The Bell and Howell Auto 35 / 2.8

smithdan · Feb 25, 2016

Bell and Howell rebranded a Canonet 28. I was given this one by the lady in the thrift store as it was jammed and hopelessly dirty. Cleaned up pretty well and with a bit of coaxing seems to work well meter and all.

This one's a cheaper cousin of Canon's more featured Canonet 17. It began as a viewfinder (this one) and changed to a rangefinder a couple of years into it's model run. The shutter speed and aperture run mechanically from cams set by the selenium meter needle so no batteries except to fire the flash.

No focusing aid but a handy in viewfinder reminder for the zone focusing as well as an indicator to show that all is well within the exposure range of the camera. Oddly this one came with a flashcube socket..

..probably just in case you had a s...load left over from that Keystone 110 your Aunt Muriel gave you for your birthday.

A pleasant to use not too big 35, seems to be still fairly accurate although FP4 is forgiving. Expected a decent lens and operating smoothness but still mildly surprised at the quality of both.
My pocket/backpack camera was an Olympus Trip 35 and this one is identical except for being a bit larger.

...what it does..