Tag Archives: Fixed-Focus

Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (3) Dan brings it home and some conclusions

The premise was simple – offload erm.. generously give away 3 identical cameras I’d manage to get from some joblots. That camera was the  dust gathering charity shop plastic everything regular the Halina Panorama. We’ve already heard how Hamish of 35mmc fame and  Lucy Wainwright whom is much more at home with the plastic fantastic got on. But our third camera went to Dan James from 35HunterContinue reading Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (3) Dan brings it home and some conclusions

Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (2) Lucy’s Trip

The premise was simple – send the same camera to 3 different shooters. Not being quite able to afford 3 Leica III, 3 bargain bucket cameras headed off. My Halina Panorama challenge got off to an interesting start for our first of 3 shooters Hamish Gill, a mix of the good but mainly the bad. I wasn’t too surprised he didn’t end up being a fan. But how would the Pano fare in the hands of someone more use to the light plastastic? Continue reading Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (2) Lucy’s Trip

Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (1) Hamish’s Tale

The Halina Panorama (aka Ansco Pix Panorama) has a bit of weird cult status for such a plastic simple plastic camera and is something you can pick up for a fraction of the cost of some classic plastics like the VUWS. When a few turned in a job lot I decided to have a bit of fun and send them out to some willing victims for their views. First up we have Hamish Gill of 35mmc fame, an unashamed lover of compact cameras but is usually more at home discussing the merits of the likes Yashica and Contax T series.
How would he cope going Lo-fi ? Continue reading Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (1) Hamish’s Tale

Behind the Mask – Reader’s Digest PN919/Vivitar PN2011 Review

Although Vivitar in terms of plastic cameras are best known for the legendary VUWS, they produced several at the turn of the century, some of which have also got a cult following like the PN2011 (commonly seen in Reader’s Digest PN919 guise). But does this live up to its more famous sibling ?
Continue reading Behind the Mask – Reader’s Digest PN919/Vivitar PN2011 Review

Konica Pop Review – Guest Review by Al Mullen

The Konica Pop was a 35mm camera made from 1982 to 1984 in this form, with changes coming in 1985 and 1988 to optics and flash. It was well selling, it’s compactness and color variations helped it stand out in that era when most manufacturers had smaller automatic 35mm’s in their lineup. Continue reading Konica Pop Review – Guest Review by Al Mullen

Rehash Trash or Class ? – Hanimex 35SE Review

This simple fixed focus flash number was actually made by Haking and is based on the Halina Flash 350. But is this rebrand a contender in the toy cam class or just reheated left overs ? I took one for  a stroll at dawn one morning to find out. Continue reading Rehash Trash or Class ? – Hanimex 35SE Review

Yuletide trashcam shoot-off – Fuji FZ-5 v Halina 160

‘Twas Christmas Eve in Canny Cameraville and a small package arrived with a Fuji FZ-5 and a few days later a Halina 160 turned up. But how do these 2 basic 1980’s  plastic-tastic cameras fare ? Continue reading Yuletide trashcam shoot-off – Fuji FZ-5 v Halina 160

Superheadz White Slim Angel vs Lomography La Sardinia – Guest Review by Al Mullen

I thought that I would compare these two cameras since they are both newer and have the same wide focal length of 22mm. There are other differences between the two, but you might not want or need to have both. They both have many variations and names for the same camera – for my sake I will refer to them as the ones listed. The White Slim Angel is a copy of the popular Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Continue reading Superheadz White Slim Angel vs Lomography La Sardinia – Guest Review by Al Mullen

Ansco 35 Review – Guest Review by Al Mullen

Ansco 35
Ansco 35

The Ansco 35 is a plastic camera made by Haking of Hong Kong, and is also branded as the Halina 35. It was manufactured around 1980 and mine says made in Macau on it. It is obviously a toy camera in that it has designs that are just for show and is all plastic. Continue reading Ansco 35 Review – Guest Review by Al Mullen