W.K.L. Dickson, in an article written for the SMPTE Journal in 1933, described his central role in the development of Edison's Kinetoscope and Kinetograph. It gives us a look at how 35mm still cameras evolved. Dickson was a researcher for Edison, and was put onto the Motion Picture project in 1887. By 1888, he was able to make some sort of motion pictures using multipe rows of tiny shots on Carbutt's stiff sensitized celluloid. In late 1888, Eastman's company gave a private demonstration of a new product at the New York Camera Club, which Dickson attended. He immediately open discussions with the Eastman company, and was soon dealing directly with George Eastman, who supplied them with many samples of short lengths of Eastman's new flexible film. As Dickson worked with the stuff, he came back to Eastman requesting finer grain, greater sensitivity of emulsion, and greater flexibility of the base. He worked very closely with Eastman to refine the product right from the beginning. Dickson's account gives the impression that the flexible film we know today was developed with a lot of input from the Edison experimenters to meet motion picture needs. He states that he received his first 50-foot rolls of film from Eastman in the spring of 1889, and that "All these samples and experiemnts were made exclusively for us by Mr. Eastman, who took an ever-increasing interest in what we were doing." The Edison people had to cut and sprocket the stuff themselves, and it is unclear what width the 50 rolls were. Dickson goes on, "At the end of the year 1889, I increased the width of the picture from 1/2 inch to 3/4, then, to 1 inch 3/4 inch high. The actual width of the film was 1 3/8 inches to allow for perforations now punched on both edges, 4 holes to the phase or picture, which perforations were a shade smaller than those now in use. This standardized film size of 1889 has remained, with only minor variation, unaltered to date." This was true in 1933, and it's still true today. It's interesting that he gives the dimensions in inches, not millimeters. If you measure a piece of 35mm film, you'll see that it's exactly 1 3/8 inches across (only 34.8mm).
So in sum Eastman's flexible base film was developed for motion picture use from its earliest stages, even before it was publicly announced, by a close collaboration between Eastman and the Edison company, and the 35mm format was standardized as early as 1889. The first still cameras that used 35mm film (approximately 1914) used the same style and format as the movie cameras of the time. The film ran vertically in these still cameras and produced an image of 18mm x 24mm. Years later, when the first horizontally-styled cameras using 35mm film were designed, they were called double frame to separate them from the original format -- which was dubbed single-frame. These later evolved into the terms -- full-frame and half-frame. What a history!
While there were many more types of 16mm cameras manufactured over the years, there were many more half-frame cameras sold. This, undoubtedly incomplete, list includes over 120 models. Just about every major camera manufacturer produced a half-frame camera at some point. Some, such as Olympus, produced many different models over the years, many with revolutionary features. In fact, it was the success of the half-frame camera that drove the photographic industry to make all larger-formatted cameras smaller and lighter. The pint-sized, auto-everthing 35mm and APS cameras of today owe everything to their half-frame ancestors. In fact, the APS format is in many ways a reincarnation of the half-frame format.
Most of these half-frame cameras have a format size of 18mm x 24mm, but there are variants such as 17mm x 24mm and 18mm x 23mm. Any camera reasonably close to 18mm x 24mm is listed here. However, full-frame cameras that were capable of also shooting half-frame pictures, (such as the Konica Autoreflex) are not listed in the SUBCLUB.
The strong points of the half-frame cameras are: having a relatively large film size, using standard 35mm film, smallish size camera bodies, and getting twice as many pictures on a roll of film as regular format 35mm cameras. Since these cameras have been manufactured up to the present time, there are many half-frame cameras with very modern features, such as autoexposure, motor drives, built-in flash, interchangeable lenses, zoom lenses, and even autofocusing. And because these cameras use standard 35mm film, they are just as easy to use today as when they were made. And with today's fine grain films, the results can be absolutely astounding, even with significant enlargement of the film.
Please contact us if you have additional information to add to this list.
see Pignons cameras
(1963) 40mm (f8.0) fixed-focus lens. Imitation selenium meter. Manual shutter speeds of B & I. Cold shoe and PC contact built-in. Like the Tougodo cameras, this was cheap imitations of the Olympus Pen camera.
see MMZ Belomo cameras
38mm lens. All plastic body. Uses a pair of Rapid cassettes.
38mm lens. All plastic body but comes in colors. Uses a regular 35mm cassettes. Has a hot shoe.
Rare half-frame from pre WWII Germany.
see MMZ Belomo cameras
see Taron Chic
See Craftsmen's Guild Classic 35
Not the rarest half-frame, but definitely one of the hardest to find. It is one of the few half-frame cameras from China, and was undoubtedly made for the home, Chinese market. Westerners would most likely refer to it as a toy, but the Chinese probably see it differently -- a camera that they could afford. It's unknown when the camera was first produced -- it might be from the 1980's or 90's. It is also unclear if they are still made. In any event, the Cofca KF-2 is a bare-bones model, similar in many ways to the typical 17.5mm Hit-style camera -- but using 35mm film. The KF-2 refers to the double format style, and not the model number. There never was a KF-1. The camera is largely plastic with a basic viewfinder. It has one shutter speed -- probably around 1/60 -- and two f-stop settings using a Waterhouse stop setup. The SUNNY setting -- looks like f16 -- and the CLOUDY setting -- looks like f5.6. So this camera was designed for ISO 100 speed film. The lens appears to be glass, about 30mm, and probably a single element. The film door pops off of the back of the camera with a lot of effort, and film is loaded much like the AGAT-K. One roll of film is placed in one side and a second, empty 35mm cassette is placed on the other side. The two film knobs on the top of the camera allow you to advance the film to the right or the left. I can't think of any reason why they did it that way. They could have just used one film advance knob and made an even cheaper camera! There is no film counter, so you turn the knob on the top about 1/4 turn after each exposure. Comes complete with wrist strap and lens cap.
