Holga 12PC Pinhole Camera

The famous Holga plastic "toy camera" from Hong Kong was originally designed for 35mm film but was reconfigured for 120 medium format for the Chinese market in the 1980s. This can result in light leaks, vignetting and unpredictable soft, dreamy images and is a great way to get into medium format photography at a much cheaper price than more sophisticated alternatives.

The Holga became very popular through the 2000s thanks to specialist suppliers such as the Bookshop and Lomography with a wide range of cameras and accessories but in 2015 the factory suddenly closed down. Luckily the molds were saved and another company Sunrise is now manufacturing several Holga models again.

The Holga 120PC is a pinhole camera, which lets light in trough a very small lens, the pin hole, to hit the film directly causing exposure without passing through any lens. 

As light does not have to pass through any lens, images taken by the Holga 120PC will have the following characteristics; there will be no optical distortion at all to the image, no need to focus, angle of view will be much wider, due to the linear propagation of light the image on the film will be reversed, i.e. top will become bottom, left will become right etc. 

The lens is a slow F192 so long exposures are recommended.

Specifications
Format: 120 medium format roll film
Type: Compact camera
Lens: Pinhole
Aperture: f/192
Shutter speed: 1/100th or bulb
ISO: No setting, 100-400 ISO optimal
Accessories: Strap