Holga Panoramic Pan 120 -- is it any good?

[@dennisonbertram4903]

"Not bad enough to be a bad camera, not good enough to be a good camera" - That statement is so true for so many cameras.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Isn't it. We need attitude and character. Not megapixels :-)

[@GrandpaZedTV]

Wold you be comfortable with the photo quality printing the photos in an 8x8 book with the image spanning two pages?

[@smartereveryday]

I really like your photos of the island.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Autumn makes islands stand out :-)

[@dougfishback3116]

10:25 - "You can actually get decent pictures with this plastic camera," followed by a pause of perfect disappointment. Another favorite moment was your assessment of the original camera's shutter speeds: "Bulb and something else." I am starting out with photography and have just ordered the 120 Wide Pinhole, which has that primitive simplicity. On the other hand, I might be better served by the lensed camera, which would give me less cover for my mistakes. Thanks for this video.

[@ShootOnFilm]

:-) Thanks for watching -- and have an excellent 2023 with the new 120 Wide Pinhole!!

[@brineb58]

Over the last 25+ years I have used a pile of Holgas!!! Each one is unique because of the lenses all being slightly different!!! I love the panorama both with the lens and the pinhole version!!!

[@ShootOnFilm]

This is an important point: they are all individuals!!

[@rudyvelez1741]

…it only goes to show,,it’s the photographer not the camera that makes good pictures,,,loved the ones you took,,,like you said they turned out surprisingly impressive!!

[@ShootOnFilm]

Thanks, thanks. But a camera can certainly inspire. And to me -- I'm inspired by simplicity :-)

[@Gosk]

Had to subscribe immediately. Love that you agree light leaks add character and that the vignetting is actually cool (especially on the panoramic).

[@ShootOnFilm]

Thanks thanks. And yes they are. Life is too short for picture-perfect pictures.

[@phoenixr6811]

Once go Holga you never stop😊 the Holga 120 pan is dream

[@ShootOnFilm]

It certainly is an interesting camera!!

[@genegoranov5865]

The 6:18 pic is surprisingly gorgeous .. Gosh there may be a day when I'll say, hell with it, Imana get the damn thing:)

[@ShootOnFilm]

You can never have too many cameras!!!

[@tedphillips2951]

Please do more with it. It really looks interesting!

[@ShootOnFilm]

I will. I will :-)

[@garybatch4102]

Magical and insightful as always. 'A Holga that's too good' made me think - I could never justify buying a Fujifilm Gw690 or 670, but this might be the alternative - no where near as good, but probably just good enough.

[@ShootOnFilm]

True. And to me, a panoramic camera is always a bit special and rare case. It is for special occasions.

[@williamshaffer9216]

Timely Video! I've been thinking about the purchase of a Holga. You always have the best videos. The musical accompaniment is outstanding!

[@ShootOnFilm]

Excellent -- thanks for watching. Everybody should join the cult! :-)

[@kodithebear]

My holga 6 x 6 shoots pin sharp across the whole frame. No light leaks either. It loves a Canon speedlite on top too. Brilliant. I guess I was lucky :D That camera looks cool and I think the images have character!

[@ShootOnFilm]

Yeah, I think various comments for this video prove the case: All Holgas are different!

[@pmdt8090]

Imported my Holga 120 Pan from China and it was out of focus. The lens was about 5mm away from infinity-focus point. It bothered me, so I converted it to a Holgagon with the Angulon. Now it makes fun! Nice 612-camera.

[@ShootOnFilm]

:-). And, actually, it is 6x13.7. I measured -- as it uses the gap between two 6x6 pics ....

[@utekopka7920]

Thank you so much for mentioning the conversion you have made! While watching the video I was wondering if this camera could be hacked and used with a LF lens and your comment confirms this. What Angulon did you use? Have you attached any helicoid or do you just use the hyperfocal distance? I am also wondering if my Mamiya Press 5.6/75 (which is an angulon type too) could eventually cover the 6x12. And this lens would already have a helicoid.

[@pmdt8090]

@@utekopka7920 Ute, you are welcome, but is not my patent. If you are looking for "Holgagon" you'll find the instructions by Henrick Andersson for the Holgagon which I used. I use a Angulon 6.8/90 on the 120 Pan, so the 75mm won't work because you need the focal length of 90mm. I used a M42 adapter ring and helicoid (as I remember 12mm). Works like a charm and makes nice pictures. I have some examples but you'll find lots more in the internet.

[@utekopka7920]

@@pmdt8090 Thank you very much for the information! I will look for the Holgagon instructions. Sounds like a great alternative to all the commercial 6x12 options which are much more expensive.

[@ejorbe]

I have been looking for a panoramic for a while and lost a very expensive. I did not know this camera was available and interesting thoughts on it. Now, time to do more research. Thank you for another great video!

[@ShootOnFilm]

Thanks for watching. Yeah, for me it is a bit of a mixed bag, but maybe ....

[@jamesrice670]

I am a "man of age", and therefore here in America I am now on Medicare. I submitted a short series of your videos to Medicare and respectfully requested that they be approved as "mental health counseling". If you get approved by Medicare, you can start charging me for your counseling sessions, particularly the ones with your boat. And by the way your therapy sessions are working so well.

[@ShootOnFilm]

I appreciate the thought and the initiative. Let's next talk about your childhood :-)

[@jamesrice670]

@@ShootOnFilm Hahaha

[@nazahamed5860]

found a fairly new Holga 120N sitting on a table on a local flea market and i paid it for $15 for it. this is my second low-fi camera after i bought the lomography panorama 30mm which i love it to the bits. i'm a graphic designer and been dealing with digital photos for so many years and i've been telling my friends, the images i got from these low-fi cameras are simply beautiful. no filter nor photoshop can actually emulate those so called imperfections, thats what makes holga and lomography are so damn unique.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Good for you. And an amazing catch! My daughter is also a graphic designer -- and shoots a Nikon FE2. She also stole my lens :-)

[@dubeluco]

great review, thanks for doing that. I was wondering the lens. What’s the minimum focus distance? How do you really focus in your subject? Can you see focus through viewfinder? Or the viewfinder is just for composing?

