Olympus Pen D

This gem from Olympus comes from an almost forgotten era of 35mm film cameras; The compact and charming 35mm Half-Frame camera. Half-frames are really neat. They are all about simplicity and elegance. Buttons and functions are stripped down to the bare minimum and very little is given to these cameras that don't serve their style or ease. These cameras were meant to be pocketable, fashionable and easy to use. Using a wider angle lens paired with a zone focusing system, these cameras are still a perfect companion for street and fashion photographers. As the name implies, half-frames only expose half the normal sized 35mm film negative, essentially allowing you to take twice the shots on a roll of film, There's a sacrifice to image quality since it's a smaller image size and you can't look through the lens, instead, it's a small hole you look through but all is fair in the compromises we make for convenience and fashion.

I've never done anything like this before. I've always shied away from making custom adjustments to things because I'm a bit impatient and hamfisted. lol

Regardless, I always wanted to give it a try. So, I found a great site where you can specify your camera model and it will show you all the available pre-cuts you can get. Now, I say pre-cut but I am assuming these leathers are laser-cut to order since there isn't any mention of quantities online. I ordered two pieces of leather from HugoStudio. One was a very handsome two-toned alligator leather and the second was the one we are looking at today. A beautiful and soft lizard skin.

I was a tad nervous to begin ripping and tearing the skin off my little camera but once I got started, It was actually pretty easy and fun!