Half-Frame Cameras?

FriedLouisStudio · May 27, 2024

Umm... Looking at the limited info in the press release, they say it will be "manually set zone focus", which does NOT sound like an SLR. This new Pentax may turn out to be a good camera... but it won't be a challenger to the Pen F and FT.

I've used many zone-focus cameras successfully over the years (Pony 828, Petri Color 35, Minox IIIs and B, Pen S and EES-2) and have nothing against them - in fact, I prefer them to rangefinder cameras - but they're NOT SLRs.

xkaes · May 27, 2024

An SLR would not be an "affordable camera" -- and would not be zone-focusing, an mentioned.

FYI, the Minox III and IIIs are continuous focus cameras.

Don_ih · May 27, 2024

FriedLouisStudio said:
I prefer them to rangefinder cameras

But you can use a rangefinder camera with zone focus.
Anyway, zone focus relies on a decently wide lens to get enough depth of field to have at least something in focus. So, maybe what you prefer are wider lenses.

Yeah, Pentax is definitely not trying to compete with all the 35mm slrs that are still ticking away. They're trying to replace the 35mm p&s marvels that are all falling apart.

FriedLouisStudio · May 27, 2024

I do generally prefer wider lenses, and sure, you can manually set a rangefinder camera's lens by its scale markings... but doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having rangefinder focusing?!?

Personally, I just never got sufficient experience that made me comfortable using rangefinder cameras. None of my parents' studio cameras that I was surrounded by in my childhood had a rangeinder other than a Stereo Realist that was retired once we got Nikons... when I was eight years old. Ground glass-focusing large format cameras, SLR and TLR TTL focusing, guestimate focusing on direct-view cameras... there were no rangefinders in the mix.

A few rangefinder cameras have crossed my path since then, but I never loved them, and none ever became one of my main cameras. I finally got my hands on a Leica IIIf last year... but I have cataracts in both eyes at the moment and I found using that miniscule rangefinder eyepice nearly impossible. So no late-in-life rangefinder-conversion for me (yet.)

And I'm not sure what the difference between "zone" and "continuous" focusing is. All the zone-focus cameras I've used have had continuous-turning focus controls that could be set between markings/icons/click-stops.

xkaes · May 27, 2024

Zone-focusing lenses typically have two to four "settings". The simplest is, of course, "Close" & "Far". There are lots of these, especially in smaller formats -- 110, 16mm, etc. They are designed for regular pictures, like 6' to infinity, or portraits, 3'-7'. (some of these just have a weak diopter lens that slides into place) There are also a ton of lenses with three distance settings -- Portrait, Group & Distance. And some have four, with an additional setting for "close-up". These cameras typically have distance icons -- often with feet or meters markings too -- and click stops for the intermediate settings.

But, as mentioned, the lens distance can be set in-between these click-stops, if you want (except for the models with a slide-in close-up filter).

Continuos-focus lenses usually lack the click-stops -- and usually the distance icons as well -- and have finer distance markings. In addition, these often have DOF scales -- which the zone-focusing lenses usually lack.

Many zone-focusing cameras, especially half-frame & full-frame, have distance icons that appear in the viewfinder.

FriedLouisStudio · May 27, 2024

Huh. Okay. So I guess I've been using "zone focus" to sometimes more properly mean "manual scale focus"... for decades!

xkaes · May 27, 2024

My Minolta G2 is a hybrid -- there are lots of them. It's zone focusing AND continuous focusing. You can focus exactly by feet or meters or select from four icons -- with click-stops -- head, person, group, mountains. The click stops help when looking through the viewfinder, just by counting the clicks as you focus.

Nicholas Lindan · May 27, 2024

The Zeiss Box Tengor camera had real "Zone Focus." You flipped a small lever to bring close up lenses into play: 20ft-Inf; 6-20ft; 3-6ft. Weren't nothing in between. Great camera BTW - f9 with waterhouse stops and a 2-element achromat lens.

This is slightly OT as the Tengor is far from 1/2 frame, taking 120 film and producing 6x9 negatives. Though there was a 6x4.5 version (IIRC) so that's kinda 1/2 frame.

Don_ih · May 27, 2024

FriedLouisStudio said:
I finally got my hands on a Leica IIIf last year... but I have cataracts in both eyes at the moment and I found using that miniscule rangefinder eyepice nearly impossible.

That's definitely a problem with the Leica IIIx cameras - the tiny viewing windows and the rangefinder patch can be a challenge at their age.

Twiggy · May 28, 2024

Someone earlier reccomended, looking into Fed cameras.

I found this.

It's only $135 without tax, comes with a six month warranty, though I am not sure if this business is legit or not.

4season · May 28, 2024

Twiggy said:
Someone earlier reccomended, looking into Fed cameras.
I found this.

It's only $135 without tax, comes with a six month warranty, though I am not sure if this business is legit or not.

That's not a half-frame camera, but the business is legit: It's the retail side of Camera Rescue.

Twiggy · May 28, 2024

4season said:
That's not a half-frame camera, but the business is legit: It's the retail side of Camera Rescue.

Great.
At least even the ones that "not passed" are very cheap, so can be justified as ornaments lol.

There's also a selection of certified ones, that are not much over $100, which is also nice.

Good resource to have found I guess.

Twiggy · Jun 6, 2024

The Chaika II came in today.

I am actually surprised at how quick, it came, all the way from Serbia to Canada.

It looks great, I haven't "used" it yet, but I did a basic function test, and all seems and looks good.

The zipper on the bag is slightly damaged in on area (like was said on the listening) but still closes fully with a little effort.

It's going to be exciting to use this thing.

xkaes · Jun 6, 2024

Fed did make a half-frame camera -- the Micron (a copy of the Konica EYE).

http://www.subclub.org/shop/fed.htm

The Micron (any model) is a very nice half-frame -- and would go very nicely with your Chaika II.

The Micron has a built-in meter, but the Chaika II has a removable lens. Go ahead and remove it -- you just twist it counter-clockwise. You can then use it on an enlarger!!!

Half-Frame Cameras?

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