Who Likes Olympus Half-Frame SLRs?

[drmoss_ca]

I've enquired at Service Camera Pro in Quebec City about fixing the FV with the old FT as a donor. They say they repair Olympus, but probably don't see many half-frames!

In the interim, my refreshed lens line-up is sitting on the Pen-F:

 

[drmoss_ca]

Half-frame goodness, Olympus Pen-F, 60mm/f1.5, XP2 @200, Diafine:

 

[drmoss_ca]

Had a delightful chat with René at Service Camera Pro in Québec City, around one third in English, one third in French, and one third in Franglais. He will be happy to make the Pen-FV work using donor parts if needed from the Pen-FT. What a nice man! Told me if I need any Hasselblad repairs he is factory-trained but will retire in a couple of years. So $18CAD to Canada Post and we'll see what happens.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Same film, 42mm/f1.2:

 

[Sirius Glass]

The Olympus Pen was a great half frame [single frame] camera, but I never owned one.

 

[MattKing]

My high school's photography teacher had them for students, because it saved on film.
Which of course must have meant that the darkroom was set up for half frame. I don't really remember, because I didn't actually take that class - I was using either my darkroom at home or the darkroom in the Graphic Arts/printing department.
I did help the photography teacher a bit though - she was a good artist, but on technical stuff, not so much.

 

[Cholentpot]

My high school's photography teacher had them for students, because it saved on film.
Which of course must have meant that the darkroom was set up for half frame. I don't really remember, because I didn't actually take that class - I was using either my darkroom at home or the darkroom in the Graphic Arts/printing department.
I did help the photography teacher a bit though - she was a good artist, but on technical stuff, not so much.

I printed half-frame just fine using a standard 35mm setup.

 

[drmoss_ca]

And if permitted to say it here, scanning it is pretty much as quick as 35mm - just have to draw twice as many crop boxes on the previews and save the ones I want (I preview at final resolution as VueScan lets me save directly from the preview without rescanning).

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

scanning it is pretty much as quick as 35mm - just have to draw twice as many crop boxes on the previews and save the ones I want.

This is a big drawback when scanning 'non-standard' frame sizes on a flatbed, even with sufficient dexterity. I've considered the idea of creating preset ImageMagick batch jobs to extricate frames from a full-bed scan w/ holders. There's some innovation to be had here with heuristic detection of frame borders but most 'modern' scanning software is effectively DOA.

Nevermind hand selecting 16mm/110 or Super8 frames!

 

[Cholentpot]

And if permitted to say it here, scanning it is pretty much as quick as 35mm - just have to draw twice as many crop boxes on the previews and save the ones I want (I preview at final resolution as VueScan lets me save directly from the preview without rescanning).

I DSLR scan, and I do it half-frame by half-frame. If the neighboring frames match up I'll splice them together in photoshop.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Half-frame XP2 Super, 60/1.5:

 

[drmoss_ca]

Perhaps it's time to say something about where this half-frame nonsense is going. I have gone from an old Pen-FT to an even older Pen-F, and now the FT is a donor body for parts for a Pen-FV. Craziness, indeed. My half-frame lenses began in the 1970's with a 38mm/f1.8 and a 150mm/f4, but have since grown to a 25mm/f4, 20mm/f3.5, 42mm/f1.2, 60mm/f1.5 and a 50-90mm/f3.5 zoom. Generally, I'm happy with any camera that has the FF 35mm equivalents of a 28mm. a 50mm and a short portrait telephoto 70-90mm. The last time I spent some years with a meterless, all mechanical camera with 28/50/90 lenses it was a Leica M2. (OK, there were and are still some MF and LF cameras that I have that meet those criteria!) This one excites me a bit more, as I am naturally an SLR-viewfinder person, rather than a rangefinder person. Can't help that, it's something to do with brain wiring and not open to argument. But this little camera is smaller, lighter and quieter than the M2. And, yes, the negatives are half the size, so half the quality. (Also half the price, but I know none of you care about that.) With grainless XP2 Super, I don't think that matters so much, and while I really get off on setting up, planning and executing a high-quality MF or LF photo, I haven't had quite so much fun in ages when it comes to carelessly shooting whatever is in front of me with film.
No doubt ii is not in my interest to make others want to buy into this old system, but it's hard not to share the fun. Give it a try if you fancy it.

