I have a list, and it’s naughty, not nice. It’s a list that gets me in trouble, and one that often keeps me up at night. Ok, ok, so it’s a wish list, a camera wish list, a living document that ebbs and flows with obsessions of the moment. Last week, however, I crossed something off that list. I couldn’t be happier.

More after the break…

I’ll attempt to censor the technical geekery, as I’m aware of my tendency to wax poetic, but know that I can’t really contain it. That said, the purchase that I so dramatically alluded to is the Pen F, a half-frame camera of extraordinary engineering (and subject of a most kick-ass advertising campaign.) Think of your typical old-school camera, you know that silver Nikon with the big prism on top. Now imagine all that shrunk down to fit in your palm. That’s the Pen. It’s pretty incredible, yet to keep everything that sleek, there had to be some tradeoffs. But it’s the tradeoffs that attracted me to the camera in the first place.

For example, when you peek through the viewfinder, what you see is what you get, except everything’s vertical. Instead of capturing a full frame, the Pen splits everything in two, stretching a roll of 36 exposures to 72. It makes you think in a whole different way, you start looking for patterns and combinations that can jive next to each other on the same strip. It took me a while to rip through 72 frames, and I’m just beginning to explore the true potential, but it’s insanely fun to shoot and a welcome addition to the growing collection.

Half Frame (left) vs. Full Frame (right): See the difference?