What is a half-frame camera? The vintage format making a comeback

While we wait for Fujifilm's X-Half digital half-frame camera, let's explore the history of this unusual photographic format through nine key examples.

01 / 11

Pentax 17

Recently launched and currently in production, the Pentax 17 is an interesting exercise in nostalgia. It can shoot high-quality half-frame photos, but with a tag price of 549€ it’s a really hard buy.

Olympus Pen EE-2

The Pen EE-2 was basically the same as an Olympus Trip 35mm but in half-frame format. As many other cameras on this list it needed no batteries to operate, allowing users to save not just on film, but on batteries as well.

Canon Demi EE-17

The Canon Demi EE17 was definitely a looker among its peers: It featured a 30mm f/1.7 lens, equivalent to 45mm in a full-frame machine. It’s still relatively easy to find for cheap online, with prices around 120€.
Photo: Camera-Wiki

Ricoh Auto Half E2

The Ricoh Auto Half E2 was so good for the time that it appealed even to the Stasi in East Germany, who used it for spying purposes— while saving on film development.

Agfa Optima-Parat

Manufactured from 1964 in German, the Agfa Optima-Parat was a high-quality half-frame camera with a 30mm f/2.8 lens, equivalent to a full-frame 45mm.

Lomo LC-Wide

The Lomo LC-Wide is a peculiar camera with a wide-angle 17mm lens that can shoot in three formats: the usual 35mm, half-frame like the other cameras of our list, or even in 24x24mm for a square frame.

Yashica Samurai X3.0

The Yashica Samurai is certainly the craziest looking half-frame camera of this list. Its design was meant to be operated with one hand and makes the camera look like an old-school camcorder. It had basically zero manual overrides, but it could produce good, high-quality shots.

Yashica Samurai X3.0

Advertising materials for the promotion of the Samurai Z series.

Kodak Ektar H35

Despite the retro look, the Ektar H35 is a cheap camera that’s still being produced. It’s targeted at nostalgia-driven amateurs who want to halve film development costs and comes in four nature-inspired colors.

Konica Recoder

Launched in 1984, the compact half-frame point and shoot looked like a cassete recorder when close, suggesting that the product name was a byproduct of its unusual design.

Rumor has it that Fujifilm could soon introduce the X-Half, a half-frame digital camera that shoots the digital equivalent of the half-35mm analog photos of yore.
What that exactly means in a digital camera is still quite unclear. According to what has leaked so far, the X-Half will implement a vertically mounted 1” sensor, inviting users to make mostly vertical shots that could be turned into diptychs and triptychs.
The camera could become an interesting intersection between the nostalgic aesthetic of the half-frame and the contemporary familiarity of vertical, social network-ready pictures.

Whatever the concept behind it, the X-Half certainly won’t share the fundamental reason that pushed camera makers to bring half-frame cameras to the market.

These cameras were usually intended as budget-conscious solutions, allowing photographers to capture twice as many images on a standard roll of 35mm film. Over time, the format has evolved into a distinct artistic medium. The smaller, often vertical frame forces the photographer to reconsider composition, creating a unique aesthetic. Modern half-frame enthusiasts embrace these limitations and constraints as creative opportunities.

As we wait to see what Fujifilm has in store for the new X-Half, we put together 9 classic cameras into a gallery that explores the history of the half-frame format.

01 / 10

Pentax 17

Olympus Pen EE-2

Canon Demi EE-17

Ricoh Auto Half E2

The Ricoh Auto Half E2 was so good for the time that it appealed even to the Stasi in East Germany, who used it for spying purposes— while saving on film development.

Agfa Optima-Parat

Manufactured from 1964 in German, the Agfa Optima-Parat was a high-quality half-frame camera with a 30mm f/2.8 lens, equivalent to a full-frame 45mm.

Lomo LC-Wide

Yashica Samurai X3.0

Yashica Samurai X3.0

Advertising materials for the promotion of the Samurai Z series.

Kodak Ektar H35

Konica Recoder

Launched in 1984, the compact half-frame point and shoot looked like a cassete recorder when close, suggesting that the product name was a byproduct of its unusual design.

Windows become frames that narrate the space

A home filled with peace, built with a few essential gestures and a palette of materials in harmony with the surrounding landscape. The anthracite-colored windows by Edilpiù take center stage in this visual narrative.