Ultra Half Frame

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Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this work except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:

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[Introduction]

I’ve been keeping a secret for almost an entire year now. That secret is a new film format which I’ve deemed: Ultra Half Frame. Like regular 35mm half frame cameras this format also obviously uses half of a typical 35mm frame, however Ultra Half Frame splits the frame horizontally instead of the typical vertical half frame split. This creates a photo with an aspect ratio of about 3:1 as opposed to the 3:4 aspect ratio that a typical half frame camera shoots.

This 3:1 aspect ratio is an ultra-wide format, hence the name ULTRA Half frame. In fact UHF is significantly wider than most ultra-wide or panoramic formats such as “scope” (2.39:1), “Cinemascope55” (2.55:1), and “Ultra-Panavision”/XPan (2.76:1). Yes, Ultra Half Frame is wider than an XPan but costs almost nothing to shoot!

There are many 35mm film cameras such as the Minolta P’s (Freedom Vista, Riva Panorama) that shoot a panoramic format of 3:1 or something very close to it, however these cameras are simply cropping the top and bottom off the full frame wasting 50% of the film per shot with no realistic benefit. It is a wasteful gimmick.

Ultra Half Frame is the first format to capture these “panoramic” style photos without needlessly wasting usable film area. Like other half frame formats UHF doubles the total shot capacity of the film while providing a completely new way to capture photos. While primarily a stills format, UHF could be adapted to motion pictures and possibly referred to as “half-vistaVision”, “half-Technirama”, etc… to be aligned in naming with existing format descriptors.

Ultra Half Frame is technically described as a 36x12mm exposure on the upper or lower half of a typical full 35mm frame. There are two UHF exposures per 35mm frame, one on the top and on on the bottom. Size tolerances are 3mm in all directions to compensate for differences in gate placement and frame spacing that exist between different cameras. There blank space between the upper and lower half should be 2mm or less with no overlap.

UHF is shot either linearly(entire half then the other), sequentially (top bottom top...), or hybrid(top top bottom bottom top top...). Assuming accurate frame spacing for both halves of the film, UHF should be fully compatible with all currently existing automated film scanning systems, unlike traditional half frame because the width of UHF remains the same as a full frame exposure.

[History]

Last year I began working on a series of videos which today are still a work in progress, but should be out sometime later this year. The goal of these videos is to try and actually quantify the real differences between CD-3 and CD-4 developers. To do so I decided I would physically split the negative in two down the middle and develop each half using a 110 (16mm) reel. Before I even began shooting the test shots for these experiments, the idea of splitting the negative down the middle gave me another idea. That Idea was Ultra Half Frame.

At the time I was researching 8mm cameras (and considering buying one), specifically the double 8 format which is 16mm film exposed on one half, then the other, and split down the middle to create a single 8mm film. Instead of physically slicing the film in two, what If I only exposed one half then the other by placing something in front of the film. Similar to how double 8 film works.

Of course I wouldn’t need to cut the negatives in two but I could if I wanted. I immediately modified my Minolta Maxxum 5 and went out to shoot a 24 exposure roll of expired Fomapan 400. I was very excited thinking it was too easy to get this to work, turns out I was wrong...

[History Continued]

As you can see from the above shots, the first roll “worked” but the photos did not turn out great. That’s because I forgot a key detail with the way photos are exposed on a negative, they are upside down and reversed! So when shooting the first roll of UHF I was composing for the top half of the frame but actually shooting the bottom half and vice-versa.

Some of the photos ended up kinda cool looking, but most were of the ground. Who knows what kind of masterpieces I thought I had captured, actually I shot developed and scanned the whole roll on the same day so most of the shots were probably bad to begin with. You may also notice some of the shots have the same line in the top center of the image, that is a hair or something that got stuck to the tape imprinting itself on the film. There was yet another problem which has cropped its ugly head up with all rolls of UHF I’ve shot so far which I’ll save talking about till later on in this article.

After developing the first roll, I began researching to see if anyone else had done this before. I may be wrong but I believe that this is the first time that this has been done. While researching I did find an article titled “The Other Half Frame” which had me thinking for a moment that this HAD been done before and that there were actually existing cameras that shot this format. However it turns out that this article was simply referring to the somewhat common “panoramic” cameras which simply crop the top and bottom of the frame, leaving you with a wide image in the center of the frame. This article’s title is somewhat misleading since the format covered was not actually a true half frame format.

Funny enough, the name of the blog this article was posted is UltraSomething.com, which made me lean more toward naming this new format “Ultra” Half Frame instead of “Super” or “Pano” or some other descriptive, though by definition 3:1 is certainly an ultra-wide format.

Once I finished the CD3/4 experimental rolls and began the work on their accompanying videos, I realized that there is no possible way I can present this research without someone else coming up with the idea for Ultra Half Frame on their own. It is just so obvious! I had decided not to tell ANYONE about UHF because I think it would be cool to start a camera company and manufacture the world’s first Ultra Half Frame native camera, as well as many other unique products (better film scanners).

Sadly I lack funding so feel free to contact me if you want to help fund a cool new camera company! Anyway I decided that in order to release my research on CD3/4 developers, I would first have to go public with Ultra Half Frame. This is also why I am licensing the information in this article and the follow up article under the Apache License. This lets me get this information out in the wild as an open standard so anyone can create an Ultra Half Frame camera without having to worry about some parasitic company trying to monopolize something as simple as the format.

[How to Shoot Ultra Half Frame]

(on almost any camera)

While a dedicated Ultra Half Frame camera would be ideal, that does not currently exist! Luckily it is disturbingly easy to shoot the format on almost every 35mm camera currency in existence without any special tools. The only thing you need is a small piece of gaffer tape. Really you can use anything, all you have to do is cover up one half of the film gate, shoot the roll, then cover the other and shoot the other half.

