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→
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→
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→
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→
This ultra compact plastic camera has grabbed by attention for a while. It is for a toy camera a wonderful piece of design and possibly the smallest mass produced camera for a common film format. Haking have made some corking fixed focus numbers IMHO and some howlers but where does this sit and is it the 110 world’s VUWS ? (NOTE now updated here)Continue reading Halina Micro 110 Review – Is it the 110 VUWS ?→
I’d recently mused about the alternatives to a Holga 135 series camera given the high cost. Just after that a newer color optical lens camera arrived and I managed to get a working 135BC.
Roniflex X3000 camera a Fixed focus plastic lensed 35mm camera
I was quite entranced by the Holga 120N and with prices rising I thought I’d try this little plastic Half frame 35mm camera that also offers 3D stereo shooting
Holga 135 TIM. Half frame 35mm film camera. Cute or Creepy ? You decide
If you like lo-fi photography or want to give it a go at some point you’ll end up with the desire for a plastic lensed beauty. Here’s a list of ten of the best both available new or widely available second hand.
Glasgow Botanics, 2015. Superheadz Wide and Slim (aka VUWS) with Agfaphoto Vista Plus 400
