Images shot on Ilford HP5 Plus 400 in the Kodak Ektar H35
There’s been a bit of a buzz around half-frame film cameras in recent years – recent to the time of writing this in 2024 I mean. This has mainly been caused by a few actual new ones being released by a couple of different manufacturers.
The Kodak Ektar H35 that I used on this day in Manchester came first, in 2022, with the upgraded H35N arriving in 2023. In 2024, we got the Pentax 17 too.
People appear to like them, and a commonly noted reason for this is that you can get double the regular number of shots from a roll of film when using one.
Such economy is nice, but whenever I’ve played with any of them, something else has been at the top of my mind.
Diptychs.
The way these cameras work seems to push me to make diptychs. I’ll explain why if you read on.
Contents
When I first heard about half-frame cameras
Let’s take this back a little. When I was first getting into old photography gear, it wasn’t film. It was shooting vintage lenses on a mirrorless digital camera.
The first vintage lens I bought was the F.Zuiko 38mm f1.8, which was originally from the 1960s Olympus Pen F. And the Pen F was, if you didn’t know, a half-frame camera.
That was the first time I’d ever heard of one. I can’t say I was too enthused with the idea back then, though.
Getting double the number of shots from a roll of film but each one was half the size of a regular 35mm image? And they were natively portrait aspect rather than landscape?
It sounded like a lot of work to get through the roll just to get a bunch of shots that wouldn’t be as good quality as they would be at full-frame, and I hardly ever shot in portrait aspect either.
Now, all these years later, I understand the concept more. I can see why people would like shooting that way.
Why people like using half-frame cameras these days
I’m not going to speak too much about this, because plenty of other people already have in plenty of other places but… film prices.
Let’s just say they aren’t what they used to be.
I started shooting film when I was living in Shanghai, and I still remember some of what the costs were back there and then. I’d get my rolls developed and scanned for about £4. With TIFFs!
The most expensive film I bought was some Ektachrome E100. It was about £8. I remember not telling my partner that because she would tell me it’s too expensive and to go back to the £3 ColorPlus 200. Or even just back to digital again.
I think we’d all love to see those kinds of prices now though.
All that is to say, I now understand why people would want to get double the number of shots from a roll – even if you are losing some image resolution.
Another thing I saw mentioned when reading up on this slew of new half-frame cameras, and something that I’d not considered, was how the way we view photographs these days has helped make portrait aspect shots more popular.
On a phone, basically.
For better or worse, we most commonly view photos on a phone these days. And take them on one too, of course – again often in their native portrait aspect.
Think of the wasted screen real estate above and below a landscape aspect photograph and how you often have to pinch and zoom to really see the finer details of it, versus the relative ease of looking at an image that is the same shape as the medium you’re viewing it on.
Of course portrait ones are more favourable, so it should perhaps be no surprise that people today like to shoot their film that way up too – especially if they’re doing so to upload them to Instagram or TikTok or wherever.
Why I like shooting diptychs with half-frame cameras
While I do understand those couple of reasons for shooting half-frame cameras – the decreased cost per image and the better-matched aspect for the most common way to view photos today – I don’t really feel that much desire to go out and shoot individual shots with them.
I like these cameras, but I mostly find myself shooting diptychs when I use them, and I have a few reasons why I do this.
The main and most important one is that I like it’s a different way of being creative. Thinking about two shots that work together instead of standalone images.
I won’t just shoot one with no idea of what I’m going to pair it with.
Sometimes that means planning both images and knowing exactly what I’m going to shoot next, and sometimes it’s a more vague concept or something that I then look for.
But it’s never really a case of shooting one image and then walking off and pairing it with something randomly shot ten minutes later, for example.
To go back to those two reasons for shooting half-frame we mentioned earlier, I have a couple of counterpoints to those also.
Not that they’re bad. Just that I personally have a couple of reasons to lessen them.
First is that I don’t really post much to Instagram these days and if I did, I don’t think I’d change the way I like to shoot just for that. I don’t really do Reels – although I did do this one from half-frame shots – and I’m not and never will be on TikTok either.
This website is my main place for sharing my photography and landscape aspect images still fit better on a website. When viewed on a monitor, I mean.
Second is that, if I didn’t have this website, I might not even be doing photography anymore.
Now as I’m sure you’ll have noticed if you’re not using an adblocker, this website does have adverts on it. They earn me some money. I in turn use some of that money, rather than the money I make from my actual job, to buy my film.
So film being more expensive and wanting to get double the number of shots from a roll doesn’t concern me too much either, because my whole shooting film endeavour pays for it anyway.
That’s why I like shooting diptychs with half-frame cameras. I like the creative process of doing so, and the two reasons for shooting individual shots with them aren’t that relevant to me personally.
This day shooting diptychs in Manchester
I wasn’t in Manchester specifically to do photography when I shot these diptychs. It was more a way to kill an afternoon before the real reason I was there took place the following day.
The Great Manchester Run. It was a decent enough event, and I did it in a decent enough time.
Being blessed with good light on the day beforehand was a lovely bonus though, and I did enjoy the stroll around with the Kodak Ektar H35.
I don’t really know Manchester in terms of the best places to go to shoot, so I just went around some names I’d heard of around the centre and hoped for the best.
Deansgate, the Arndale Centre, Piccadilly Gardens, the Town Hall. Seriously, don’t ask me for any good lesser-known locations here. I simply don’t know any.
A technical limitation of these Kodak half-frame cameras
The aforementioned Manchester Town Hall has perhaps one of the most-photographed pieces of architecture in Manchester. These being the arches in the extension that was built in the 1930s.
The kind of structure that makes it easy to line your camera up dead straight with and get a cool shot with plenty of geometry and repetition in it.
Unless you’re using a camera where the viewfinder doesn’t line up so well with the lens, that is.
Like this Kodak Ektar H35, as you can see in the shot below.
I definitely lined those shots up better than that.
I found the same issue with the upgraded version of this camera too – the Kodak Ektar H35N.
This doesn’t mean I don’t recommend getting one to play around with, though. They are both still a lot of fun and I wouldn’t let this issue alone put you off completely.
I’m not complaining about this issue or this camera here. This is more so that you know this limitation is a thing too, and also because I wanted to use that diptych in this set but needed to acknowledge that the images in it are off-centre.
I couldn’t publish it without making it clear that I’m aware of that.
The right-hand shot on the diptych below is similar. I would certainly have lined up that archway more centrally. But maybe this one works okay with it being a little offset anyway.
And also, it’s only some photographs. Life goes on. It’s all good.
Wrapping up these Manchester diptychs
These diptychs were shot as I was killing an afternoon around Manchester, but they were definitely not a waste of time. I enjoyed doing it and I think some of them aren’t bad, which is always a bonus.
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed seeing them and reading and this blog post hasn’t been a waste of time for you either.
I have more images shot with this Kodak H35 that I’ve not yet published. I will review this camera too, like I have done the upgraded H35N version. It just takes me more time to get around to My Favourite Lens things these days.
It’s now November 2024 as I write this and the Great Manchester Run I was there for was the May 2023 one. So that shows how long it takes me sometimes.
Regardless, it’s done now. And I mean, done. As in, finished. Thanks for reading. Check out some more blog posts from these below if you want.
Or the Ilford HP5 Plus 400 review. I’ve just realised I’ve barely mentioned the film I used here. But yes, it was the ever wonderful HP5.
Shoot on, good people! 🙂
If you liked that little stroll shooting diptychs in Manchester and want more blog posts illustrated with film photography, why not have a look at some of these:
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