Pentax Auto 110
I love this idiot camera.
In 2025 I found a cheap 110 format Hanimex camera at a local antique bazaar. I did some googling, figured out how they work, and shot a test roll over a few weeks. The results were... middling. You can peep the page linked above, but it's not a super well-documented camera, and I am not a good enough photographer to make up for it!
While I was in Japan over Christmas, I got it into my head that I kinda wanted to get a better one. We were out in the sticks, but my partner found a good few bits of gear (new DSLR and several lenses), and I'd picked up a 360 camera. As the trip went on, we got more intentional and focused on photography, and I got increasingly obsessed with trying to find a better alternative to the Hanimex. Thankfully, there's this little chunk of Shinjuku around 4-5 streets that is packed to the gills with used camera shops. I found two cameras there... but on testing, the film winders on BOTH were broken.
I'd almost given up, but then on the other side of town, over in Ginza, I dragged us to one more shop, and not only did they have a Pentax 110 Auto, several lenses, and two flash units, they had one guy that spoke great english (my Japanese is middling at best) and one guy who spoke 0 English but loved 110 cameras. The only thing that appeared to not work was the light meter, but our Japanese-only hero said we just needed to clean the battery contacts; lo and behold, I had a fully working camera in my hands! I paid a frankly kind of wild amount in the end (camera body + 18mm pan focus lens + 50mm manual lens + small flash unit), but damn if it wasn't exactly what I'd wanted and been searching for.
This thing is an absolute novelty; it's a full, mirrored SLR with a set of fully glass lenses, and it's smaller and lighter than your average phone. It uses an almost-dead film format, 110 cartridges; the film itself is about half the height of 35mm, and comes in a fully-sealed cartridge, which means you can take out the film mid-roll and only sacrifice the current shot you're on. Because the film is titchy, the quality isn't as good as 35mm (which was a draw for me - not feeling like i CAN take high-res images takes away a lot of the pressure!), but you can still make it pretty crisp.
I've gotten my hands on a bunch of little bits and peices for it, including several lenses, a flash, and a friggin belt clip (its so tiny it can reasonably just hang off your belt!). I have a couple more I'd like to grab - the rest of the lenses, as well as a nifty little telephoto extender in particular - but even when I just had the camera and the single lens it was such a fun piece of kit!
You're limited to Lomography-brand film these days, which run around $15AUD to buy, and another $20 for dev+scan at my local film lab, so for a 24 shot roll it comes out at a similar price to instax photos. Not the cheapest hobby, but at least I'm not doing medium format. I keep threatening to learn to split other filmstock and load my own cartridges, but I haven't quite taken that leap yet.
If I've piqued your interest, here are a few neat sites to learn more:
- A professional's opinion over on 35mmc
- A forum post on how to test if one of these is working. Total lifesaver if you're looking at one in person.
- The Subclub, a delightfully oldschool site filled with knowledge about subminiature photography. There is an honest to god email discussion mailing list. I love it.
Here are some of my favourite photos taken with it:
