What made you want to try half-frame, and what was your first half-frame camera?

Ever since I started shooting film roughly ten years ago, I loved experimenting with different formats. Mostly trying out bigger formats, going from 35mm to medium format and finally to 4×5 sheet film.

Back then choosing a smaller format wasn’t even remotely on my mind, because bigger negatives are always better, right? But since most of my photo trips are tied to travels with my kids and wife, lugging around a ton of gear isn’t often a option.

So a few years back when my first daughter was born I needed something light and compact, which I could carry around easily. I‘d heard about half-frame before, but since I never planned on trying smaller formats than 35mm I never really gave it much thought.

That is until I came across the Olympus Pen F.

It looked gorgeous with the gothic F on the front. I was hooked from the start, it was small, light and a SLR, which was a big plus.

The lenses for the Pen F are amazing and even when shooting single frames the quality loss isn’t really that much, given you only shoot half the resolution of the film.

The Pen F stuck with me until today and is still my go to and only half-frame camera.

What is it you like most about Half-frame?

When I started out shooting half-frame it was of course the fact, that you could fit 72 frames on a roll of 36 exposures. You basically don’t need to worry much about wasting frames.

Nowadays I just love that you can get really creative with different formats.  You can always shoot standard single frames, but shooting diptyches and multi-frame panoramas is where the fun and the creative freedom really lies.

I’m a big fan of panoramas and usually shoot three-frame panoramas. It’s a cheap and fun alternative to the XPan. 

The two black bars that divide the images make it even more interesting in my opinion.  Somehow as if it was shot through a window.

Favourite subject and/or Half-frame photo?

I don’t have a favourite subject per se, I basically just shoot whatever catches my eye. 

Usually it’s landscapes, urban environments and other interesting objects I can find.

One of my favourite half-frame photos is this shot of my daughter’s rocking horse. 

I got up one day early in the morning and the sun was hitting it a this perfect angle through the door, so I quickly grabbed a camera that was loaded with film and it was my Pen F.

Your top tip/s for shooting half frame photos?

Just shoot and have fun, I guess.

The good thing is you have a lot of frames available, even if you‘d waste half of the film you would still have plenty of frames left.

Finishing a roll with 72 exposures can sometimes take quite a while, at least for me it does. 

I tend to either use 24 exposure rolls of film or bulk roll film into shorter rolls.