Hanimex 35 Reflex Flash

The Second to First

A compact early 80s camera has a certain futuristic but modern feel to it. With squared corners and a boxy look, the Hanimex 35 Reflex Flash looks and acts the part. Along with a compact and all black design, this makes the Hanimex have little to catch the eye, perfect for stealth shooting of subjects on the street. The Hanimex 35 is an aperture priority SLR, known to the world as the first SLR with a built in flash, but that is only half correct. Hanimex was the first to incorporate a built in flash to an SLR, but the true first camera was from a year or so prior. Dates and details are hard to come by, but what is considered to be the real first was the Hanimex RF35d. A somewhat different design internal and out, it appears to be a rough draft of sorts before the sleeker design of the 35 Reflex Flash.

Looking through the viewfinder you have split image focusing with a microprism ring around it. To the far left of the focusing patch, you have a scale with over, under, and correct exposure markers. This camera, unlike others of the era, only takes one set of batteries. On the bottom of the camera, to the far right side, there is a cover you can slide to reveal a battery compartment for two AA batteries.

To activate the meter in the viewfinder, you need to press a small green button on the top cover of the camera. Once this is pressed, the meter will light up and you can adjust the exposure with the aperture ring. To the right of that green button is the frame counter and above is the threaded shutter release. The only other thing on the top of the camera is the rewind crank that also serves as the film door switch; releasing as you lift it up.

On the backside of the camera, to the left of the viewfinder window, is a flash ready light and on the right is the winding advance knob. Moving to the bottom of the camera, on the left hand side of the battery compartment, you have a standard tripod socket. Farther left you have a rewind release button as well. Lastly, moving to the front of the camera, we have the bulk of the controls. Looking at the lens, the Hanimex 35 is equipped with a 41mm f/2.8 lens. A bit wider than the usual 55-45mm lenses of these types of cameras. The lens has two windows on either side of it. Far left being the meter window and right the ASA selector. These are recessed inside the filter ring, to aid with metering through a filter. The ASA range is a bit odd too, only having 64, 100, and 400.

On the lens barrel, you will find a short throw focusing ring going from infinity and 15 feet to 3.5 feet. Behind that is a ring for the aperture. This ring has no indentations or stops, so you are able to select any aperture between f/2.8 to f/16. There is also a flash selection on the aperture ring. To activate the flash all you need to do is pull up on it and it will start charging. That is all for the controls of the Hanimex 35 Reflex Flash, but I seemed to have missed one thing… what are the shutter speeds? This camera uses a shutter similar to the ones you would find on an Exa or most leaf shutter SLR cameras. However, this camera seems to have only one speed. Scouring the internet and looking through manuals and other people’s experiences, I found one other person to write about this camera in detail. Mike Eckman wrote about the Continental TXL, a camera that was cut of the same cloth from the Hanimex/Fuji version. It has a bit of a different look on the outside, and some additional features, but I’m sure they are the same camera internally. The general consensus for the Continental is 1/60th of a second, but I feel my version may be faster like 1/125th or 1/200th of a second. It is very interesting this camera was sold by so many different companies, each seeming to change parts and provide upgrades here and there, branding them as their own.

THE SPECS AND FEATURES

Shutter Speeds - undocumented, somewhere between 1/60th and 1/200th

Aperture - f/2.8 to f/16, flash setting

Meter Type - CDS meter

Shutter - light trap shutter

ASA - 64, 100, and 400

Lens - 41mm Hanimar lens

Flash Option - dedicated built-in flash

Batteries - 2 AA batteries, runs flash and meter

Film Type - 35mm

Other Features - known to be the worlds first SLR with a built in flash

The Experience

I remember seeing a picture of this camera while looking at some other Hanimex rangefinders. It looked like a super unique SLR and wanted to give one of the variations a try. I looked around for a couple of weeks before finding an untested example. It arrived not too long after and I found myself wanting to take it out right away. But before I could go out for some test shots, the Hanimex 35 had a host of problems to work on. The camera wound continuously, the shutter was locked, the meter was unresponsive, and the rewind crank was missing. Not in the best of shape mechanically, but cosmetically it was not too rough.

