The Halina 35-600 is one of Haking’s most stylish compact camera from the 70’s. But is this zone focus, auto-exposure Olympus Trip 35 clone any good ?
You can also find it rebadged as the Prinz Saturn 35 Auto, Hanimex Compact A and Hitawa.
Halina 35-600 Specs
- Lens: 40mm 1:2.8
- Focus: Zone (4)
- Metering: Automatic, CdS
- Aperture: f/2.8 – f/22
- Shutter: 1/40 or 1/200
- EV (100asa) : 8-17
- ASA: 25-400ASA
- Filter-Thread: 46mm
Mechanically this camera is a revised version of the Halina 500. Both are 4 zone focus compacts and have very similar features to the Olympus Trip 35 -the focusing zone (0.8, 1.5, 3m and infinity), auto exposure with 2 shutter speeds. Like the Trip you set the focus by turning a ring on the lens with a series of pictograms (however unlike the trip this can’t be seen from the viewfinder. Also like the trip a second ring allows you to which from auto exposure (A) to flash settings.
Like the Trip, if light is too low on the metering a red flag appears in the viewfinder and the shutter is locked and you can half depress the shutter to lock exposure.
If light is low you can try and sneak off a shot by turning the aperture setting to f/2.8. This flash mode will lock the shutter at the lower speed and the aperture will open up to set the set value if the light levels allow (the metering still kicks in so if you try this in bright light even if set at f/2.8 the aperture will remain small.
This system works well and generally gets it right although the Trip is better at it. Worth noting however the metering is a bttery driven CdS system.
The metering system used a now defunct 1.35v px625 mercury cell (aka MR9) but there are loads of solutions to this. The cheapest is a alkaline V625U cell but this is best avoided as voltage declines from 1.5v . You can use a cheap hearing zinc air 1.4v 675 cell with some padding which closely matches the voltage although only lasts a few month. The specialist zinc air Wein 625 cells are a match in size and last a bit longer but often cost as much as the camera. I’ve used oth the zinc air options but also use a MR-9 adaptor that takes a smaller 1.5v 386 silver oxide cell and adjust the output to 1.35v
Stylistically the Halina 35-600 improves on it’s predecessor the 500. It looks much more stylish in its noir clothes like a classic Japanese compact of the 70’s, although the crown is a bit cheezy. The rebdages fair better without.
The shutter button is moved to top but still has cable release. The Filter thread is the more common 46mm.
So how does it shoot?
Exposure wise pretty good, this is a proper EV17 shooter. Focus and the lens is not bad. Okay it’s not as sharp in low light and more prone to flare than a Trip but it’s not too bad. Unlike the trip you can’t see the focus settings from the viewfinder
Okay so so far you’re thinking it’s basically a trip clone but it needs batteries and the optics aren’t just as sharp. But it does have one surprise. Remove the battery and you get a fully manual shooter (abet with a single shutter speed of 1/40)
I like the camera a lot and it generally delivers. It’s manual mode is another handy quirk. The main issue is the battery but this isn’t a major one. They pop up on ebay for under a tenner pretty often. Make sure corrosion isn’t an issue in the battery compartment. The hard case is nice but not essential.
Alternatives
- Olympus Trip 35 – The archetypal Classic P&S camera
- Halina Autoflash 35 – With added flash
- Chinon 35 – rare scale focus compact
- Halina 6-4 – Halina zone focus 120 film shooter
Helpful links
- Halina 35-600 at Camera-wiki
- Manual in English and in French at Sylvain Hagland’s site (French)
- Halina Film Camera Club at Flickr
- px625 replacement discussion at small battery Company’s site
Hi do you still have this camera? I opened my hanimax compact A up to glue the film count dial back on and there was a dislodged metal part just drifting around in the top. It seems to work without t but I was wondering if you could assist me by opening up your top cover and sending me a photo. Thank you
Hi yes I do but I almost destroyed my Halina 500 by doing the same repair as you as I snagged a wire and broke it. I’m reluctant to open up the 35-600 unless I really have to sorry.
I just bought one of these on Ebay. It has an alkaline 1.5v battery fitted and seems to be working. How do I know when the battery has expired/run out, if the camera will still function without one? Does the shutter fail to respond (on A) in the event of no power?
Hello,
with regards to the shutter speeds do the f/stops all apply the same with a working battery? E.G the photos will not be overexposed using f/16 in daylight.
Thanks
Like the Olympus Trip in Flash mode the shutter is fixed at 1/40.
In terms of the aperture my understanding is the sensor still reacts to light with the battery in just like the Olympus Trip 35 does. So if you set the flash aperture setting to f/2.8 (i.e aperture wide open) and try shooting into the sun the aperture wont open as wide as f/2.8 (this makes these cameras pretty good for fill in flash with a bright backdrop like a sunset). This however allows you to exploit the flash settings to shoot in a quasi-manual mode with the shutter fixed at 1/40. You can determine the maximal aperture width the camera can open to although the auto exposure will compensate for light. So for example say you’re shooting with 100 ISO film in bright set the aperture to f/8. In bright daylight (EV14-15) the metering will kick in and only allow the aperture to open to around f/16 to f/22 but move indoors to lower light and you metering might want to open up to f/4 but it can’t open beyond the set f/8.
With the battery out the camera functions as fully manual at 1/40