 

[Donald Qualls]

There is also something to be said for getting up to 80 frames in a single cassette (if you load carefully) -- like they used to say about the Henry rifle -- "Load it on Sunday and shoot all week."

I love half frame, and with slow film or XP2 I don't see a quality problem (I've shot a fair bit of 16mm in Minolta and Kiev cameras). I've just never been able to make myself spend the money for a Pen SLR (got a Pen EE-S and Pen EE-S2, the latter in need of a shutter cleaning, though). Overall, I've been moving toward larger film for the past couple decades (can't afford 8x10, either, so it looks like 4x5 is where that ends) -- but there's still that "shoot all week" effect, and I can still smell the chemicals.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Well, the Henry had it's (rimfire) limitations. Maybe my flintlock and caplock rifles and shotguns are oddball equivalents to sheet film single shot cameras? Who cares, as long as we have fun and make pictures?

 

[Cholentpot]

There is also something to be said for getting up to 80 frames in a single cassette (if you load carefully) -- like they used to say about the Henry rifle -- "Load it on Sunday and shoot all week."

I love half frame, and with slow film or XP2 I don't see a quality problem (I've shot a fair bit of 16mm in Minolta and Kiev cameras). I've just never been able to make myself spend the money for a Pen SLR (got a Pen EE-S and Pen EE-S2, the latter in need of a shutter cleaning, though). Overall, I've been moving toward larger film for the past couple decades (can't afford 8x10, either, so it looks like 4x5 is where that ends) -- but there's still that "shoot all week" effect, and I can still smell the chemicals.

Get a Pen F before the prices get too crazy. Best camera (Aside from the Retina IIc) that I've picked up in a while.

Well, the Henry had it's (rimfire) limitations. Maybe my flintlock and caplock rifles and shotguns are oddball equivalents to sheet film single shot cameras? Who cares, as long as we have fun and make pictures?

Some cameras (and systems) just have soul. My Spotmatic II comes to mind.

As for the Henry, half-frame is exactly like it. Gotta work the lever over and over. Hopefully you don't jam. I'd say LF cameras are more like those bolt action elephant guns of old. Massive results, hard to use and each shot is a fortune.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I am not actually a fan of the Pen FT I have. I think I wrote about my trepidations in this thread, but I do like the aesthetics of half frame. With all the "improvements" in film over the years I think a lot of life has been taken out of film, and by life I mean grain of course... You can shoot one of the 3200 films but that stuff got pricey. With a half frame it is fun to walk around and shoot whatever since you never have to reload. During the pandemic I have taken walks and I usually grabbed either the Minox or the Pen and just shot whatever random stuff I'd see.

I wouldn't be surprised if Pen cameras get a lot more expensive in the coming years.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Here's a curious thing. The Pen-FV and the Pen-FT are on their way to Québec City where I hope they will meld into one solid body. The Pen-F I am using has shown that it has a kink. If I attach the 150mm/f4 lens, set it to closest focus, and set the shutter speed to 1/60, about one shot in five the mirror will flip up but nothing else happens. I have to take the lens off, move the mirror with a finger, at which point the shutter does its thing and wastes a frame of film. Does not happen at other shutter speeds, nor with the same lens set to infinity. Does not happen with any other lenses.

This has made me buy another Pen-F body and a Pen-FV body in case there is more unreliability in the future. They are currently cheap, so why not? Spent the day wandering around with a roll of Pan-F rated at 80 so I could develop it in Diafine. It's almost dry. Such fun to point an shoot at whatever came to mind. I love carefully setting up a medium or large format photo, but this is a different kind of fun. I'm having a ball!

