The latest plastic simple camera to hit the market is a new AgfaPhoto-branded half-frame model.
Similar to the Kodak-branded Ektar H35 produced by Reto, the camera takes 72 pictures on a 36-frame roll of film or 48 pictures on a 24-frame roll.
The camera comes with a 50mm f/5.6 lens and an integral flash powered by a single AAA battery. In the UK, the camera is being offered for sale by photographic retailers for around £37.
The camera is distributed by Lupus Imaging, the German company which owns the rights to the AgfaPhoto brand name which has previously graced rebranded film.
The camera’s product listing says:
“The AgfaPhoto Reusable Half Frame Photo Camera, is a half frame analogue camera that, unlike a 35mm camera, allows you to shoot twice as many images on a 35mm roll of film. This means that a roll with 24 exposures yields 48 photos and a roll with 36 exposures yields 72 photos. This camera can go with you wherever you go as it is so lightweight and compact. Moreover, with its retro design, this camera is a pleasure to look at. This analogue camera has a fixed 50mm f/5.6 lens, a built-in flash and a shutter speed of 1/120 sec. The camera runs on just 1 AAA battery or NiMH battery.”
The specs are as follows:
- Ideal for novice film photographers
- Half-frame film camera
- Retro design
- Fixed 50mm f/5.6 lens
- Shutter speed: 1/120 sec
- Shoots two images per standard exposure on a 35mm film roll
- Built-in flash
- Runs on 1x AAA battery or NiMH battery
- For use with 35 mm film rolls
AgfaPhoto previously released a “full-frame” reusable plastic 35mm camera similar to those offered by the likes of Harman, Dubblefilm and Lomography.
Last year, Reto released the similar half-frame Kodak Ektar H35, the first of the new crop of simple cameras to use a half-frame format, widely thought to be influenced by the rising cost of colour films.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
f5.6 and 1/120? That would be 4 stops over exposed on a sunny day using ISO 200 film.
f 5.6 and 50mm? So everything is only in focus from 20 ft to infinity? Or 15 to 25ft?