HOLGA Story

Holga cameras were first produced in Hong Kong in 1982. The Holga camera 120 was the very first medium format film camera with almost all its parts made in plastic.

The product concept of the Holga camera 120 was born our of the market situation prevailing at the time of its creation. At that time, which was the late seventies, the photographic market in China was dominated by 120 format cameras. These cameras were precision optical ‘machines’ which naturally commanded high prices that were not affordable by the public in general. From such a background there sprang the vision of a dream 120 format camera which, while encompassing the basic functions needed of a camera on the one hand, would be priced at t a level within the reach of basically anyone on the other.

The project was commenced in the year of 1980 and it took two years before it came off the drawing board in 1982. However, things had changed quite drastically during those two years and, by the time the Holga was released into the market, handy 135 cameras had already become pretty popular.

Ironically and most unfortunately, the mass market of 120 cameras was already displaced by 135 cameras when the Holga became ready.Nevertheless, it was not the end of the world. Although the mass market was gone, the Holga Camera 120 still found itself welcome by consumers in the educational markets because, exactly in accordance with the product objective, it was and still is a very affordable 120 camera. The Holga camera 120 was recommended by teachers around the world, particularly in the United States, photographic students because of it’s affordability and general capabilities. It is far from being perfect, but sufficient for the students to learn the fundamentals of photography, explore their talents and sharpen their skills.

Life is full of amazement. Just when it was thought that the Holga camera 120 would only stay in schools, the Holga camera 120 suddenly dawned on a group of unorthodox photographic talents who, unlike their conventional counterparts, spotted the beauty of the camera in its imperfections.

The appearance of dark corners, the irregular edge of a photo caused by the accidental waviness along the edge of the film, the occasional partial light leak due to the inability of the plastic parts to shut out the light completely, ect., ect. have all converged to one point – the fun and uniqueness arising from unpredictability, almost on a random basis, and the satisfaction resulting from the creation of a piece of art which is the one and only one in the whole world. There are people who, half jokingly and half seriously that no two photos taken by the Holga Camera would be alike as they are acts of God. It’s this unpredictability of the Holga camera 120 that has fascinated, if not mesmerized altogether, its fans and made itself a popular product around the world.

The design of the Holga camera 120 was a thorough implementation of the concept of simplicity. Despite its simple construction and the use of plastic as a basic material, it has the majority of the functions expected of a basic camera. When the back of the camera is opened, basically all of the mechanisms of the camera show themselves immediately.

Other then the product concept of an affordable 120 camera in plastic, the Holga camera 120 also amazed the market at the time with an extremely special feature which dwarfed even its counterparts from the major camera brands – it has a built in flash, which was almost non-existent in those days.

Although it was started as a 120 format camera, adapters to enable the use of 135 films are also available. Moreover, through the efforts over the years to satisfy the needs of users, a whole line of accessories ranging from color filters to fisheye lenses, to wed angle lenses and to macro lenses have been developed to bring more fun.

Have fun with your Holga Camera!