(1949) It's not a typo, this Italian camera had a 27mm (f2.9) manually-focusing lens. Close-focusing to 3 feet. Shutter speeds of B (labeled "P" on the camera), 1/25 - 1/250. No meter. It came in various colored leather coverings (as well as black leather) in addition to the two body colors -- chrome and gold -- in true Italian style!
Very similar to the Luxia.
(1948) Very tiny camera for the time with the size and shape of the Korelle half-frame of 1933. Fixed-focus 32mm (f4.5-22) lens. Shutter speeds of B and I. Built-in viewfinder but no meter. Available in satin & black or leather finishes.
One of the missing links between the original half-frame movie cameras and the original half-frame still cameras. This 1923 camera could serve several functions such as movie camera, still camera and film projector. It came with a focusing 50mm (f3.5) lens. Single shutter speed of 1/60. Built-in viewfinder and pop-up sports finder, but no meter. Since it could also be used as a movie camera for short lengths of film -- up to 17 feet -- it is no surprise that it had a built-in spring drive with a big distinctive crank. It used special metal cassettes.
One of the missing links between the original movie cameras and the half-frame cameras. This late 1920's camera was shaped like many movie cameras of the time. Apparently very few were made. It was made out of bakelite and used special cassettes. Not to be confused with the Bell Kamra that used 16mm film.
see KMZ cameras
This Russian camera is another missing link between the movie camera and the still half-frame camera. But unlike the other half-frame cameras of the time, this camera was designed with a folding bed. It made the camera very compact, although it was still heavy (over two pounds). The camera was probably designed are 1925. It had a focusing 60mm (f2.0) lens with a focusing screen and ground-glass. Single speed of 1/100.
Same as the Ricoh Auto Half E2.
see Standard
(1983) One of the latest half-frame cameras. This version has several convenience features such as built in motor drive & flash. Shutter speeds of 1/60 - 1/500. Built in CDS meter controls the f-stop and shutter speed. 24mm (f3.5) fixed-focus, three-element lens. Self-timer. Uses AA batteries. More commonly seen as the Ansco Mark 35.
(1963) It looked very much like a small 35mm rangefinder camera, but was a half-frame. Fixed-focus 40mm (f8.0) lens. Speeds of B and I. Cold flash shoe and PC contact. Imitation selenium meter
This was one of the first cameras to make the switch from movie film to still film, but did it in an unusual way. It appeared around 1914 and took stereo pairs of pictures. The images were half-frame. It came with a pair of 28mm f4.5 lenses. Pop-up viewwfinder on the top.
(1933) This was one of the first half-frame cameras that looked like a still camera and not a movie camera. It came from Germany and had a focusing 35mm (f2.8) lens but it was interchangeable. Various other lenses were available, such as a 50mm and 70mm lens. Speeds of B, 1 - 1/300. All exposures settings were manual. Brown and black models.
See Kochmann Korelle
See Yashica
(1948) Fixed-focus 35mm (f7.5) lens. Single shutter speed. Plunger released shutter and advanced the film.
(1915) This was one of the first half-frame cameras. It came with one of two lenses: 50mm (f3.0) or 54mm (f3.5). Speeds of B and 1/30. Special cassettes
see C.O.M.I.
See Tougodo
See Tougodo
See Agfa, Ansco and Ricoh cameras
See Universal
see KMZ cameras
see Fed cameras
(1924) One of the earliest still camera to use 35mm film. Focusing 40mm (f3.5) lens. Speeds of B, 1 - 1/300 . It used special cassettes and was available in at least two models.
see KMZ cameras
see Nichiryo
In 1960, Nikon decided to try their hand at the half-frame market. Too bad they chose to modify a Nikon S3 rangefinder. This was to be the only half-frame that Nikon would make. So it had all of the S3 features. It took Nikon lenses from 21mm to 1000mm. Speeds of B, 1 - 1/1000. Rangefinder focusing. No meter. Manual exposure control. Black and chrome bodies were available. Even a detachable motor drive was made. Less than 200 were made and they are very, very pricey today.
see Agfa cameras
see Agfa cameras
(1965) Similar to the Ricoh EE Rapid Half but larger. Same fixed-focus 25mm (f2.8) lens with circular selenium cell around the lens which set the aperture automatically. Like the EE Rapid, this version uses Agfa Rapid cassettes and lacks the spring motor drive. But it did add a flash shoe to the top of the camera.
The only Robot half-frame. It could use the standard Robot lenses which came in focal lengths from 30mm to 400mm. Usually seen with a focusing 40mm (f1.9 lens). Speeds of B, 1/2 - 1/500. No meter; manual exposure settings. Motorized film advance.
(1922) Another early half-frame. 35mm (f3.5) lens. Speeds of 1 - 1/300.
See Debrie Sept
see KMZ cameras
see MMZ Belomo cameras
see Nichiryo
see Ricoh
(1913) The first commercially produced half-frame camera, it took movie film (35mm film) and used it in a still camera. The camera was vertically-styled and looked like a small movie camera. It took a 50 foot spool of film for about 750 exposures. Different lenses were produced from f2.5 to f3.5.
See Universal
See Konica cameras
see MMZ Belomo cameras
see KMZ cameras
see KMZ cameras
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