Holga 120 Wide Pinhole Camera

The shutter mechanism on my unit sticks and can’t be trusted to open or especially close when you’d like. In bright sunlight you’re still looking at a two to three second exposure so you have to use a cable release. With a cable release the shutter action sometimes didn’t even open enough to expose the pin hole. It’s a plastic camera, I’m not expecting the quality of my Bronica or my Rollei, but I’d like a working shutter. I’m not sure about other Holgas, and I’ve seen decent results from other folks with theirs, but I don’t trust this one and it’s going back.

Great camera to experiment on pinhole photography with medium format film

As advertised an exposure guide was to be on the back of the camera - there was no guide. This would have helped in the field.

I bought a Holga 6x12 from Amazon a few months ago and have so far run some tests with a couple of rolls of 120 B&W film--Fujifilm 120 Acros which exhibits very little reciprocity and so less dark pinhole image edges. The results were really quite pleasing using the 6x9 mask--no scratched fim, moderately sharp resolution with fast exposures for a pinhole and a pleasant angle of view well suited for taking in near and mid-distant landscapes. A few points of interest: The plastic camera fits together very well and doesn't exhibit glaring light leaks. A frame in the middle of one of my rolls was left unexposed and when the film was developed, showed a light, diffuse light exposure of undetermined origin, so tape over the clamshell seals might be a good idea. The camera seems especially prone to opening accidently, the side clips are not fixed very firmly when the camera is closed. The camera has a spring loaded shutter and requires a shutter cable. Be sure your cable has a long enough throw (length of plunger motion pushing on shutter), otherwise the shutter plate may not open fully. In addition to partially blocking the pinhole view, glare off the shutter plate may reflect onto the film if it is not fully open. The bubble level is very useful. The film number viewer on the camera back is not really set up intutitively, so see the instructions to determine the position for either 6x12 or 6x9 settings. I put black tape over the red window between advancing the film. Excellent exposures without blocked highlights were around 3 seconds in bright daylight with a lot of snow in the scene. An old Sekonic 398 light meter worked well for figuring exposures--just doubling the the f90 reading or so and doubling it again to expose for shadows with B&W film seemed a reliable plan. I found longer exposures in overcast were relatively overexposed. There were no apparent internal reflections evident on the film. The Holga seems to offer a very fast path to fun and excellent pinhole photographs.

If you love the holga aesthetic, this is the next step as well as being able to go wide 6X12 just makes your pano shooting great until you are ready to get the pan-panoramic. Tripod use a must as well as a cable release. Love it and easy to modify to use filters and custom pinhole. Enjoy analogue love with this great panoramic pinhole.

100% recommended, especially since it's threaded for a cable release & tripod.

Having owned seven Holgas over the years plus a HolgaMods Slider and a Pin-hole Blender camera - this is a lot of fun! Have had mine for a year and have put 12-15 rolls of film thru it. Holga quality used to be a joke - but no longer. No hand-holding - get a sturdy tripod in any size. My cable release stays on at all times. Follow the suggested exposure times. I use 160 or 400 speed print or slide film with it. And DON'T try long-time night work - it's just too slow to record to film. Don't drop it on concrete or asphalt - it might or might not crack. It's fun thing to try - if you are into photography. Good deal from Amazon.com!

A very cool camera! The 6X12 mask is great. With the right light, you will get stunning results. I really like this camera.

tutto ok, prodotto consegnato in perfette condizioni.. tempi di consegna un po lunghi ma erano previsti al momento dell'acquisto. Soddisfatto!!