NOTES FROM THE DARKROOM
Blog
Guides, field notes and workflow for half-frame film photography — shooting it, getting it scanned, and keeping the scans in order.
7 min read
The Best Film Stocks for Half-Frame Cameras
An 18×24mm negative enlarges 1.4× harder and has to survive 72 frames of changing light. The colour, black-and-white and slide stocks that hold up — and the ones to leave on the shelf.
Film StockGear7 min read
How to Organize Film Scans So They Outlive Your Apps
Six rules for a scan library that still opens in twenty years: folders as albums, filenames that sort themselves, metadata beside the photograph, and a delete that isn't one.
WorkflowLibrary6 min read
Half-Frame vs Full-Frame 35mm: The Honest Ledger
Half the negative, twice the pictures, 40% more grain and one extra chore. A side-by-side of cost, resolution, print size and workflow — and a straight answer on which to load.
ComparisonBasics6 min read
The Best Half-Frame Cameras to Shoot in 2026
One new camera with a warranty, one plastic toy that punches above its price, and four sixties classics worth hunting for — with what each is good at, what breaks, and what to check before you buy used.
GearHalf-Frame7 min read
How to Split Half-Frame Scans Into Individual Photos
Your lab returns 36 files holding 72 photographs. Three ways to cut them apart — by hand, by script, and automatically — with the trade-offs of each, and what to ask the lab so the scans are worth splitting.
ScanningWorkflow7 min read
What Is Half-Frame Film Photography? The 72-Shot Format, Explained
A half-frame camera cuts one 35mm frame into two 18×24mm photographs — 72 shots a roll, vertical by default, and lab scans that come back two-to-a-file. Here is everything the format changes.
Half-FrameBasics