 

[ciniframe]

I had that same odd incomplete shutter cycle on my Pen F with the 100mm Pen Zuiko. The mirror was up (or sideways?), the stop down lever was engaged but the shutter would not complete the cycle until I started to remove the lens. Finally resorted to the very crude repair of using a fine metal file to remove 2-3 thousands off the 100mm stop down lever. Has worked like a champ ever since. I dunno, maybe it was bent in the past.

edit; None of my other 5 Pen Zuikos had that problem so I had figured it was likely a lens problem.
I do own what may be a rare bird, a 38mm f2.8 Olympus enlarging lens. Comes in handy. You don’t need to crank the enlarging head real high to get a larger or even cropped print, (although I hate to crop such a small negative).

 

[Sirius Glass]

Here's a curious thing. The Pen-FV and the Pen-FT are on their way to Québec City where I hope they will meld into one solid body. The Pen-F I am using has shown that it has a kink. If I attach the 150mm/f4 lens, set it to closest focus, and set the shutter speed to 1/60, about one shot in five the mirror will flip up but nothing else happens. I have to take the lens off, move the mirror with a finger, at which point the shutter does its thing and wastes a frame of film. Does not happen at other shutter speeds, nor with the same lens set to infinity. Does not happen with any other lenses.

This has made me buy another Pen-F body and a Pen-FV body in case there is more unreliability in the future. They are currently cheap, so why not? Spent the day wandering around with a roll of Pan-F rated at 80 so I could develop it in Diafine. It's almost dry. Such fun to point an shoot at whatever came to mind. I love carefully setting up a medium or large format photo, but this is a different kind of fun. I'm having a ball!

I had that same odd incomplete shutter cycle on my Pen F with the 100mm Pen Zuiko. The mirror was up (or sideways?), the stop down lever was engaged but the shutter would not complete the cycle until I started to remove the lens. Finally resorted to the very crude repair of using a fine metal file to remove 2-3 thousands off the 100mm stop down lever. Has worked like a champ ever since. I dunno, maybe it was bent in the past.

Would several hard slaps with a hammer fix it? Super Glue? Duct Tape? WD-40?

 

[ciniframe]

Would several hard slaps with a hammer fix it? Super Glue? Duct Tape? WD-40? View attachment 290945

Duct Tape, the handyman’s secret weapon. Or, a uncle Red says; ‘carpe ductum’.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Duct Tape, the handyman’s secret weapon.

I must not be a "handyman" then. At work, when i see duct tape I'm usually cussing at it and the person who put it there.

My secret weapon (and I'm a repair technician, BTW, I fix air and electric power tools) is a 32 ounce ball peen hammer. The whole trick is knowing where and how hard to hit, and being able to deliver that strike accurately on both counts.

 

[MattKing]

My secret weapon (and I'm a repair technician, BTW, I fix air and electric power tools) is a 32 ounce ball peen hammer. The whole trick is knowing where and how hard to hit, and being able to deliver that strike accurately on both counts.

This applies to baseball as well.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Putting my feet up. Easier than percussive maintenance.
Pen-F, 42mm/f1.2, Pan F, Diafine:

 

[Cholentpot]

Gold 200 I think. Pen F.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Rather than hitting the 150mm lens with a hammer, I examined it, The stop down lever is indeed slow to return, and sometimes needs a little push. On all my other lenses it jumps back into place. Probably needs a drop of the right lubricant in the right spot, after being used so very little for the last 50 years. If the repairman in Québec City does a good job on the bodies I will probably ask him to sort it out, as well as my second OM-2n, which keeps the red compensation flag showing in the viewfinder whether a compensation factor is set or not. These old things can be interesting though:


Wormy deadwood, Pen F, 42/1.2, Pan F @ 80, Diafine.