Halina MW 35E

Halina MW35E

The Halina MW 35E was a motorised compact 35mm film camera made in Hong Kong by Haking. Its design seems to owe a debt to the Olympus Trip 35 and Konica C35 EF  but it has a few tricks up its sleeve, albeit with a slower lens.

It has several features in common with the earlier flashless and manual wind  Halina 35-600 and even earlier Halina 500. Would appear to also be sold under Edixa MW35E and Argus C4M Electro branding in the view of Sylvain Halgand.

There was also a Halina MW 35G which had fixed focus

Specifications

• Lens : Halinar 38mm, maximum aperture f/4.
• Automatic exposure using a CdS cell above the lens. Shutter speed according to manual is fixed at 1/125s, and aperture ranges from f/4 to f/16  Exposure lock (for close-up spot metering, for example) is possible by half-pressing the shutter release button before re-framing.
• Focussing: Zone focus with four zones marked with symbols and distances: 1m, 1.5m, 3m, infinity.
• Filter thread: 46mm. Due to CdS cell positioning the CdS system will adapt to filter.
• Viewfinder: Framelines, parallax correction marks, so-called "Judas window" for seeing zone symbols on lens barrel, low-light warning LED (to remind user to remove lens cap and/or use flash).
• Integrated pop-up flash activated by switch on front. Will only fire when manually switched on. Ready-light next to viewfinder. The manual lists the guide number (GN) as 35 at ASA 100.
  • Recommened distance settings for flash photography from the manual
    • ASA 64 (DIN 19) distance to be 1-2.2m (3-7ft)
    • ASA 100 (DIN 21) distance to be 1-3m (3-10ft)
    • ASA 400 (DIN 27) distance to be 1-5m (3-17ft)
• Film speeds: ASA or DIN set manually by turning a toothed dial around the front element.Only ASA 64, 100 or 400 and DIN equivalent settings available
• Film advance: Motorwind and automatic rewind. A kind of "stealth mode" is possible. The motor only engages when the shutter button is fully released. This allows the candid photographer to take a virtually silent photo, then walk to a safe distance before allowing the motorwind to occur. The front aperture blades also remain open until the motor winds, allowing the user to note the size of aperture chosen by the auto-exposure system.
• Shutter release button threaded for cable, has a lock to prevent accidental firing.
• Tripod socket.
• Power: 2 AA alkaline batteries required.

Links

• Halina MW 35E review and Sample images on Mark's 35 Mil Plus.
• Edixa MW35E Listing at Collection Appareils by Sylvain Halgand (in French)