Is Shooting Half Frame the Future for 35mm Film Photography? I Try the Ektar H35 on the Street

There's a lot of hype surrounding half frame 35mm cameras right now, with adverts for the new Pentax 17 rushing into my inbox this week, and videos springing up about it everywhere. I was already working on a video about a (to me) budget-friendly half-frame camera (the Kodak Ektar H35) when I became aware of this, and so have rushed out this "hands-on" piece a few weeks early. I hope you'll forgive the rough edges for the sake of timeliness!
In this video I unbox the camera, take some pictures around the town of Stockport, and then show a slide show of the results, with some personal comments and opinions thrown in over the pictures.
#35mmcamera #film #kodakfilm35mm #analog #unboxing

[@BatteredSausage]

Great video showing the capabilities of half frame photography without the new-camera hype. Always enjoy the relaxed walk-around style of your videos, Ed.

[@studioswinden]

Thanks. Happy you're still enjoying the videos! Have a good week 🙂

[@DirtyPlumbus]

I'm torn on the Pentax, I've seen build quality complaints, but it's a beautiful camera, and I'd like to support the designer. This Kodak, on the other hand, is a no-brainer for the price.

[@studioswinden]

I’d like to try the new Pentax but I can’t afford to buy one so will wait til someone I know gets one I can borrow or they start appearing on the secondhand market. The Ektar H35 is great as a carry-around until then! Enjoy your photography, whatever the camera 🙂

[@user-tu9lm3lp2n]

I actually thinking about buy one ektar h35,half frame camera, getting more pictures out of my film,usually i use kodak ultramax 400/ 24 pictures, and kodak Gold 200/36 pictures.

[@studioswinden]

I tend to use those films a lot myself, as they’re more affordable and readily available than some others. It’s certainly nice to get more shots for your money. Enjoy shooting, whatever camera you end up with 🙂

[@user-tu9lm3lp2n]

From the cameras i actually have,i can choose between a canon ae-1, or my 1960s german voigtländer vitomatic 3b, i got the voigtländer in a second hand Shop in my hometown, for 5 Euros.the voigtländer has a built in light meter, and doesnt need a battery,for the First test of the voigtländer, i have used Black and white Film, kentmere iso 400/36.pictures came back perfect.

[@estwern]

it's not really a new camera. there is already a new upgraded model H35N

[@studioswinden]

Hi, Thanks for watching/commenting. I’d be interested in trying out the H35N to see if it was significantly better...I knew the H35 wasn’t just released, it’s just new to me and I was glad of the opportunity to try half frame for the first time. I guess the improved optics of the N version might be helpful to make the most of the small frame size but without being able to control exposure my guess is that grain from under/overexposure might negate some of the gains in many situations? The bulb mode and star-filter might be fun, but what I’d really like is a choice of, say 1/60, 1/125, and 1/250 shutter speeds, so I could use the same film in more varied lighting...and potentially use a slower, finer grain film like Ektar100 that would offer more resolution. But I like the H35 for what is...I like to have to shoot mindfully, and to not see the results for a day or two instead of instantly on a screen. I like the authenticity of the medium and the possibility to carry out the whole process from capture, through development, to printing if desired. But when I want a top notch image these days I’ll almost always pick up a dSLR or mirrorless digital camera and shoot RAW. Thanks again for watching. Have a good week 🙂

[@olp1e]

No, half frame is not the future for 35mm film photography! Although film is currently very expensive, prices are likely to fo fall in the long term. I'm reminded of the Kodak disk camera which they developed because of a spike in the price of silver. Each frame was tiny compared with 35mm so less silver was needed. The format didn't last long because 1. picture quality was really crap and 2. the price of silver dropped so much that 35mm film became affordable again

[@studioswinden]

Thanks for commenting. You might be interested in the short video I made about Disc film, which is linked to from the current video. I'm interested in what you say about the price of silver, as I've not heard that given as a reason for the introduction of the disc format before...I had always believed it was to do with making consumer cameras smaller and more amateur-friendly (as there were cartridges rather than reels of film to fiddle with, and most casual photographers rarely enlarged prints beyond 7"x5"). Happy shooting 🙂

[@a1xmsk]

i'd rather buy old used Ricoh Auto Half SE2. these kodak cameras are very poor quality :(

[@lelandfitz1762]

Yes they are, but they take good enough pictures for memories or on holidays where you don't want to worry about gear. Used ones aren't for everybody. I had a point and shoot from the 90s with auto focus. But the auto focus took way too long most of the time, making it a nuisance. Now I got the Agfaphoto Half-Frame (like a sister model to Kodak's Ektar) and as it is focus free, I truly can point and shoot in an instant ;)

[@a1xmsk]

​@@lelandfitz1762 Ricoh Auto Half SE2 is fully auto, it has infinity focus from 1,5m to infinity. And is pretty solid, great built quality. But thank you for the agfa, didn't know about this camera. its 37$ on amazon, for such a price its hard to complain :)