Holga 144120 120N Plastic Camera

by Holga

• The format arrow on the back of the camera easily slides between 12 and 16 exposures
• Zone focus system
• Mostly plastic, including the lens; extremely small and compact one-piece plastic molded body

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000AL8JKW
• Item model number: 144120
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #2 in Electronics > Camera & Photo > Film Cameras > Medium-Format Cameras
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

The Holga 120N! Still retaining all of those fabulous and unique features that made the Holga 120S world famous, this model, the Holga 120N, takes Holga photography to the next level. Features include a standard tripod mount (1/4-20) and bulb selector for extra long exposures. Your film will now travel smoothly in either 6 x 4.5cm or 6 x 6cm formats with the two plastic masks, included. Also...no more broken fingernails...the format arrow on the back of the camera easily slides between 12 and 16 exposures. Uses 120 film. The Holga 120N camera is desired by art photographers the world over. The standard features from the Holga 120S still include: Hot shoe flash sync, uses 120 roll film for 16 - 6cm x 4.5cm frames per roll. Perfect for classroom instruction, personal image-making and fine art photos. No batteries required! Reminiscent of the Diana camera of the 1960s and 70s. Characteristic vignetting focuses the viewer's eye and adds to visual impact. The Holga 120N is well known for producing whimsical images that have vingetting, soft focus and the enchanting possibility of light leaks. Features include: -Two masks for either 6 x 4.5cm or 6 x 6cm images -Standard tripod mount (1/4-20) -Bulb selector for extra long exposures -Hot shoe flash sync Uses 120 film or 35mm (with adaptor, purchased separately). No batteries required. The Holga 120N camera is desired by art photographers the world over.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

127 of 133 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Five star December 6, 2005

By D Co

It comes with a plastic lense, it takes 120 film, there's no flash, no light metering, no focusing. If you're not familiar with 120 film (not every pharmacy develops 120 film), then you should do a little research before you buy this camera ([...]). Most folks buy this as secondary camera, or just as a fun camera. The picture quality is different from camera to camera, and is not par with digitals. It does take unique shots, it is a cheaply priced camera, it feels cheap in your hands. I give it five stars, because for the price it captures my surroundings in a way that no digital can replicate.

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Faithful to the Original November 1, 2006

By kkrome25

The logical progression from the original Holga 120S is this camera, the Holga 120N. It stays true to the original, but with some minor improvements: a brass tripod socket, bulb exposure setting, and foam cushion film tensioner. It's got the same plastic lens, which captures the heart and soul of just about any photographic moment...try that with a digital! I suggest that you purchase two...one for color work, and one for black & white film. Also, get the optional 6x6cm frame mask to take advantage of the awesome vignetting.

89 of 95 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Toy Cameras Bring Me Joy. April 5, 2006

By Conway Liao

This affordable toy camera is renowned by artists around the globe, and for good reason too! Once you take this bad boy out of it's box and load your 120 film, the fun begins. It's small and light enough to bring it almost everywhere. The pictures that come out of this camera are something. Don't bother picking up some electricians tape because unexpected light leaks are always fun. Saturation, colour, and vignetting add to my love of this camera. Save yourself some money and pair this up with the Lomo Colour Flash. You can use it with your other cameras for extra fun! Double exposures are no problem, just click away without advancing the film.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A non-hipster photo student's impressions June 19, 2012

By Omega Man TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a photo student. I'm studying everything about photography. I'm not an urban hipster. I don't look like an urban hipster. I have absolutely no inherent "lo-fi" photography bias due to some sort of artsy hipster social background. It's just something that I'm messing with because I'm sleeping, eating, and breathing all sorts of photography 24-7.

I bought this because it's the prototypical "crappy toy camera" and I wanted to see what I could do with it's limited capabilities. It's part of an optional assignment and I'm playing with film right now, so why not.

The first thing that everyone should know is that this is not really a toy or an inexpensive alternative camera, but rather a modern "remake" of a primitive camera intended to allow those who understand, or are learning to understand, the photographic process in detail to reproduce certain "vintage" photographic styles and push the limits of what can be done with primitive technology.

The Holga 120N has the following features for "advanced" photographers:

- They use medium format 120 roll film. This is film that is a little more than 6cm wide... it is NOT 35mm. Normally this film is used in expensive Hasselblad or Mamiya cameras and is thus not usually sold at drug stores and gas stations. Not every photo lab will process it.

- There IS a "bulb" exposure mode, which means that you can keep the shutter open as long as you keep holding down the shutter button. You have to know what you're doing with this or all you'll do is waste a shot of film.

- Whether "bulb" mode is turned on or off, there's nothing stopping you from exposing the film multiple times without advancing the roll.... There's also nothing stopping you from advancing the film too far, too little, or never advancing it at all. Other than the little window on the back, and perhaps counting the clicks of the film winder, there's nothing to tell you how far to turn the thing to get to the next unexposed frame. There's absolutely nothing to tell you if the current frame has already been exposed.

These are all things that can be exploited by advanced photographers to create interesting effects, but for anyone else they're just annoying hazards.

