The classic way to use a Half Frame camera is to take 2 or more photos right after each other and print them all at one time, including the sprockets and the surround frame numbers onto one sheet of paper. I don’t use a darkroom any longer, so I do the same thing digitally.
These photos are with my trusty Canon Demi EE17 camera. It’s been CLA’d (Clean Lubricate Adjust). It is a manual + auto-exposure half frame camera from the mid-1960’s. Lovely, mostly metal construction. I got mine from Ebay and then paid for the CLA. Before I sent it off, it worked fine, but it had a tendency for the back to pop open. Almost certainly due to gummed up latch closing mechanism. The finder was also dirty. The CLA all fixed that
I love this little camera. The lens is very sharp and it’s so very small. You have to remember to manually set the focusing distance, which is just a tiny PITA. I love the focus throw lever. I usually shoot it on Auto with it’s CdS meter, but Manual is easy too. It doesn’t have strap lugs, so I tend to carry it with a Peak Design, tripod-screw mounted dongle and a wrist strap.
The photos turned out lovely. I didn’t remember to do my compositions in the camera so they will show up side-by-side on the film, but these are taken just like that and combined in Photoshop to look the same. I know many people who also do 3-up (Triptych) sets and they look wonderful.
Here in the late spring of 2026, mine is loaded with 36-exp roll of Color Plus, so 72 photos await me.
This is a really lovely way to enjoy film photography and the half-frame format economizes film use; even if 72 photos is a LOT of photos to get through
