Haking’s Halina Super X35

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Anyway, back to the camera at hand:

Going from one well-known camera brand to a sort of known brand. This post will be looking at the pretty famous Halina Super X35.

I already went over Haking’s Products company in my Halina Roy post. So, we will jump straight into the camera at hand.

The Super in the name implies that it is based off of an earlier design, namely the Halina X35, but the only thing that the Super X35 and the X35 have in common is the mechanics and the name, for the main differences are: “…stylistically and the fact it (the Super X35) has a winder arm and self-cocking. The original 35X looked suspiciously like Leica rangefinders a fact I am sure that Haking were keen to exploit and I am sure some folk in the day were dishonestly sold a 35X thinking they had got a Leica…” (Alan 2015).

Halina X35. Image Source:
https://oldcamera.blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/halinex35x.jpg

One of the main differences is the top plate, which has “…a larger viewfinder and lever wind…” (Camera-wiki). Although, we can trace the X35’s design to the Nihon Seiki’s Nescon 35, “…which itself was sold under a variety of names including Micronta 35, Ranger 35, and Soligor 45…” (Eckman 2023).

Nescon 35. Image Source:
https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/images/Nihon-Seiki-Nescon-35.jpg

But unlike the Nescon 35, the X35 where cheaper and made with stamped metal bodies and cast bodies, which were considered poor building strategies compared to other camera companies that were much more focused on “…more precise tolerances…” (Eckman 2023).

Then came the Super X35, which seemed to not be as big of a hit because the original X35 was more favoured, and due to this there were only a small number of Super X35’s made and sold only for a short amount of time. And just like the X35, the Super was also made with low quality materials (Eckman 2023). Living Image Vintage Camera Museum (2026) even points out that under the top housing one can see that “…Haking's corner cutting (and gear cutting) becomes all too apparent.”

But according to Alan (2015), this camera was more advance than the X35, for the Super refined the company’s camera mechanics and brought in a new unique style and look.

Anyway… let us have a closer look at the Halina Super X35. Released in 1964 and made from all metal, the camera has a very striking shiny design. Chromed out to the max, which was “…applied liberally to the top housing and lens barrel, although the pre-polish was cursory and the marks are still plainly evident, they never quite got the hang of matte chrome finishes…” (Living Image Vintage Camera Museum 2026). It has a weight of 612g (Eckman 2023) and comes in a size of 4.5 x 3.1 x 3 inches; it is a pretty small camera. 

Now for a closer examination, starting with the front.

Starting with the lens-

It is an Anastigmat f.c. (film coated) with 3 elements in two groups. It has a focal length of 45mm and a wide f/stop opening of 3.5.

Now what does this mean? Well to learn about the Anastigmat lens please see my Billy Record and Argus C2 posts and to learn what element coated means, please see my SX-70 post. But I will expand on what it means when it is coated in two groups. The group refers to the number of glasses used in the lens, now these can be two pieces of glass in the lens behind each other or they could be two pieces cemented together (Improve Photography 2016).

And if we look at Ilott Vintage’s (2017) example: “…a lens that has 5 elements in 4 groups has 5 pieces of glass with 2 joined together…” we can say that the Super X35 has 3 pieces of glass, with two of them cemented together.

The lens also has a 40.5mm thread for filters (Alan 2015).

Now for the outer rings on the lens-

There are three, the first one, closes to the body, is the shutter speed setting, which has the settings: B (Bulb) to keep the shutter open for as long as the user presses down on the shutter release. Then there are speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 second.

Then there is the focus ring, the has a focal range of 3-20 feet and infinity.

Lastly is the f/stop ring, which has the f/stop settings of 3.5, 4, 5.6, 8, 11 and 16.

But here is one of the more irritating parts of the Super X35, because the focus ring and the f/stop ring are connected.

What I mean by this is as Alan (2015) puts it:

 “…aperture ring is outmost and tends to knock off focus when you turn...” and that this “…was as much to do with the lens design as the intent for you to set the exposure up for a scene then focus.” For you see to set the f/stop, one must hold the focus ring still, otherwise you change the focus settings along with the f/stop. But when the focus is changed the f/stop does not change.

Page 4 from the manual.

Then on the side of the lens is the PC flash connector (see my Pucky I post) or as the manual puts it the “Flash Synchronization Nipple”. 

Next to the connector is the letter M, which could be an indication that this camera has an M-sync flash connector (see my Fuji 35-ML post).

