In 1966, Canon released the Demi EE17, a 35mm half-frame camera featuring a fast lens and a stout body. The camera features a 30mm f/1.7 lens, a max ISO setting of 400, and shutter speeds ranging from 1/8 to 1/500 of a second. The 117x71x48 mm body weighing 445g makes it pocketable, but only if you have pockets at least as large as 117x71x48 mm.
In 2025, finding a 1.3V mercury battery for the Demi EE17’s CdS light-meter is impossible, because mercury batteries are inedible for toddlers and bad for the environment. Fortunately, I’m saved from having to problem-solve because my copy takes a 625 1.5V battery and meters perfectly with that. It does this for some unknown reason that will bite me in the ass in the future. This is great, because I won’t have to fiddle with the afterthought of an aperture selector, and can simply leave it at ‘AUTO’.
The light-meter is coupled to the manual operations of the camera. The only sane way to use this camera manually is to only very occasionally adjust the aperture, and control exposure with the shutter-speed ring. This is because the aperture selector can only be manipulated via fingering two very slippery metal nipples. It’s extremely uncomfortable (physically and psychologically), so I mainly (exclusively) use the camera in shutter-priority mode.
The focusing ring can be manipulated by way of a focusing lever. The viewfinder is not coupled to the lens or a rangefinder, so you can only zone-focus. Luckily, the focusing ring has distance markings on it, allowing for finer control when zone-focusing. The alternative is focusing via 3 markings in the viewfinder. Weird-shaped head for 1m - 3m, nuclear family for 3m - 10m, and sharp mountains for beyond 10m.
My jeans pocket turned out to be at least as big as 117x71x48 mm, so the camera was pocketable for me. Whipping it out and snapping a photo was pretty convenient. I’d say it's less convenient than using my phone, but more convenient than painting.
The max aperture of f/1.7 was mostly decorative. Functionally, the depth of field got too thin at f/1.7 to reliably focus with anything besides the sharp mountains setting (beyond 10m).
The Demi EE17 is hand-holdable for me down to 1/30s, allowing for smaller apertures to be consistently used even indoors. For future rolls, I will stick to setting focus at 1.5m and beyond, with an aperture of at least f/2.8.
Left: Taken by Demi EE17, Reflx Lab 800T @ 400
Right: Taken by Rolleiflex 2.8C, Kentmere 400+1
With 24x17 mm negatives, half-frame exposures are about 1/7th the size of a 6x6 negative. The resolution cannot compete, even when not constrained by the user stupidly shooting 800T film at ISO400.
First of all, that’s my bad. I should be using photos for this comparison. But god, it’s 72 photos PER camera, it’ll take me months and I don’t have that attention span. In terms of image quality, I will make no comparison right now and update this review in the future.
The Pen EE is very similar to the Demi EE17 in terms of its three sizes, at 105x65x45 mm. However, the Pen EE’s shape lends itself much better to being pocketed. The lens protrudes much less, and it also looks like a piece of shit, so it’s easy to not worry about it when I put it in a random pocket. At 350g, it’s also lighter and therefore easier to not think about. This only improves with newer iterations of the Pen EE.
Notably, the Pen EE is far more limited than the EE17 in terms of manual controls, and even the auto-exposure function is far less granular. The Pen EE auto-exposure. It can only alternate between 1/200s in bright light, or 1/40s in low light, with aperture adjusting automatically as needed.
The Canon Demi EE17 is in a weird place. More manual controls, but not as pocketable as a Pen EE. Slightly smaller than, but not as versatile as, a Pen FT. It’s probably most comparable to the recent Pentax 17, though the Pentax 17 offers a built-in flash alongside a slightly slower lens. But do you really need an f/1.7 lens in a zone-focus camera?
Half-frames in general also have a strange place in film photography. It makes me more willing to pay for nice film because I get more exposures out of it. But why pay for nice film if I’m going to just get smaller negatives and not get as much out of it as if I’d used a regular full-frame?
The Canon Demi EE17 is for someone who already has a main camera. They want something to slip into a camera bag or large pocket as an afterthought, something to take photos with, and not stress too much about the cost of film. Something they can mindlessly take snapshots with, but also take full control over if need be.
It’s a camera that doesn’t really know what it wants to do, perfect for someone who doesn’t really know what photos they plan to take. The Canon Demi EE17 doesn’t fill a niche, but it’ll always have a spot in my (jean) pocket.
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