I have no information on this camera at all, other than what I can garner from the camera itself. That will make this a very short post.
I don’t know when it came out, I do know it was manufactured in Hong Kong by the Haking. It does look a lot like the Haking Autoflash 35 which came out in the late 70s. So I am guessing this one came out after that in the early 80s. But I have no proof. I could only find this one post that wasn’t a sales pitch.
It looks like a rangefinder, but it isn’t. It is a simple point and shoot. The front of the camera has a flash override switch, but on my example it didn’t work and the flash fired everytime if it was charged. The battery compartment of this one had leak damage, but I added some metal tape to make a contact and voila, sorted. Though, the damage might be why the override didn’t work. This camera has obviously been through some stuff in its life. I almost threw it out and didn’t even try it, but I felt it deserved a one chance since it did actually charge up in the end. Oh it conveniently takes 2 AA batteries. I put some tippex on the side of the lens ring to remind myself how to change the ASA setting…as I started by trying to change it via the fake dial on the front.
I loaded it with some Analogue Wonderpan and took it to London for a quick and very tiring day trip.
Well, I really like the 38mm focal length. The flash firing each time didn’t seem to affect the results.
Oh and you see the sign saying Broccoli Lane? That is a shop that only sells broccoli inspired art.
And that is it. I quite like this camera, but doubt I will use it again.
Oh, and I noticed the adverts were a little intrusive so I turned many of them off. That will affect my revenue, what little there is, but if it was annoying me then I am sure it was annoying you. I did turn most of them off on desktops. Then I noticed they were still appearing on mobile devices. I hadn’t realised I needed to set the platforms seperately. Anyway, I hope they are less annoying now. Let me know what you think.
An unusual find, that camera. It might be a no-rangefinder knockoff of the Chinon 35EE.
I think you might be right.
It’s identical to the Ansco 1090 AFS, for what that’s worth.
That is good to know, thanks. I looked and it is exactly the same. For the price of these and the similar ones, they are a bargain.
Nice. It seemed like the era from 1975-85 was transitional for point and shoots, where it started with them looking a lot like the compact rangefinders they were starting to replace, then ending with those chonky 80’s plastic wonders. Cameras like this still have the vestigial connections to the old rangefinders, like lens caps and filter mounts.
I had a couple of Konica C35 EFs, which were from the start of the era. I liked the camera, but neither machine had working flashes, which seemed a common problem. And without a flash, the camera was useless in low-light conditions.
Rather like the result, I’m a sucker for the styling of these cameras from late 70s early 80s. Not to mention the ergonomics, before they got so small they’re fiddly or weird like the Ricoh you’ve reviewed
Me too, I just wish the flash didn’t fire every time.
I’ve just picked one of these up locally for less than the cost of a sandwich! I’m abit confused about how to reel in film though, thought I’d check that before putting any in, how does it do it?
It should be automatic. When you get to the end, it will rewind it back for you.
Hmmmm interesting, I’ve tried doing that without a roll in there, and don’t seem to be having any luck with it, then again, it could be BECAUSE I don’t have a roll in there. Guess I’ll bite the bullet and find out!
I can dig mine out when I get home and try with a tester roll, but the very fact it doesn’t have a rewind knob makes me think it will.
OK done, I put in a test film and it did rewind automatically when it got to the end. BUT, I opened the door, just because, and it confused the camera and it refused to rewind at the end the next time. So I would say, as long as you do not interrupt it in any way, it should rewind fine.
Funny, I picked up this same camera from a joblot on Ebay and had the same issue with not knowing anything about it as well as having corroded batteries inside. Used some tape the same as you did but every shutter press would make the camera start popping. The pictures you took look really nice but I think mine will just have to be display…
I am tempted to use it again, I liked the results. I think Halina is considered a cheap brand and so not taken care of quite so well as the more expensive alternatives. But I have like the Halinas I have tried.