The Halina Panorama-F is an affordable model for the 35 mm format. It has a plastic housing and was manufactured in China. Similar cameras are in circulation under various names and brands. With the Halina Panorama, there was a variant without flash.
Haking from Hong Kong could be the producer. However, another company with manufacturing facilities in China could have been responsible for the production, such as New Taiwan Photographic Corp. (Ouyama), which operated a factory in Shenzhen and also produced cameras.
Features of the camera
The features of this 35mm camera are quickly listed, as they are quite limited. It has a fixed focal length, probably 28 mm. Both the aperture and the shutter speed are fixed.
A light meter is missing, as is an autofocus. The focus remains constant between 1 meter and infinity, so a minimum distance of 1 meter from the subject is recommended for sharp shots.
Neither a tripod mount nor a self-timer are available, but there is an attachment for a wrist strap.
A built-in flash is available and can be activated at the touch of a button. It requires two AAA batteries (eBay / Amazon*) for power. These batteries are only required for the flash, all other functions do not need power.
The Panorama F feature
One of the selling points of the camera was its Panorama-F feature, although it cannot really be called a panoramic camera.
Standard 35mm cameras expose 24 mm x 36 mm, whereas the Halina Panorama-F exposes 13 mm x 36 mm. This aspect ratio creates the panoramic effect, especially with appropriate photo printing.
This ratio results from a mask in the camera that covers parts of the image. Theoretically, you could remove this plastic mask to expose 24 mm x 36 mm again. However, the simple viewfinder still shows the panorama format.
This feature is found on many compact models of the time. However, it was often possible to switch between standard and panoramic view.
To create such panoramas, one could alternatively crop the image on the software side.
Films for the Halina Panorama-F
The camera is still functional. 35mm film is used in the Halina Panorama-F. Nowadays, 35mm films are manufactured and can be developed by most photo service providers.
Recommended films for the Halina Panorama-F are Kodak Gold 200* for colour images and Ilford Delta 100* for black and white images. There are of course many other suitable films for this model. Both types of film offer good quality and contain 36 exposures. Additional film options are available from Fujifilm, Adox, Rollei, Foma and Lomography, among others.