Limitations of the camera that can only be overcome by a somewhat knowledgeable photographer in most situations:

- There are only two aperture settings. To make things worse, the f-numbers that these supposedly correspond to (supposedly f/8 for "sunny" and f/11 for "cloudy" or whatever that icon is supposed to be) are reportedly bogus. They may not be accurate from camera to camera, depending on when it was made. Reportedly all you ever get is f/13, though supposedly on some newer ones the switch actually does do something or the other.
- There's only one shutter speed not counting "bulb" mode: 1/100s
- There's no way to focus visually with the viewfinder and with apertures like f/8 or f/11 the focus ring has to be set somewhat intelligently to have any chance of getting a subject within the in-focus depth of field.
- Aside from using bulb mode or multiple exposures in some situations, you have practically no control of the exposure aside from film ISO and push/pull processing.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, but do want to learn then great! If you don't know and don't care then you probably don't want to buy this camera.

The charming lo-fi features of the camera:

- It has a simplistic high-dispersion plastic lens that softens focus the way transparent plastic does and does little or nothing to correct for the various optical distortions caused by simple spherical single-element lenses. If you're not trying to intentionally take photos with these properties then for the same money you can get a camera with a more modern design that at least has a lens made of glass.
- There's little or nothing in the design to prevent light from reflecting off of slick surfaces inside the camera, contaminating the film with random reflections.
- The gaps between parts (like the back and the rest of the camera) aren't sealed particularly well, so light leaks through and reflects off of surfaces, contaminating the film with stray light.

Some tips for those using these for the first time:

- Tape down the sliding things that lock the back on after loading the camera. The back will come open way too easily if you don't. Light leaks may be hipster cool but having the back come off just results in totally ruined film.
- Light will leak through the little frame number view window (red plastic) in the back and contaminate regular panchromatic film (which responds to red light). How bad this is depends on how bright the ambient light is, and whether or not you're using one of the included (6x6 or 6x4.5) film masks. You can either ignore than and get the hipster light leaks, or you can cover the red window with tape. If you cover it then you can either open it up briefly under subdued light to see when you've advanced the film one frame, or you can figure out how many "clicks" of the winder need to go by before one frame has advanced and count those when winding.
- You may want to write "1/100s" and "f/8 - f/11" on the camera to remind you of what the aperture settings and shutter speed are if you actually believe what the manual says they are.
- You may want to write the approximate focus distances corresponding to each of the icons on the focus ring. I wrote my own focusing scale on the thing using a silver paint marker.
- Use the light meter in a manual mode camera to give you an idea of what sort of lighting conditions are going to work with f/8 and 1/100s with the ISO of film you have in the thing. There's probably no point in walking around metering for every shot, but you should at least get some idea if your film is going to require direct sunlight, shade on a sunny day, work ok with overcast sky, or work inside in rooms with lots of of windows on sunny days. Even at ISO 3200, bright artificial office lighting probably won't be enough for indoor conditions.
- If possible, try to shoot a whole roll of film in approximately the same lighting conditions so you can push/pull process the film to compensate for over/underexposure. For example, if you know that bright office lighting won't quite be enough but you want to try it anyway, shoot the whole roll under that lighting so you can push process the film (to get a higher effective ISO out of it).

Overall I'd say, not bad for $30 if you want to be able to do some of the things that the lack of "idiot proofing" features allow and you want to recreate some lo-fi effects, but don't waste your money on the camera, film, and processing if you don't know what you're getting into. These things are also great for making your own modifications since the worst you can do is destroy the thing, losing $30. Read more ›

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Photographers delight! October 25, 2006

By Tigresblanco

Great camera for all levels of photographers. Unique style and results. You never know what your individual camera will provide. Overexposure and underexposure quality is expected and wanted with this fun camera. A little hard to find places that will develop film with ISO 120 but worth the prints when you can find a place.

A must for all photographers to play with. A wonderful buy and worth the money.

**Use caution when buying from Calumet! Banned from e-bay they are not the best of places to buy anything! Poor product quality and overpriced shipping are only two of the major problems. Please use caution.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For Those that still think of Photography as an art form! September 9, 2009

By OrangeCrush TOP 1000 REVIEWER

The world of photography has changed so dramatically over the last 6-7 years that its honestly hard to put it into words. For the average person digital photography is a welcome advance in technology. No longer having to buy film, being able to see the end picture immediately, being able to make prints on your home computer, being able to shoot with your cell phone, etc.. There are really a hundred and one reasons why most people love digital photography.

There is another side to this coin however as there are those out there that do not like digital or what it has done to the entire field of photography over the last 5-10 years. I am one of those people. I absolutely love photography. Its not only my single favorite hobby, its also how I make my living. Its the entire process that I fell in love with, not just the end result. The loading of the film, the limited number of pictures per roll of film, the printing in a darkroom and most importantly the seemingly limitless creative aspects of film itself. There are so many things that you can do to alter the look of the film or print and I am sorry but running your picture through a filter in photoshop doesn't even begin to compare. The end result may appear similar but the process that got you there couldn't possibly be more different. I love the processes just as much as I do the end result and digital just doesn't even begin to compare.

Anyways this is where camera's like the Holga and Diana come in. These are camera's for people who are in love with film and the different looks that film can give you. These are sometimes referred to as toy cameras however that does not take anything away from these cameras or their ability to take pictures.... I have been using a Holga for over 10 years and I can tell you first hand that if you take the time to master these cameras, you can take absolutely stunning pictures. You don't need 20 MegaPixels and a Carl Zeiss lens to shoot amazing pictures. In fact you dont even need a lens if your shooting with a pinhole camera.

Its nice to see that there are still people out there shooting with these kinds of cameras. There are even some that have given up shooting digital and come back to film. My hats off to those people because film is still where its at with photography. As for myself, I still shoot film 99% of the time and My Holga and Diana go pretty much everywhere I go. At around 40.00, you don't have much to lose in regards to trying them out.

5 stars! Read more ›