Half-Frame Cameras: Pentax 17 vs Kodak Ektar H35

A half-frame camera takes regular 35mm film but uses half of each standard 36x24mm frame per picture, so every photo is about 18x24mm. Ricoh gives the Pentax 17's frame as 17x24mm, so quoted sizes differ slightly. Either way, you get double the count on the box: 72 pictures from a 36-exposure roll, 48 from a 24.

The frame sits on its side, so holding the camera the normal way gives a vertical picture in a 3:4 shape instead of the 3:2 of regular 35mm. Ricoh pitches that as a feature: the Pentax 17 frames like a smartphone held upright. Turn the camera sideways when you want a horizontal shot.

The format is not new. The Olympus Pen brought half-frame to Japan in September 1959, and the format was popular through the 1960s. The current revival comes from new cameras: the Pentax 17, the Kodak Ektar H35, the Alfie Tych+ and the Lomography Lomourette.

The trade-off is film area. Each picture uses half the negative, so grain looks bigger. Digital Camera World suggests a lower-ISO film if you want less grain.

The lens is what you pay for. TechRadar says the Pentax 17 costs more than the Kodak H35 because its lens is much sharper, and CameraGX, which shot both from the same spot in Atlanta, says the Pentax costs 10 times as much but the difference in image quality is huge.

The H35's 22mm lens is two pieces of acrylic at a fixed f/9.5. Digital Camera World found its sharpness rough, especially at distance, with the best results around 1.5 to 2 meters (about 5 to 6.5 feet) from the subject.

The price gap is wide, too. At October 2026 US prices, $499.95 against $46 to $50 works out to roughly 10 to 11 times as much. Kamerastore, reviewing the Pentax at its June 2024 launch, said it costs over 5 times what the Kodak does and did not see the two as direct competitors.

Neither camera has autofocus. The Pentax 17 uses zone focus: you turn a ring to one of six distance zones, from 0.25m (0.82 ft) up close to infinity. In the full Auto mode, focus is fixed and the ring is out of the loop, which keeps it as simple as a point-and-shoot.

Exposure on the Pentax is automatic. The camera always picks the shutter speed, from 1/350 to 4 seconds, except in bulb; you steer it with seven shooting modes and exposure compensation of ±2 EV in 1/3-stop steps. You set the film speed by hand, from ISO 50 to 3200, to match the roll you loaded.

Zone focus is where reviewers report trouble. Tom's Guide calls focusing hit-or-miss, and a Long Weekend reviewer remembers blurry close-ups even with the proper settings. The Phoblographer's list of cons: no real manual controls beyond exposure compensation, no autofocus, no weather resistance and a 1/350 top shutter speed.

The Ektar H35 has no exposure or focus controls: 1/100 second at f/9.5, focus fixed. It counts on color print film's exposure latitude, which TechRadar puts at about two stops either way. CameraGX calls it a sunny-16 camera whose best pictures come on bright days, mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

Sources disagree on how close the H35 can focus. Tom's Guide lists 1m to infinity, while Eric Woods at 35mmc says anything past 1.5 meters is in focus. Staying about 5 feet or more from your subject covers both.

The Pentax 17, by a wide margin. Its shutter can stay open up to 4 seconds on its own, it meters down to EV 2.5 at ISO 100, and in Auto mode the flash fires by itself in dim light. The flash has a guide number of 6 (meters, ISO 100) and takes about 9 seconds to recharge.

For longer exposures there is bulb mode, which takes a remote switch. One owner's blog says Ricoh lists its CS-205 switch at $50 and that a generic one under $15 works just as well.

The H35 can only add light with its flash. With 1/100 second at f/9.5 locked in, there is no way to let more light reach the film, so indoors and at night you depend on a flash that an owner says is good to about 5 feet. Its flash has no auto power-off either, so forgetting to switch it off can drain the AAA battery, as Digital Camera World warns.

If you want a cheap half-frame camera for night shots, the step-up Kodak Ektar H35N adds a bulb shutter and a tripod hole.

Any regular 35mm film works. The Pentax 17 handles ISO 50 to 3200 as long as you set the ISO to match the roll, so the choice comes down to light and look.

For the H35, sources disagree. The Film Photography Project store recommends ISO 100 or 200, Tom's Guide says ISO 200 or 400, and Digital Camera World says at least ISO 400, naming Kodak UltraMax and Fuji Superia X-Tra. Since the exposure never changes, match the film to your light: Kodak Gold 200 for bright sun, Kodak UltraMax 400 for shade, overcast days and flash shots indoors.

Half-frame also halves the film cost per picture. A $8.99 roll of Gold 200 spread over 72 pictures is about $0.12 each, before developing. More on how film speed works in film ISO explained.

The reviews cited here praise the lens and the control, and flag the price. TechRadar likes the sharpness but still thinks the camera costs too much for its build quality, and Tom's Guide calls it expensive, points to its disposable CR2 batteries and calls focusing hit-or-miss. Kamerastore's case for it is control: programmed auto exposure, manual focus and exposure compensation, against the Kodak's single shutter speed.

Day to day, it runs on one CR2 lithium battery. Glazer's Camera sells an Ansmann CR2 for $4.95 (October 2026). The battery sits in the front grip behind a cover held by a screw, and Casual Photophile's reviewer dropped that screw in a car and spent five minutes finding it, because nothing keeps it attached once it is loose.

Is it still being made? In March 2025 Ricoh Imaging Japan said, per Kosmo Foto, that the Pentax film project was not paused but was seeking feedback before committing to more models; The Phoblographer's review, last updated May 2025, says Pentax is putting production on pause. Either way, Glazer's Camera and Reformed Film Lab listed it new at $499.95 and $500 on October 28, 2026.

It is worth it if you want a much sharper lens than the H35's and modes that work in low light. If you only want casual daylight snapshots, the H35 does that job for about a tenth of the price.

FunSaver

As a cheap, fun camera, yes; as a sharp one, no. TechRadar calls it essentially a reusable disposable camera with a Kodak badge, and Digital Camera World calls it an easy, fun point-and-shoot if you can accept many soft shots. It weighs 100g, measures 110 x 62 x 39mm and comes in black, brown, sage and sand.

Kodak does not make it. Reto Production Ltd. manufactures and sells the H35 and uses the Kodak name under license, as Kodak's own product page states. It came out in 2022.

The complaints are about small things. Tom's Guide found the viewfinder small and uncomfortable with glasses. The Film Photography Project store warns that advancing past the last exposure jams the camera and that forcing the rewind can break it, so keep count of your shots.

Next to a single-use camera like the Kodak FunSaver, the appeal is that you keep the camera and choose the film, and a 36-exposure roll gives you 72 pictures.

The H35N costs about $14 to $15 more at the same store: $59.95 against $46 at Glazer's Camera, and $65 against $50 at Reformed Film Lab (October 2026). For that you get a lens with one glass element and one aspherical acrylic element, a bulb shutter, a tripod hole and a built-in star filter that turns lights into four-beam flares.

TechRadar's spec list gives the H35N lens as 22mm f/11 and recommends ISO 200 or 400 film. Kodak's own product page does not list an aperture.

Bulb plus the tripod hole is the change that matters: it lets the cheap camera do long exposures at night, which the H35 cannot. If you shoot mostly in daylight, the plain H35 is enough.