arhphotographic

This 1959/1960 camera was made available by the German company Photo Porst who appears to have established a reputation, among other things, for rebranding cameras made by other companies. Apart from that I haven’t been able to establish any other details about the Haponette EB. So let me discuss what I can say about my time with it.

The Haponette EB features a 45mm f 2.8 Color Haponar lens. The lens focuses smoothly and includes a helpful ‘handle’ that the left index finger naturally rests on. You can see it in the image below as a little circular dial under the second o in the word color on the lens.This might be a small detail but one of many that contributes to the overall enjoyable experience.

The sparsely populated top plate of the Haponette EB

The included Gossen light meter returns EV values that are then manually input into the shutter speed dial, below.

In the example above of EV 11 you can choose an aperture of 2.8 with a shutter speed of 300 to f22 and a shutter speed of 1/4 sec and get an accurate exposure. I was amazed to find that the light meter on my Haponette EB was accurate when compared to my Nikon D500. This means I could go out and use the light meter with confidence. Impressive😲

The Prontor shutter goes from 1/300th to bulb and despite the antique rust, worked on all speeds and was remarkably accurate. 😲😲

You can just make out the light brown coloured focus aid in the viewfinder in the image above, along with frame guide to compensate for parallax.

Weighing just over 1lb or 500gm the Haponette sits very comfortably in the hand.

Had I found my ideal rangefinder. There was one thing that concerned me though. The film door mechanism seemed prone to opening as I show in the camera overview video below. This is not something you want happening.😳

My Haponette came with a leather case, so I was hopeful that this would help to keep the film door closed tight avoiding any light leaks. I would only know when I put a film through it.

The film counter and film rewind button on the base of the Haponette. The film counter counts down the images on your film.

I loaded up with some expired Fujifilm 200 which I rated at 100 and went for a walk around the market town of Alresford and City of Winchester in southern England.

The collar Haponar lens is a little soft but not unpleasantly so.

Only once when I was at the end of the film and taking the camera out of its case did I encounter a light leak.

My outing out with the Haponette EB was all too quickly over. This is a great little camera producing good images. I found the camera responsive and easy to use. The film wind on is silky smooth. I’ve used colour film how would it respond to a roll of black and white film?🤔

To be continued….