Because I have always regarded OEM cameras as a category in my camera collection, I have a soft spot for various OEM machines . The Sunscope 35X rangefinder camera introduced today is OEM produced by Hong Kong Baoyuan Haking Company for the United States. The prototype is Baoyuan Company’s Halina 35X rangefinder. The brand
Sunscope should be a camera brand owned by a trading company in the United States, but I could not find which company, and the company itself does not produce cameras. Cameras bearing the Sunscope brand mainly come from three companies: rangefinders and double-lens reflex cameras produced by Hong Kong Haking (its own brand is Halian), double-lens reflex cameras produced by Japan's Crystar Company, and rangefinders produced by Japan's Yamato Company.
As for Baoyuan Company in Hong Kong, I believe you will be familiar with it, because I have introduced a variety of cameras produced by this company before, including double reflex, rangefinder and micro cameras, but I have not yet seen an actual SLR camera produced by this company. According to the introduction in the 2005-2006 edition of "McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras", Haking Baoyuan Optics was founded in 1956 by Mr. Making Wong (黄克兢). At the same time, according to the introduction in this book, the prototype of the Sunscope 35X, the Halina 35X, came out in 1959.
Although there are many types of Halina brand cameras, I have seen more than 70 types! But they are mainly simple and relatively low-end, so they are not noticed by "mainstream" collectors. However, I know that some domestic camera collectors have many Halina cameras.
has finished introducing the history of relevant manufacturers, and I will go back and introduce in detail today’s protagonist, the Sunscope 35X rangefinder camera. To be honest, apart from the fact that the brand on the top of the camera has changed to Sunscope, there is basically no difference between this camera and the Halina 35X: the brand on the lens is still Halina, and the eyebrow mark and the logo on the front face of the camera are also exactly the same as Halina.
The following pictures are comparison pictures between Sunscope 35X and Halina 35X. Can’t you see much difference?
In fact, if we compare the two carefully, there are still two subtle differences between them.
1, the two origins are different. Sunscope 35X is produced in Hong Kong, while Halina 35X is made by Empire. The reason for this difference in origin is actually because the Halina 35X used for comparison is an early product, and the later Halina 35X is also produced in Hong Kong.
According to the introduction of Eric Lai, a netizen of China Camera Network, before Hong Kong returned to the motherland, especially in the early days, there were very few industrial products and could not be scaled up. Therefore, the British Empire, the suzerain country of Hong Kong at that time, is generally used as the place of origin (Empire Made). Therefore, the products marked Empire Made are not actually made in the UK, but are products of the British overseas colonies. Products in the UK are generally marked Made in UK or Britain.
Later, with the continuous development of Hong Kong's industry, more and more things were produced in Hong Kong before the handover, but they were not accepted by the world, so the place of production began to be marked as Made in British Hong Kong. Later, the quality of Hong Kong products was recognized and accepted by the public, so products in Hong Kong could finally be openly labeled as Made in Hong Kong. Of course, with Hong Kong returning to the motherland in 1997, it will no longer be possible for products in Hong Kong to have the words "Made in the Empire" on them!
2, the position of the film rewind release device is different between the two. On the Sunscope 35X, the rewind lock release button is on the top of the camera (red circle in Figure 1 below); while on the Halina 35X, the rewind lock release button is on the bottom of the camera (in the blue circle in Figure 3 below). This difference should also be the difference between the early Halina 35X and the late Halina 35X (also branded as Sunscope 35X).
Like its prototype, this Sunscope 35X is also a rangefinder with relatively simple functions. After all, it was a product that came out more than 60 years ago, and Baoyuan's products themselves are of low quality. Therefore, the shutter speed of this machine is only 1/25, 50, 100, 200 seconds plus B door. The aperture has six stops from F3.5 to F16.
The focus of this camera adopts the focus estimation design common to most simple rangefinder cameras , without any marks or lines in the viewfinder.
There seems to be nothing else that needs to be introduced, but judging from the wear and tear of the press plate of this machine, this machine should shoot relatively more films. The bottom and back of the machine adopt an integrated design.
Sunscope produced by Hong Kong Baoyuan Haking Company for American OEM I bought the 35X rangefinder camera from eBay in the United States in October 2018. Price excluding international shipping is $14.40.
Author: Zhang Yi
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