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.

Kodak Six-20 Popular Brownie

Today I have a Kodak box camera, the Six-20 Popular Brownie.

This model was manufactured between 1935 and 1943, made from a rigid card covered in leatherette.

It has a simple shutter with two settings. The 'I' snapshot setting fires the shutter with a single stroke of the shutter release, either up or down. This was useable outside in good sun. The 'T' time setting allows the shutter to be opened by moving the release in one direction and closed by moving the release to its original position. Putting the camera on a steady support and estimating the necessary exposure time allowed the camera to be used in dull conditions or indoors.

The meniscus lens had a minimum focus of 10 feet but this could be reduced by fitting a No. 3 'Brownie Portrait Attachment, allowing focusing down to 3 feet.

Eight pictures could be taken using 620 film. Kodak 620 Regular or V620 Verichrome was recommended, giving an image of 3¼" x 2¼".

The Remigijus Brownie Collection website has a manual for this camera, about eight lines down.