Gaffer tape is ideal because it doesn’t leave much residue if you don’t keep it on for very long and it can be moved multiple times before it stops being sticky. I cut a slice of gaffer tape to be a little over 12mm thick and a length that will comfortably fit in my camera without touching anything important. The film in most cameras is held on the edges by polished flat surfaces that are slightly elevated above the film gate. As long as whatever you use is thin enough you will not interfere with the film.

It is better to over shoot the 12mm thickness than undershoot it for multiple reasons. First of all you probably want to ensure the long edge of the gate is fully covered so you don’t get a thin sliver of exposure in the tiny gap that WILL be there if you only cut your tape to be 12mm. Second, overshooting simply will make the gap in the middle slightly larger. Light will travel past the gap slightly so if you are too close to 12mm or slightly under you will end up with a double exposure on one long edge of your photos. You would be surprised how much light can travel around the edge. The next most important thing to remember is composing.

I want you to imagine holding the typical 35mm SLR camera in your hand as you would while shooting, with the lens forward. If you have placed the tape over the top half of the gate. That top half is blocked, which means we are shooting the top half of the frame. Remember the image is flipped on the negative!

The top of the image (in the viewfinder) is exposed on the bottom half of the film so if we block the top we shoot the top, if we block the bottom we shoot the bottom. All of my cameras have a mark of some kind in the exact center of the viewfinder so it is easy to compose, I just have to remember to only compose for the top or bottom half. Once you do this a few times it becomes natural. I like to write T on my film reminder to let me know if I'm shooting the top or bottom half.

The hard part comes after you’ve shot the first half of your film. Rewind the film as normal but try to stop before the leader goes back into the cassette. Otherwise you need a leader retriever tool or use the wet film trick to get it back out. Some of my cameras will automatically leave the leader out for me but on manually rewound cameras I can just listen or feel for the tension to release. Remove the frame block and place it on the opposite side. If you are using gaffer tape like me, try to keep the straightest edge in the center (the edge of the roll of tape). Now load your film again, but that brings up another problem.

Frame spacing is extremely difficult to achieve when shooting Ultra Half Frame with this DIY method. All rolls I’ve shot so far have been off by one single sprocket hole so when I go to cut my negatives I have to either sacrifice a portion of one frame, split the difference between two, or cut the negatives like they are Tetris blocks. I do not slice my UHF negatives in half longitudinally, I keep them as I would with regular 35mm film.

Ideally to achieve perfect frame spacing you mark your film in some way before shooting the first half, this really only works on manually wound cameras. Load the film into the take up reel, place a mark on the film where it enters the cassette, now wind one shot and make another mark. Then shoot the roll. Theoretically when you go to shoot the other half all you have to do is load the film and ensure that a full wind moves the film so the marks are lined up exactly as they were the first time.

Sadly this still doesn’t always work. This is unfortunately unavoidable unless you get lucky but as long as you at least TRY to be close it will likely only be off by single sprocket hole which isn’t a big deal. Automatically wound cameras are just as bad, even if you ensure you’ve placed the film exactly in the same place it is still possible it will be off. Avoid cameras that have frame spacing issues to begin with since the error can stack as you shoot, eventually putting one half of the shots significantly out of alignment with the other.

While it is totally possible to shoot one half of the film in one camera and the other half in another camera, unless you are willing to physically slice your negatives in half (thus making top and bottom frame spacing irrelevant), frame spacing differences between cameras will likely cause significant misalignment. But it is possible and you may be lucky.

There are also optical issues you should be aware of. First of all you should select a lens with minimum vignetting. You don’t want to use a lens with a lot of field curvature either. Remember you are using only the top or bottom half of the lens so any aberrations are exaggerated. Then there’s the issue with perspective. You are likely going to have situations where you want to compose a shot with the horizon somewhere in the photo, but doing so requires tilting the camera up or down which will put your focal plane at an angle while also significantly changing the perspective of the image.

To get around this perspective issue I use a shift lens, specifically the Nikkor 35mm f2.8 PC (perspective correction) lens. This kind of lens lets me move the horizon up or down without having to tilt the camera up or down. I highly recommend this lens for Ultra Half Frame and in general. They can be had for 80-100$ in excellent condition, but don’t pay more because these are very basic lenses that require a lot of skill to correctly use.

Typically I just have the lens shifted almost completely to one side so as to place the horizon in the center of the frame like a normal lens would. You do not NEED a shift lens to shoot UHF! The first roll of UHF was shot using the regular Minolta kit lens and the photos would have been great if they weren’t incorrectly composed. A shift lens simply gives you more choices.

[Final Thoughts]

Hopefully one day myself or someone will be able to manufacture a dedicated Ultra Half Frame camera. Be sure to check out the follow up article to this one that explains the intricate technical details of longitudinally sectioning a frame.

One final thing to note is that the tape (frame block) method has opened up even more unique and interesting formats besides Ultra Half Frame. I’ve been thinking about using different shapes of frame blocks to expose portions of the film in different ways. For example: diagonal half frame, 1/3rd frame, 1/3rd interleaved, quarter frame (H2).

You can even use a 3d printed mask and an inverse of the mask to create extremely complex multi exposure images. All of these unique formats are assuming you can get your frame spacing properly aligned! I will end this article with the photos shot on the 2nd ever roll of Ultra Half Frame. Shot entirely with the PC lens on my Nikon FE with bulk loaded Kodak Vision 3 250D developed in ECN2 (CD3).