Haking’s Products Halina Regent 126 camera

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Anyway, back to the camera at hand:

Moving away from big named brands, this post will be looking at another one of Haking’s products, the Halina Regent 126 camera.

I already went through Haking’s Products company history in my Halina Roy post. So with that let’s get into the camera at hand.

The Halina Regent is a 126 film cartridge camera, like the Halina X101, which is a camera type invented by Kodak (see my Instamatic 104 and 50 & X-15F posts).

Since information on the company is so scarce and that Halina has made many 126 film cameras as a cheaper alternative to Kodak, this camera, like the Halina X101, has virtually no history!

And also similar to Kodak’s Instamatic 33 and 155X, the Halina Regent camera faded into the background and became part of a forgotten series, and was also outshined by better more advanced versions of Halina’s 126 camera range, such as the Simplette Electric (Camera-wiki 2025).

Halina Simplette Electric. Image Source:
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2390428783_4fed44cfa7.jpg

But from what I can find or see is that the Regent might have been part of a series of Halina 126 film cameras that have a unique look that separates it from previous cameras, similar to Kodak’s Instamatic 155X. Meaning that Halina was just trying to copy Kodak’s next move in trying to either copy or trick people into thinking they were buying a Kodak.

The reason for why I think this is the case, is because the Regent is completely different from other 126 cameras (just like how the Instamatic  33 and 155X are different from the others). And there are other 126 Halina cameras that look similar to the Regent and even some that share the Regent’s distinct looks, such as the face plate, the name of the camera being black and silver and having “126 Cartridge Loading” printed on them.

Examples include the already mentioned Simplette Electric, and then there are the Easy-Matic, the Simplette FC and the Halina 126.

Halina Easy-Matic. Image Source:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qh8AAeSwJvtnsfPn/s-l1200.jpg

Simplette FC. Image Source:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/pbYAAeSw5Jpp103L/s-l400.jpg

Halina 126. Image Source:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zDwAAeSwQMdp1kWr/s-l1200.jpg

And to further support my idea that Halina was copying Kodak, is that these cameras came out in the 1970s (Camera-wiki 2025), which is around the same time Kodak released the new look that the Instamatic 155X has.

But this camera could have also come out in the late 1960s, as the shutter release button is similar to the Speedo-Flash, released in 1966 (Camera-wiki 2025), which looks similar to the Instamatic 104 and 50! And when Kodak moved away from that look, so did Halina.

Halina Speedo-Flash. Image Source:
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/2571772357_a11cc75445.jpg

And because Halina was following their competitor’s trends, which stopped them from putting any real thought into designing this camera (unlike the Super X35) and the fact that the Regent is as bare bones as they come without any extra or special features to set it apart and stand out (like the Halina Simplette EE Automatic), makes me think that this is why the camera fell out of the collective consciousness, as I can’t find a trace of this camera anywhere on the internet.

Halina Simplette EE Automatic. Image Source:
https://live.staticflickr.com/5611/15607460825_bdfbafeec7.jpg

The only other piece of information that I can find is from Halgand (2026), which hints that there was a Regent II made, but when I click the link it takes me nowhere.

Now there are two possible reasons for why this camera is so rare and can’t be found, either there weren’t many made or it didn’t sell well, so it was just thrown away. Both of these reason could be a result of the fact that this camera uses Flashcubes instead of Magicubes.

As we know from the Instamatic posts, Flashcubes became outdated with the arrival of Magicubes and if this camera was released in the 1970s, most if not all cameras used Magicubes, as they were easier and much more convenient to use.

But if it came out in the late 1960s then it was nearing the end of the Flashcubes, meaning that the Halina Regent was an out of date camera that used a flash system that no one wanted.

This could be that Haking’s Products either jumped on the trend a bit late (if from the 1960s), and didn’t sell and was just thrown into a landfill or (if released in the 1970s) they were trying to sell cameras to people who still had a bunch of Flashcubes left over and thus meaning they didn’t make many Regent cameras. Either way the Regent didn’t make an impact on the market or the history books.

Either way this camera is unknown and seems to have gotten lost in the race to become the second best next to Kodak.

Anyway… Let’s take a look at the camera itself.

The Halina Regent seems to have been released in the late 1960s-1970s. Its style is most likely inspired by Halina’s more successful cameras, like the Paulette II and other 35mm cameras. 

Halina Paulette II. Image Source:
https://collection-appareils.fr/haking/images/Halina_Paulette_II.jpg

.Its weight is similar to the Instamatic 104 and 50, and its size is 4.5 x 2.7 x 2.5 inches.

Now for a closer examination, starting with the front-

The lens-

The lens is missing the plate that tells us what type of lens it is, but by looking at similar 126 Halina cameras, this plate would most likely say that it is a Halinar (see my Halina Roy post for information on this), with a fixed focus of 45mm (possibly 47 or even 50mm), has an f/stop of approximately between 2.8-5.6 (my guess is that it is 5.6), but since it is copying the Kodak Instamatics, the f/stop could also be 11.

Example of a Halina 126 lens. Image Source:
https://img.bobshop.co.za/f_auto,c_fit,w_300,h_300,d_notfound.png/user/5241009/1000082809_e-ASWPJyr.jpg

Halina 300 lens example. Image Source:
https://live.staticflickr.com/2831/13102927793_8f1ac54840_b.jpg

The glass is plastic and is probably a Meniscus lens (see my Instamatic Pocket 10 post), with an element coating, but I don’t think that is the case here.

On the side of the lens-

Is the shutter speed setting.

It has two settings, instant (the sun symbol) for when there is an abundance of light or when shooting outside and the flash or bulb setting.

Now I am going off of the assumption that this camera is a copy of Kodak’s Instamatics, since some Halina 126 cameras say that they are made specifically for Kodak’s 126 cartridges (Kodapak cartridge), and the fact that this camera uses Flashcubes, we can assume that the shutter speeds are the same as the Instamatic 104 and 50.

Halina Simplette FC. Image Source:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oc6M4inHO_Y/hqdefault.jpg

That being 1/90 second on the instant setting and 1/40 second on the flash setting.

Next to the lens is the shutter release button.

The shutter on this camera is a simple leaf shutter.

Above the lens, is the viewfinder.

On the right-

Is the eyelet for the wrist strap, which this camera came with.

Left side-

Is the film compartment cover release.

This must be pushed up to unlock the cover.

On top-

Is the Flashcube socket.

The connector being round is what gave it away that it uses Flashcubes.

Underneath-

Is the second indicator that it uses Flashcubes, because here is the battery compartment that powers the Flashcube socket. Unfortunately, this battery compartment is corroded and the latch is jammed. If I try to open it, it’ll not only break the latch, but it will damage the camera as well. So, it will be left as is.

This camera uses two AAA batteries.

On the back-

Is the film compartment cover.

On this cover is the film counter window.

It is missing a few plates. The plates probably said something like, “use 126 film” and “wind film to stop” or it could have just had the Haking’s Product logo on it. It is also possible that it could have also been a flash guide.  

Back of the Halina Simplette FC. Image Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6M4inHO_Y

 

Back of a Halina 126. Image Source:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7uYAAeSwpZhp1kWq/s-l1600.webp

Above the cover from left to right-

Is the Flashcube socket wheel, which like the Halina Roy must be manually turned to move the cube to the next bulb after every use.

Then there is the viewfinder.

Lastly the film advance wheel.

Which has the exact same cocking mechanism and film sprocket hook/lever as the X101.

Then finally is the film compartment.

This is a simple 126 film compartment, which as I mentioned a few times, uses 126 film (see Instamatic 104 post for more information) and to learn about how film works, please see my 200 Color Plus post.

And that seems to be it. The Regent isn’t the best Halina camera and like the Instamatic 33 is very boring looking. I much prefer the Halina X101 or better yet Kodak’s Instamatics!

Ultimately, this camera is basically just an easier version of the Halina Roy, and an outdated version of the X101. But it doesn’t even come close compared to the Halina Super X35, which out of all the Halina’s on this blog I would highly recommend if you want to add a Halina to your collection.

But what do you think? Do you like this camera? Can you add more information to this camera’s history? Is better than the X101 and Roy or a downgrade compared to them? 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:

Camera-wiki. 2025. Halina Simplette Electric. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Halina_Simplette_Electric

Camera-wiki. 2025. Halina Speedoflash. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Halina_Speedoflash

Halgand, S. 2026. Full Text Search. https://collection-appareils.fr/general/html/resultats_eng.php