Halina AF800

A little more up to date in terms of age, from the early 1980’s I believe.

A very neat 35mm compact camera, the sliding lens cover/on-off switch reveals an autofocus 34mm, f3.5 lens. Under the lens is an ISO switch giving a range from ISO 100 to ISO1000.

Above the lens is the optical viewfinder, autofocus and meter windows. Beside them is the pop-up flash.

Looking at the back, the back release can be seen on the left. The frame counter is actually in the base and cannot be seen unless you turn the camera upside down.

Above the film bay, reading from right to left is the viewfinder, a low-light warning LED, the flash-ready light and the flash button. When this button is pressed the flash pops up and begins to charge.

Overall, a nice, inexpensive little camera for its time.

Werra 3

I am slowly building a collection of old cameras.

A recent addition is the Werra 3. Here it is in its leather case.

It is a 35mm rangefinder camera made by the Carl Zeiss Jena factory in East Germany.

The fully-enclosing lens cap unscrews to reveal the 50mm Tessar 2.8 lens. This lens is interchangeable with a wideangle and a telephoto lens. I have yet to find examples of these alternative lenses to add to my collection.

The end of the lens cap is removable, allowing the cap to be reversed and attached to the lens as a hood.

One feature that I have not seen on other cameras is the mechanism to cock the shutter and advance the film. This is achieved by twisting the covered ring between the body and the lens barrel.

As far as I can tell the camera is in working order and good condition. I am currently running a film through it and will post results in the near future.