Other than the size and the mechanical differences of 35mm film vs. 120 the Holga 135 is very much the same as the original Holga 120. It still has that same toy camera feel and delivers that same "Holga look" that made the original such a hit. If you like the Holga 120 but would rather get more shots per roll: the 135 is for you. If you wanted to try a Holga but were intimidated by medium format film: the 135 is for you. My Take: If you want to get more precise than the Holga is probably designed to do, you can set the focus ring anywhere in between these icons. The Diana Mini offers two formats - the half frame and the square format. Whilst the Holga just offers the one, the regular rectangular format to fit the 35mm negative.

First up is a bunch of lens adapters, which are simple attachments that slide over the barrel of the existing lens and change its field of view. These include a wide-angle, a telephoto and a few different fisheye versions. You can also get macro and close-up lens adapter sets. While these films must take much of the credit, the Holga didn’t let them down when it came to contrast with the Shanghai GP3 and colours with the Lomography. There’s another switch above the lens that is supposed to let you change the aperture, with your two options here being f8 and f11. These are denoted by a cloud for the former and a sun for the latter, although how much difference this makes to the actual aperture of the lens appears to be up for debate. The second thing also comes from shooting 120 film rather than the 35mm I’m used to, and that was the feeling of depth you can get in the images. Now keep winding until you see the number 1 in this window, at which point you’re ready to take your first photograph.Then there is flash. For casual shooting, 200 ISO film with flash works great. If your Holga has a hot-shoe, then you can use your flash to fine tune your exposure. I have a Nikon SB-24 flash with a great auto mode. I set the ISO of the film and f-stop (f11) in the unit and the flash calculates the power output. Easy peasy. Final thoughts The Holga 135BC has a fixed shutter speed of 1/100th of a second. No further adjustment is needed for the shutter speed. Frame and Shoot When you’re confident it’s in, wind the wheel on top of the camera to pull it on further, ensuring it’s rolling on tightly to avoid, or minimise at least, light leaks. Personally, although I enjoyed shooting the one I temporarily had and like the results it gave me, I’ve not wanted to go and buy myself one since I sent it on. There’s a plethora of other Holga camera types out there, with twin lens reflex, pinhole, panoramic, stereo, 35mm, and 110 versions all made at one point or another. But even with all those, the 120N is probably what people mean if they don’t specify when they say they have a Holga.

The Roniflex turned out to be no different on all levels than the barclaycard Visa Camera. Yes setting the aperture is more intuitive and you certainly get more options but the viewfinder is over magnified and truly rubbish and only serves to give a rough idea of the centre of a shot. Test shot on Roniflex X3000 with AVP200

Holga 135BC Specifications

There’s a focus ring on the Holga lens that gives you four options. These are one person, three people, lots of people, and mountains. This is a zone focus system where the icons translate to the following distances:

Because 120 film has a bigger surface area, some maths that I can’t explain means it’s equivalent to around a 37mm lens on 35mm film. Holga 120N image qualities It was interesting because at first someone said, ‘The pictures are not so good,’ but then after [Burnett took the prize] people said, ‘This camera is very special,’” says Lee. “It changed suddenly.” It’s also recommended that you tape up anywhere that may allow light to leak in. This could be pretty much anywhere, although the red film window is often said to be particularly vulnerable. Look through the viewfinder to frame your shot and press the shutter button to take the photo. Wind the film to the next frame using the film advance knob after each shot. Remove Film Open your 120 film, which will be on its own spool, and place it into the left-hand bay. Then pull the leader over and slide it into the slot on the right-hand spool.On the top there’s a hot shoe for an external flash, and we also have that notorious aperture switch. Just like the 120 version, it technically works, but both apertures are the same. Should make for easy modding I would hope. The lens barrel (if you want to call it that) has the same outer dimensions as the 120 version, so all accessories should fit like a glove. I love it when manufacturers do that! The Inside This is how the vignetting is created: there's a translucent cut-out mask 1cm behind the lens The settings for this camera are very easy. The Holga 135 has a aperture switch to choose from sun (f/11) or clouds (f/16) and there is also a shutter switch to choose from two shutter speeds, N for daytime (about 1/60 second) or B for nighttime or low light (unlimited). This thing is junk, splendid wonderful junk.I can see why people love them and why other people think they are a joke. For me there was something liberating about shooting with such a cheap (price and quality) camera. It lowered my expectations to a point that I was just willing to point it at anything slightly interesting and take the photo. My expectation were low. So low, that I was almost surprised to actually see images on the film as I pulled it out of the processing tank. Had I shot this on a "real" camera I would have been disappointed with the quality, but because of the source, I was impressed.

First is that there is actually a lot of sharpness in the centre of the frame if you get the focus right. The plastic meniscus lens isn’t completely useless in that respect, although shooting medium format film does help. Initially, news magazine editors had a “psychological barrier” when it came to Holga images, says Kuwayama, a New York-based photojournalist who uses Holgas to shoot in war zones and during humanitarian crises. But, over time, they began to ask for them, he says. The Holga 135BC has two focus settings – one for portrait (P) and one for landscape (L). Rotate the focus ring on the lens barrel to select the desired focus setting. Set Shutter Speed

The Holga 135BC TLR allows all these feelings while shooting: the viewing window is clear and big enough to compose your shots, and for more precision, you have the rectangular frame of the picture inside the viewing glass and a little circle inside it too. This little circle, not exactly in the middle of the rectangular frame, shows you where the center of the image will be when you’re shooting close. In other words, it’s a kind of parallax correction, as the viewing lens is above the shooting lens, and for close-up shots this makes a little modification between what you frame and what the shooting lens takes on the film… You can also shoot easily from the ground or in vertical mode by turning the camera and having the viewing lens on your left or right side, or even hold the camera upside down above your head…. not always easy to frame like that, but it’s still ok!