cameras with manual controls (shutter speed and aperture)?
Click to expand...

I know that the Pen D and Pen F series (D is compact, F is a half-frame SLR) have full manual controls.

The Canon Demi EE17 has full manual.

The Canon Dial will allow full manual (normally it's shutter priority, but you can pull out a little knob and adjust the aperture manually).
 
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How about a Chajka (sp variants: Tchajka, Chaika, Chayka)? My current half-frame is the Chajka-1. The one I got is well-built. It can compare to the build quality of equivalent 60's Japanese 18X24s. The finish is great, the interiors too. The parts are smoothly machined. I've seen Olympus Pens, Petri, and Canon (my first camera was a Demi, and I have a non-working Demi EE17). I could venture to say that my Chajka is better made than an Olympus Pen.

The Chajka has full manual exposure control. Apertures and Shutter speeds (though limited to 1/250...1/30s) are independent of each other.

The same, sadly, could not be said for most of the later Chajka models. The later ones, according to those who have them, are built like toys.

Jay
 
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Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. Thank you for the link, wam, I remember you were looking for the yashica half 14, but it's rare and pricey, right? I can't justify high costs, I'm really looking for something I can treat more like a toy cam (hence, staying away from the SLR types) rather than a primary camera.

I really liked the Pen's results in filmgoerjuan's flicker set, but the fixed shutter speed kinda bugs the control freak in me. The D series appear a little above my budget. I'll have to look around for the Yashica samurai and fujica half...

rbiemer and jay, how do you find the results of the FSU half frames? I've been thinking about the Agat 18(K) and the Chaika. Any light leak issues and the like? rbiemer, is yours the 18 or 18k version? I read somewhere that the rewind crank can be easy to break, so I'm wondering if the 18K might be a better option so the film can be wound into another cassette. Someone mentioned the removable spool can be a pain to use, though.

Thanks for the tip on the newer Chaikas, Jay, I had been considering the newer ones with the meter.😱 Is it an RF, or scale focus? I didn't have very good luck with scale focusing on an XA3...must practice.
 
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Kat said:
Thanks for the tip on the newer Chaikas, Jay, I had been considering the newer ones with the meter.😱 Is it an RF, or scale focus? I didn't have very good luck with scale focusing on an XA3...must practice.
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Kat

As mentioned previously, the Chajka (model 1 were just marked "Chajka"-"Чайка"-no number) is really well-made. No light leakage, solid rigid body, and equally solid mechanism. Quite good for a half-frame camera which many consider to border on the 'toy' class.

It has no RF, and scale focuses. The short-focus lens (28mm) is quite easy to use. Guesstimation works most of the time, with really out-of-focus images rarely happening, unless you leave it at the 1 metre setting to shoot an object 5 metres away. You can set the lens at around 3 metres, aperture at 8, and use the camera as a snapshot, fixed focus type P&S.

One thing with half-framers though is that you might find it difficult to finish a 36 exposure roll. It takes me months at times to finish a roll in the Chajka. Having the negatives printed can be a challenge too. Even photoshops with scanning printers will struggle to handle 18X24 frames with their standard 24X36 carriers.

I use half-frames mostly for the format. Triptychs, diptychs, etc or multiple, sequential framing and such:

192742738_8639d33c40_o.jpg


192742560_87d0b5b5d3_o.jpg


"Rapid" bursts or sequentials are easy to do with the Chajka. Just keep the front-mounted shutter button pressed and pull away at the advance lever. The shutter fires with each draw 😀
 
Darn, I almost nabbed a like-new (acc to seller) Dial 35 on the 'bay, someone sniped me at the last few seconds! My connection was too slow for me to bid again before the auction ended. Looks like I'll be going with an FSU. Nice sets, Jay.🙂
 
Although they aren't half-frames, the prewar Tenax I and II are nice little machines.

Postwar, there was an East German Tenax followed by the Taxona. I'm looking for a Taxona.

The postwar Tenax is roughly the same camera as the prewar Tenax I, although you can get it with a sharp single-coated Tessar rather than the Novar.

The Tenax I and postwar Tenax (and Tenax II) have the film advance on the front of the camera. The Tenax I is a true pocket camera.

The Robots are cool cameras although somewhat heavy. Plus with most, you need the Robot film cassettes, which you'll have to load by hand.

The Olympus Pen cameras are very cool. I have a Pen FT -- pretty awesome SLR.
 
ZorkiKat said:
I use half-frames mostly for the format. Triptychs, diptychs, etc or multiple, sequential framing and such:

192742738_8639d33c40_o.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice tryptichs. Question: Were these scanned on a MF scanner to show the film sprockets or are those faux borders you added digitally? I saw a small seam on the bottom left hand corner. Thanks. Charlie
 
saxshooter said:
Nice tryptichs. Question: Were these scanned on a MF scanner to show the film sprockets or are those faux borders you added digitally? I saw a small seam on the bottom left hand corner. Thanks. Charlie
Click to expand...

Charlie

The sprockets and borders are real. The negative strips were scanned on an Epson 4180 flatbed, using the MF carrier. The resulting scans were trimmed a bit, just right over the perforations. The perforations, BTW, look oval because the film used in these sets was a reload from movie film shortends (ie Kodak Vision 500). The lines seen at the bottom are actually abrasion 😱 lines.

Jay
 
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