Hanimex 35 Micro Flash Transforming Camera

As the holidays approach, we all think about those great gifts that took on a life of their own even after Christmas. Hopefully we love all the goodies that we exchange with our loved ones, but every once in a while there's something really special under the tree that we remember forever. When I was in 6th grade, upper management (I refer of course to my parents) decided that it was time to put away the things of childhood.  That was the Christmas I got an electric pencil sharpener and a popcorn popper (both of which I still use!). Those were very nice presents, if not a little anticlimactic after years of Star Wars figures and Lego, but among the torn wrapping was my very own 35mm camera.

This would have been the early 80's, and point and shoot cameras had just begun to be affordable. This Hanimex 35 Micro Flash isn't the camera that Santa brought me years ago (mine was a Keystone), but it is a good example of that era of accessible photography gear. Both cameras had a built-in flash, which was still a relatively new feature in low cost cameras. There were no fine adjustments for exposure, nor any need to focus; any slow moving thing from 5 feet to infinity was in range.

Both my camera and this Hanimex share a similar feature; novel mechanical measures to keep the lens covered until you were ready to snap off a few pics. Mine had twin doors that flipped open at the press of the shutter button, and this Hanimex has a big hatch that covers everything (including the viewfinder). I guess the idea was to make these cameras as idiot-proof as possible by including elaborate mechanisms to keep you from shooting with the lens cap on. Either that or someone in the product design department saw a whole lot of Transformers cartoons.

This Hanimex is a bit more advanced than my old 1980's Christmas camera was, with a few more switches to cycle through some exposure presets. This 35 Micro Flash is aptly named too, as it is a very small camera for its time. The elaborate hatch does protect the optics from typical pocket debris, so I should stop thumbing my nose at Hanimex's engineers. I imagine it took some very long sessions of whiteboarding to come up with ways to make shooting 35mm film friendlier, smaller and more affordable than ever. So I'll thank those breakthroughs that made cheap cameras possible, and gave birth to my lifelong love of photography.

related:

Rollei 35mm Camera - still a mini mechanical marvel
Minox unveils a digital spy camera
Kodak's first digital camera
photokina - retro camera roundup