I am a (proud) member of a film photography collective that often posts camera reviews. Recently, there were several articles on half frame cameras, something I had never heard of before. As I read, I became more and more obsessed with the idea of being able to make diptychs in-camera rather than trying to stitch them together with the computer or (even worse) dry mount two photographs on the same piece of board & have them look perfect (precision with a ruler is not my forte). This is, of course, fairly ridiculous, since I have only once in my life made a diptych, and it wasn’t entirely intentional. I figured if the price was right – aka cheap – then it was ok to treat myself to a new creative tool. As luck would have it, ebay treated me to a near mint condition Olympus Pen F with a 38mm 1.8 lens.
So far I have only managed to put a test roll through it, but I am absolutely delighted with the results and can’t wait to take it out for realz. Here are the highlights (it was a very short roll). I made exposures in a variety of lighting conditions & am pleased with the performance of the lens; it’s a pleasant surprise since I had no idea how sharp / detailed such tiny negatives would be. The one closeup is a bit soft, but I think that is probably my fault for messing up the focus.
Tri-X and D76.
52 rolls 
I have some film loaded in a PEN D which I never seem to finish. So jealous that you have a PEN F. What a wonderful camera, and this series shows it
LikeLike
That series of posts also made me load my Fujica Drive again. And now it’s been sitting with a half finished roll of Kodak Portra in my bag for a weeks. 🙂
LikeLike
Half frame is a personal hell for me, but I’m lovin’ the dyp & tryp style images here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Pen is loaded but I have not shot any of it, even though I loaded it in July last year. Set it aside and forgot. Now you have reminded me I must get it back into action. Your multitychs (for want of a better word, did I mix Greek and Latin by any chance?) are really nice – with people in them. I mostly shoot static subjects, though one of my favourites has people, now that I think of it.
I too am jealous of the Pen F, the lenses for that model are very nice indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Multitychs! I am definitely using that word you just coined : )
LikeLike
Ah, yes. I was going to reply to that. Yes you’re mixing languages here. If you want to stay Greek you’d have to call it polytych I think. But that’s my layman’s opinion. I only know modern Greek and not the made up stuff western scholars tend to come up with. 😉
LikeLike
Actually, I just looked it up and I was close. It’s called a polyptych: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyptych
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha – what a word!
LikeLike
Thanks Urban. I like multitych better than polyptych which sounds like a tych that requires surgery. Since I am using the word in English, perhaps murdering a few other languages to get there doesn’t matter all that much. Let the scholars of ancient languages cringe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, I have been using the term for a while but did not invent it. You can find some of my half frame tychs here: http://burntembers.com/tag/multitych/
I did however coin the term fliptych for tychs shot with flipping the camera upside down, and then rightside up. They are my favourite use for the half-frame. You can see those ones here:
http://burntembers.com/tag/fliptych/
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love them! And fliptych – what a great, original idea. The other day I tried some shots turning the camera, so they will be landscape instead of portrait. Haven’t finished the roll yet tho. . . .
LikeLiked by 1 person