Holga 120 CFN - The Ultimate Experiment

The Holga 120 CFN camera is – as its name suggests – a medium format camera which uses 120 film. It has a built in colour flash which means that you can take pictures in the colours yellow, blue and red but also natural coloured ones. Because of the flash you need two AA batteries.
The first Holga camera was built in 1982 in China.

It is a low price easy to use camera for day and night which has an “n” setting for normal exposures, a “b” setting for longtime exposures and a tripod socket. Its focal width is 60mm and its shutter speed about 1/100s.
You are able to make multiple exposures or endless panoramic shots with your Holga 120 CFN.

There are two format possibilities for the inserted film: 12 images in the format 6×6 (set the arrow in the viewing window on the back of the camera to 12) or 16 images in the format 4,5×6 (set the arrow to 16).
When I got my Holga 120 CFN camera I first used medium format film but I did not like most of the results very much, especially the colour film ones (exceptions are some double exposures which I like very much). So I started some experiments with 35mm film because I found some advices to use 35mm film with your Holga camera at lomography.com and other websites. From this time on I never used 120 film anymore. With 35mm film you are able to get breathtaking shots including the sprocket holes of a film.

What I like too on this camera is that the results are very surprising sometimes, for example there can be light leaks on your shots or when you use 35mm film you never know what part of your motif is on the photo in the end because the view-finder only shows you a square picture.

PS: If you want to use your Holga 120 CFN camera with 35mm film on your vacation trip never forget tape, scissors and your changing bag!!!

written by agrimony on 2008-10-31 #gear #120 #35mm #review #sprockets #holga