Then above the lens is the scale focus viewfinder with Silver Painted Frame Lines (Eckman 2023) or Bright-line Frame-Finder, which means that there is just a rectangle inside the viewfinder that illuminates when it catches the light. And this helps the user with composition and framing of the subject. But these Bright-line Frame-Finder lines are a bit redundant, because as Eckman (2023) points out: “…they are near the extreme edge of the visible viewfinder, so they really wouldn’t be needed to frame your image anyway.”

And honestly, I really like this viewfinder, it certainly beats the viewfinders of the frustratingly tiny ones of the Kodak 35RF, Argus C2, Holiday Flash, Instamatic 104 and 50.

On top-

Here is what really separates the Super X35 from the original X35.

Here is the film advance lever, which advances the film to the next frame and cocks the camera. My guess is that the X35 had a little lever on the inside that caught on the film sprockets to help cock the camera, similar to the , Instamatic 104, 50 and the Halina X101.

On top of the lever is the film exposure counter, which rotates when the lever is pushed.

 And to reset the counter ring, I will refer you to this screenshot from the manual:

Page 4 from the Manual.

Then next to that is the shutter release button, which is cable threaded (Alan 2015), meaning that it can use remote shutter cables.

The shutter is a leaf shutter with three blades (Eckman 2023).

Then there is the cold shoe mount.

And lastly the film rewind knob.

Underneath-

Is the off-centre tripod socket.

Next to that is the rewind button, which must be pressed in before rewinding the film. This button loosens the film frame sprocket.

Then there is the body catch, or film compartment lock.

This holds the cover in place and is released by turning the lever towards the O and then locks by moving it to the L.

Now for the back of the camera-

Here is the film compartment cover.

And above that the rounded viewfinder eyepiece.

The cover is similar to the Rondo Colormatic, the Agfa Clack, the Kodak 35 RF and the Halina Roy. It completely comes off and is separate from the main body.

 

The film compartment is a standard 35mm and takes negatives or picture format of 24 x 36mm (Filmphotography.eu 2026). To learn how film works please see my 200 Color Plus post.

And that is that. Despite the poor quality build of the camera, it is still particularly good. With one review stating that this camera is a good starting point and that it should “…have whetted enough appetites to move them on to greater things…” (Living Image Vintage Camera Museum 2026).

And what sets this camera apart is that, unlike the last two Halinas, this camera feels more professional. The other two were plastic, light and easy to use, whereas the Super X35 is heavier (a bit unnecessary if you ask me) and gives the user more control. It is still easy to use, but it adds a learning curve to help prepare the user for more professional film cameras, such as the Olympus OM30.

That being said, I would recommend this camera as a starting point for anyone keen on getting into the film photography world. For one it is much easier to use and learn from then the Argus A or A2B, the Kodak 35RF, in terms of how to adjust the lens and how to set the shutter speed and f/stop depending on the lighting situation.

I would also recommend it over the point and shoot cameras, the Praktica Sport and the Sinpo PQ-3  just because it give more control over the settings and it teaches the user how to carefully rewind film manually instead of letting the camera do it automatically.

It is a pretty cool camera, but what do you think? Would you use one? Do you think that someone should start with the point and shoot, then the Super X35? Or do you think that film is outdated and we should just embrace the digital revolution?

Let me know in the comments.

And as always, thank you for making it to the end and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did researching it.

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List of sources:

Alan, D. 2015. Halina Super 35X Review: Superstar or Hasbeen? https://austerityphoto.co.uk/halina-super-35x-review-superstar-or-hasbeen/#:~:text=The%20Super%20mechanically%20shares%20much%20of%20the,camera%20with%20a%2043mm%201:3.5%20anastigmatic%20lens.

Eckman, M. 2023. Haking Halina 35X Super (1963). https://mikeeckman.com/2023/04/haking-halina-35x-super-1963/

Filmphotography.eu. 2026. Halina Super 35X. https://filmphotography.eu/en/halina-super-35x/#:~:text=Films%20for%20the%20Halina%20Super,winded%20manually%20in%20the%20camera.

Ilott Vintage. 2017. Elements & Groups: Reducing aberrations to make the sharpest image possible. https://ilottvintage.com/glossary/elements-groups

Improve Photography. 2016. Lens Elements and Groups: Is More Better? https://improvephotography.com/29609/lens-elements-groups-better/

Living Image Vintage Camera Museum. 2026. Halina (Haking) 35X Super. 35mm camera, c1964. http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/Halina_35X-Super.html#:~:text=The%20Halina%2035X%20Super%20is,at%20that%20sort%20of%20pretentiousness.&text=View%20other%20viewfinder%20cameras%20in%20this%20collection.

Mike. Super Halina 35X manual. https://www.cameramanuals.org/pdf_files/halina_super_35x.pdf