I found myself tackling the winding issue first. In the design of most cameras, a lot of the inner workings for how winding is done can be found under the bottom cover. This camera was no different. I found that a plastic gear in charge of winding the shutter was loose and not in sync. It was press fit onto a metal spindle, so I put a small bit of glue on the gear and held it into place. After a bit of time, the gear was secure and the camera was winding and tripping the shutter correctly. There was a bit more trial and error before I was able to tell what the meter issue was. I opened up the lens area and tried a quick bit of contact cleaner. Not much of a result, but the meter moved a fraction. I figured it was likely a bigger problem than dirty contacts, being the meter reading was not consistent.

Another disassembly of the lens showed that the contact cleaner dissolved the glue holding down some of the electrical contacts. There was a slight outline to where they initially were, and I was able to glue them back in place. Hanimex does not have the greatest reputation for quality, and true to form this camera was built very cheaply. After a bit more disassembly of the lens, I found the meter cell and a loose plastic piece with an exposure gradient. I would say the hardest part was discerning what was suppose to be moving, how it was attached, and generally figuring out how the metering system even worked.

It turns out that the meter is consistently taking a reading, no direct change in voltage is ever applied to the meter. Other variables are introduced via the aperture and ASA. With some difficulty I found that the exposure gradient plastic piece was glued to one of the moving parts, represented by a brass post, that was originally meant for a screw. This must have been repurposed from something else, considering it had threads and all. I could just barely tell it was originally glued there, showing some leftover residue. A very odd design choice. The ASA was controlled by a window opening as well, similarly on other point and shoot like cameras.

Something was bothering me though. What was the metal plate and contacts that unglued themselves used for inside? Strangely enough, this over complicated system of multiple plates and metal arms was only in place to tell the camera when it was in the flash setting. The contacts would run off the copper plate and cut off that circuit. I imagine it was intended as some type of placeholder until a more advanced model was made. I also noticed that nothing really changed when the camera was in this flash mode. Possibly there was something faulty with my camera, but when the flash was charged it would fire on any aperture. The aperture did not change in the flash mode either.

After reassembly, a bit more cleaning, and a replacement rewind crank, the Hanimex was good as new. I found myself carrying this on walks in the nearby park after work. Any time I found myself in a shady spot, the camera’s one shutter speed was a bit too fast for 100 speed film. I generally like to shoot 200 speed color film, but the settings went from 100 to 400 with no space in between. Color negative film has great latitude and seemed to work fine with exposures shot at 100. Black and white faired a bit differently. My first roll of Kentmere 100 was grossly underexposed. I’m not sure what happened there, but I may have set the camera to an ASA of 400. I tried again making sure all settings were correct and found the exposure was handled correctly.

The results of this camera were striking to me. Sharp centers, but very burred and distorted looking corners. Lots of flaring with the lens when you were taking pictures wide open, tending to be stronger in corners. Definitely a lo-fi look, and reminiscent of the Halina Paulette EE II that I shot not too long ago. I like the look, but there is a time and a place for using this camera. Not too serious of equipment, but a very unique looking image ensues. It may be interesting to try some depth of field experiments in the future.

I really liked how compact this SLR was. However, I did not use the built in flash too much. I’m sure that if I used flash more often, it would really come in handy being attached to the camera. All in all, I am very happy to have run across this unique SLR and will be giving a few of the better looking rangefinder and auto focus Hanimex cameras a thorough look. The Hanimex 35 Reflex Flash may not produce the best image quality, but it has a lo-fi look that some people adore. Stopped down, it can definitely be capable in the right conditions. I would say if you are able to find one give it a try. It’s quirky, unique, and a fun SLR to shoot around with.