Ilford’s New Disposable Camera is the Ilfocolor Rapid Half Frame
Ilford has announced a new half-frame single-use disposable camera, the Ilfocolor Rapid Half Frame.
As reported by Inside Imaging earlier this month and Digital Camera World this week, the new 54-shot disposable camera is available now in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, with availability in Europe and North America expected soon.
Like the existing Ilfocolor Rapid Retro, the Ilfocolor Half Frame comes pre-loaded with ISO 400 color negative film. However, because it is a half-frame camera, what is typically a 27-exposure roll of film now delivers 54 separate shots.
The Ilfocolor Half Frame doubles its sibling’s exposure count by splitting the standard 35mm frame in half vertically, making the Half Frame disposable camera well-suited to portrait photographs. This means that the typical 36x24mm negative is split into a pair of 18x24mm exposures.
Half-frame cameras are less common than standard 35mm full-frame cameras but not wholly unusual. Last year, Kodak released a half-frame point-and-shoot camera, the Kodak Ektar H35. In Johnny Martyr’s review for PetaPixel, he writes, “The Kodak Ektar H35 is easy, out-of-the-box fun.”
Ilford’s new take on the half-frame point-and-shoot camera sports the same fixed focus 31mm f/11 lens as the standard Ilfocolor camera, which promises “in focus” images from a meter to infinity. The camera’s shutter speed is also fixed at 1/125s.
The Ilfocolor Half Frame has a built-in flash that takes about 15 seconds to recycle, and an included, pre-loaded AAA battery powers the camera.
Per B&H’s product listing, the Ilfocolor Half Frame will cost just under $22, although Ilford itself has not officially announced the camera in the United States. As a side note, the standard 27-exposure Ilfocolor Rapid Retro Single-Use Camera is $17.95.
Like so many “retro” products, single-use disposable cameras have been experiencing something of a resurgence in recent years. In PetaPixel’s guide of the “best disposable cameras in 2023,” the Ilfocolor Rapid Retro makes the cut as the best “retro” disposable camera.
Other featured options include the classic Kodak FunSaver, Kodak Tri-X 400 Single Use Flash, Fujifilm QuickSnap Waterproof, Agfa Le Box 400 Flash, and Lomography Lomochrome Purple Simple Use.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect that the Ilford Half Frame camera is made by Ilford, not Ilford Photo, as was originally stated in the article.
Image credits: Ilford
