Another borrowed camera. But I am so tempted to buy this one from my friend. I mean, look at it…

It was produced around 1964 and has a classic look, plus it was so clean and shiny. The functions were very smooth, and the light meter worked, too. It has an f/2.8 30mm lens with speeds ranging from 1/30th to 1/500th and B. It has a selenium cell with a red and green indicator in the viewfinder. You set the film counter manually, and it counts backwards. It is zone-focused, but there is an extra movement to focus down to 3 feet. It needs slower films as it can be set ASA 10 – 250 via a coin slot on top of the camera. It was a luxury item in its time, Jim Grey says the price today would work out to be $1,300. You can find the manual here.

And, as you can see by the camera photos, it is a half-frame camera. Now, in the past, that would have had me running for the hills, but not now. A few great half-frame cameras have changed my mind. It is a precarious love, though, one bad half-frame could tip my love the wrong way. Would this be the one?

I loaded it with a roll of Fuji 100 and took it to a few places. Here are some of the diptychs from that roll.

I really enjoyed using the Parat; it was simple. You set the distance zone and it press the shutter halfway to check the exposure indicator turns green. The camera will not block a shot if the indicator is showing red. I was blown away by the results of the film and the camera. For a half-frame, the results are so sharp. Here are some of the results in full form.

This is one of the sharpest point-and-shoot half-frame cameras I have tried. I immediately loaded it with a half roll of film that snapped inside another camera. Half-frame cameras are perfect for short rolls of film. This time it was a roll of black and white, so I could develop it at home in caffenol. That usually gives grainier photos for me, so how would it affect this combination?

These were taken on a day trip to Cleethorpes with my father; it was a miserable day weather-wise, but we loved the miniature steam train.

Gosh, for half-frame developed in caffenol, they are not too bad at all. Oh, the dilemma, I really want this camera, but if you see my GPS counter, you can see I made a big purchase recently. Plus, I have a few other half-frame cameras, including the Olympus FT. Well, it is not my camera so I will put it on eBay and try and get a good price for my friend. This camera deserves a good owner…if it can’t be me….maybe I will try it again before it sells. If you get a chance to own one, i would jump at it.

Oh, and rumour has it, there is a half-frame day event in the works by some photographers. I will definitely be taking part in that.

Finally, as I say goodbye to this example, here is another blog raving about this camera.