Winter Light

Half the size, Twice the fun

 The upside of the increase in film prices is that it gave me an excuse to acquire another half-frame camera.  It is one of Maitani's masterpieces, the Olympus Pen-FT.

The Pen-FT is only marginally larger than my Leica IIIa.  It seems amazing that Maitani was able to fit a single lens reflex system into such a small container.

On the morning after the camera's arrival I loaded it with a roll of Kentmere 400, first shooting a few frames near home, and then going down to the Plaza Vieja to finish off  the roll.  

The F Zuiko Auto-S 1.8/38mm lens focuses down to about one foot.

Finishishing off the Kentmere in the Plaza Vieja took a while as the 24-shot roll yielded 53 images!

It being a Friday morning, the old cars were lined up in front of the church waiting for their pictures to be taken.

'86 El Camino

'32 Ford Victoria

I bumped into my friend, Bob, in the Plaza so we took pictures of each other with the Pen-FT.

Bob

Mike

The camera worked perfectly.  I have ordered six rolls of Kentmere 100 and two of Kodak Gold 200 which I think will be well-suited to the half-frame capability.  I will probably also get some bulk film so I can make up some film rolls with a smaller number of frames.

The manual has illustrations showing the great array of lenses and accessories made by Olympus for the Pen-FT including adapters allowing the use of many standard 35mm lenses from Nikon, Practica, Leica and Exakta.

And, of course, this: