Ektar H35N

Ektar H35N. Alex Luyckx's caption at Flickr promises a review of the camera in April '24. image by Alex Luyckx (Image rights)

The Ektar H35N is a simple half-frame 35mm camera made in 2023 by RETO in Hong Kong, but under the Kodak brand. It is an improved version of the Ektar H35, with a handful of changes from it, some serious and useful, and one for novelty.

Like the H35, the body of the camera is mostly ABS plastic. It has a two-element 22mm lens: the maker's description is that the lens is an f/11 in normal use, and f/8 when the built-in flash is switched on. This makes some sense, since the flash is switched by turning the len-surround; presumably a stop plate is removed). The front element of the lens is coated glass, and the rear is acrylic plastic and aspherical. In fact the lens is labelled on the lens-surround as aspherical (this label may reflect the market of somewhat-informed users the improved camera is intended for; it does not necessarily imply that the lens of the H35 is not aspherical; after all this ought to be one of the advantages of a moulded-plastic lens). This is at least similar to the lens RETO used on their revival of the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim camera. The shutter has also been upgraded, to an 'I'-and-'B' specification: whereas the H35 has only a single speed of 1/100 second, the H35N has this and 'B' shutter. There is a tripod bush to help with use of 'B', and a socket for a cable release in the top of the camera.

As with the original camera, there is a small built-in flash, powered by a single AAA battery and switched on or off by turning the lens-surround ring. Film is advanced with a thumb-wheel, positioned for the left thumb, and there is a folding crank and rewind-release button on the bottom of the camera for rewind. The frame counter is under a little window in the top of the camera.

To the right of the lens is one more control lever, which swings in a four-point star filter. This could be seen as the first departure from the spirit of earlier generations of entry-level Kodak cameras: on an equivalent Brownie, this lever would have controlled a yellow filter or a portrait auxiliary lens.

The camera is made with several different decorative front panels; black or pale grey with a fine horizontal stripe; sage-green with graduated pale-green stripes; or orange,cyan or pink metallic finish. It measures 110 x 62 x 39mm (w x h x d) and weighs 110g; just 10g more than the H35. As of spring 2024 it is priced at about 65 Euro before tax.