Once an object of desire, now a functional antique

An Olympus Pen F half-frame, a real classic. Once upon a time, nearly twenty years ago, I really wanted one of these but couldn’t justify the price. One of the major features, for me, was the default vertical framing. Getting 72 exposures per roll was a plus at the time, as I seldom enlarged beyond 8×10″. The reasons I never bought it were two, a rather dim viewfinder and the price. I forget what it cost back then, but it was more than I could drop on a toy.

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3 Responses to Once an object of desire, now a functional antique

  1. LarryArnold says:

    We’ve encountered something similar. My wife’s sewing machine died. (The repair person said, “I’ve never heard the sound it’s making.”) It was the Singer my wife inherited from her mother back in the 70s or 80s. So we’ve been shopping.

    Come to find out that a “mechanical sewing machine” isn’t one that’s non-electric, like our Singer treadle antique, these days “mechanical” means an electric machine that isn’t computerized.

  2. Paul Koning says:

    Nice. One of my aunts had a half-frame camera, quite possibly that same model. 72 photos per roll was a nice feature for vacation snapshots, and the main reason why they were pretty popular in Holland in the 1960s as I recall.
    Does film still exist? I thought rumors were that it had disappeared. Or is that only some flavors (Ektachrome?). I still have some old cameras that use film.

  3. David says:

    I used a half-frame for many years (OlympusPen EES-2) until I could no longer get the pictures printed (I don’t have a darkroom). It was compact, took great pictures, and having 72 shots on a roll was a great thing!

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