Retro never quite goes away. The Kodak Ektar H35N half-frame camera conjures up memories of high school parties and teenage summer camps. But is this plastic camera great, or does it miss the mark? To find out, we ran some film through it.
First impressions of the camera
There are two opposing trends in photography: the desire for sharper, more technically perfect images, and the embrace of the freedom to ignore conventional expectations. The Kodak Ektar H35N is a camera that fits into the latter category.
I spent my late teens in the 1980s, a time I look back on fondly. Overall, I think that with a few exceptions, the music was better in the 1960s and 70s. I was never enthralled by the Memphis Design Movement of the 80s, and the hairstyles of the time were awful. But I can understand why the 1980s was a decade looked back on fondly by many people. Oddly enough, millennials seem to like that decade too.
There's something about this camera that harkens back to the 1980s, with its combination of a plastic body and a shiny metal front plate available in a range of colours to match the colour palette of the time.
This is truly a point and click camera. Simple, but perhaps too simple? There is no exposure control, so you need a good understanding of exposure to use it. If you load the film too quickly it will be overexposed. I loaded it with ISO 200 film, but it required the right conditions to use it. A beginner photographer might not even notice that.
This is a half-frame 35mm camera, which means that if you load a reel of 35mm film with 36 exposures, you will get 72 pictures.
Each frame is 3×4 instead of 3×2, meaning the height is slightly longer than the width, making it the ideal aspect ratio for portraits. In my opinion, 3×2 is rarely suitable for portrait orientation, it looks tall and narrow. Some might argue that the opposite is true for landscape photography, where the wider aspect ratio of 3×2 is better, but I also like the height of 3×4, which I achieve by rotating the camera 90 degrees. This is entirely subjective, so feel free to make your own opinion if you differ, but it's something to be aware of.
On top is the shutter button, plus a mechanism for attaching an old-fashioned remote trigger to enable bulb mode, and there's also a frame counter.
On the front there's a 22mm f/8 two-element lens, one of which is glass. It's half frame so you get the same field of view as a 44mm lens on a 35mm full frame camera. You activate the flash by sliding a ring around the lens, there's a switch to slide a star filter in front of the lens, and there's a viewfinder at about the 1 o'clock position on the lens.
The bottom of the camera has a tripod mounting screw socket and film rewind control.
The viewfinder is placed closer to the lens, reducing parallax error.
To load film, you open the door with a latch on the side of the camera, insert the film, wind it, and you're ready to go.
My first impression of the camera was that its low price was reflected in its quality, but once I put in some film (I used a 36-exposure roll of Kodak Gold 200, which gives you 72 photos) and installed some AAA batteries for the flash, the camera became much more reliable.
Test Shoot
Shooting with a film camera is completely different from a digital camera, and using a cheap point and shoot compact is completely different from a flagship mirrorless camera. I love it!
Between receiving my camera and starting to shoot, I fell off a rock and couldn't walk for a few days. Plus, the weather has been the worst I can remember for the spring and early summer, so it was a challenge to get out there with my camera. But with my foot bandaged and some ibuprofen in hand, I managed to slip the camera into my shirt pocket and finally get all 72 shots.
I've always found it fun to use a small compact camera – it's so different from shooting with a flagship mirrorless camera and it's so liberating.
Because the viewfinder is so close to the lens, you can see the edge of the lens mount when composing your shot. This was disconcerting at first, but then I realized it had an advantage: a handy reminder to adjust your framing slightly so the lens is pointed directly at your subject.
The camera was light and fun to use.
Kodak Multipurpose Camera Strap
Along with the camera, I also purchased the Kodak Multi-Purpose Camera Strap. This versatile, well-designed strap is perfect for lightweight, small cameras. It can be worn over the shoulder or around the neck and can attach to a single anchor point on the H35N camera, smartphone, etc. 
However, you can also secure it to the double anchor points using the Kodak QD snaplocks that come with the strap – these are sold separately – and it also comes with a handy attachment for your cell phone.
Although you probably won't use it with the OM-1, this strap is well suited to smaller cameras, and is held securely in place by a quick-release mechanism that requires a deep press of the button to release it from the strap, making it unlikely to come off unintentionally.
result
Living in the UK I couldn’t take advantage of B&H’s excellent developing services so I used my favourite service: filmprocessing.co.uk .
For a cheap film camera, the results were pretty good, and for anyone interested in Lomography, this camera is a great entry-level choice.
In hindsight, I should have bought ISO 100 film, as the ISO 200 I had on hand was a bit too fast for outdoor shooting, but when I used the built-in flash, the exposure was perfect. ISO 100 film would have been less grainy, which would have been an advantage for the half-frame size of the negatives.
Still, the photos were satisfactory, with one caveat: there's a trade-off when you turn on the Star Filter switch. With the Star Filter switch on, the image becomes blurry and looks out of focus. There were a couple of photos where I forgot to turn it off.
What I liked and what could be improved
What I Like
Camera Affordable. Takes 72 photos from a 36-exposure roll. Sleek design. Easy to use. Acceptable quality results for a compact camera. Small enough to slip into a shirt pocket. Perfect for Lomography. Strap Affordable. Versatile design. Rugged construction. Smart and secure.
What can be improved next time?
It would be nice to have a version with camera zoom, ISO adjustment and no star filter. It would be nice to have an indicator in the viewfinder to show when the star filter is on. The strap anchors seem secure and won't accidentally come loose, but a fail-safe dual action release would give me more peace of mind.
Conclusion
The more I use this little Kodak EKTAR H35N camera the more I like it. In terms of image quality it's not as good as a film SLR, but with such a small lens I don't have high expectations.
I've had compact cameras that gave me better results, but they were pretty pricey. For example, the Olympus µ (Mju) II I had when I backpacked around the world sells for more than twice as much second-hand. Plus, sometimes a sharp image isn't as important. It's tempting to take photos that look like they were taken with a compact camera in 1984.
So who would want this camera? I think it will be popular among artists, students, and kids. Photography enthusiasts who want to do something different might also be drawn to this camera. Plus, it's better than a disposable camera, so I can imagine wedding hosts handing it out to a few guests to take photos at the reception. It would make a great gift to get kids interested in photography.
The camera is available from B&H in a variety of colors for $64.99.
The Multi-Purpose Strap is available on Amazon for $44.