[@ShootOnFilm]

The closest you can get is around 1 meter. And it is only for estimating. You don't focus through the lens or the viewfinder, unfortunately.

[@stevest55]

Ari, very nice video. I have been wishing for a panoramic camera for a long time. X-Pan: too expensive now and no one can fix it once it breaks, Widelux F7 or F8: Not as expensive as X-Pan but still expensive. Some repair shops can do a CLA. Fuji 617: Too expensive. So I purchased a Hasselblad 3x6 mask to use with my 501cm and 50mm Distagon. Results are so-so. It's just a cropped photo - not a true panoramic. Then I got excited when I watched your video! The Holga Pan 120 is "cheap" in comparison. Here in New York it sells for US$100 (plus about 9% tax). When I was a young man, and we used to go to "amusement parks" with various games to play, the Diana and Holga plastic cameras were the usual "give-away" prizes. There were worth about One Dollar. Cheap junk to throw away. Now at US$100 for a Holga Pan 120 is definitely affordable, I still can't get past the image in my mind that this is a "toy camera" and should be sold for no more than US$10.00. I don't know, maybe I will force myself to buy one :-). Steve

[@ShootOnFilm]

Ha haa! So funny. But hey, think it this way: $100 entry fee and you are a part of a cult. Ain't bad, eh? ;-)

[@Dahrenhorst]

I have another option: A 100 years old Kodak 3-A, converted to accept 120 film instead of its original 122 film. It is a quality camera with a real shutter and a quality lens and produces 6x14cm negatives after conversion. There are different configurations available with different lenses and shutters, and even a version with a coupled rangefinder, and you can get those cameras for anything between 50 and 250 USD, depending on the knowledge of the seller and the configuration and condition of the camera. The conversion can be done easily with little effort and costs less than 20 USD, even if you purchase the parts needed instead of making them yourself.

[@stevest55]

@@Dahrenhorst Rabert, thanks for your comments, which are really appreciated. A 6x14 negative has an aspect ratio of 1:2.33 which is similar to the X-Pan. But unless the lens is a super wide, it would likely not create a "panoramic-type" image. I'm looking for the X-Pan and Widelux kind of image. The Kodak A3 is an interesting camera. There are many of them available on e-Bay, but I noticed that this camera came with a wide variety of lenses and most of the cameras I saw on e-Bay were in really rough condition - which is not surprising considering that these cameras are 100 years old, as you mentioned. Some people are making 3D printed pano cameras, and fitting them with view camera lenses, however the 3D printed cameras look to be so crude. I am considering a Horizon, but I don't expect these cameras to perform very well. The search continues!!! Steve

[@Dahrenhorst]

@@stevest55 The lenses of the Kodak 3-A cameras are in fact with a "normal" angle of view of around 60 degrees, much less than typical wide angle panorama cameras. This actually makes the pics out of these old Kodaks different from what you usually get from a panorama camera. This may be an advantage or a disappointment, depending on what you are aiming at. I for instance like to use these cameras in portrait mode for full body portraits of people, it is perfect for that simply because it is _not_ a wide angle panoramic camera. I have bought three of those cameras so far, two of the rangefinder type. I sacrificed the third camera to refurbish the two rangefinders and have now two working 3-As, one loaded with b&w and the other with color film, and paid for all of that less than 250 USD.

[@stevest55]

@@Dahrenhorst Thank you Rabert. This is all very good information. All the best! And thanks to Ari for sparking this interesting discussion.

[@jaydigshistory36]

I just got the 120pan I can’t wait to get out and use it.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Let us know how you like it!!!

[@andriysopilnyak589]

Thank you Ari for another great video! You've made me buy my first Holga a year ago, now I want to try a panoramic one :) Quick question, had the colour film expired before shooting those pictures, or is this just the colour profile you get from kodak? I've never used it myself.

[@ShootOnFilm]

It was fresh color film But as with every color film digitally scanned, there is some variation in results. But this is pretty much what my Portra 160 always looks like,

[@danncorbit3623]

I liked the Holga images. I liked all the images on the standard Holga and the color images on the wide one. It has to be a very different lens, considering the vignette on the regular one. There is no way that lens could cover the wide frame. If it is the same lens, I bet you will find a Barlow addition inside there to add that huge increase in distance to the focal plane.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Something like that, yes. I haven't opened it up -- yet :-)

[@biglenslittlelens8162]

Nice photos, a little less holga like. Mine arrived the other week and just ran two rolls through it on the weekend. Portra 400 and gold 200. Keen to see how the exposures worked.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Excellent. Please, let us know how they turn out -- more or less Holga? :-)

[@paulterl4563]

Have you tried with the 135 format? Maybe you'l like the Sprocket Rocket from Lomography.

[@innstikk]

Thanks for the testing. I agree,

[@utekopka7920]

Great video Ari! I have had this camera on my radar for a while but have refrained from buying until now. I am wondering if I could hack it with a really good LF lens and one of the other comments confirms this. Seems that I might have a new project now. :)

[@ShootOnFilm]

Go for it!!!!

[@johnleebold8894]

Interesting artistic dilemma . It would be good if the Holga had lens change options

[@ShootOnFilm]

I'm pretty sure you can easily yank out it's lens :-)

[@ahsanabbasphotography]

Cracking images in there!

[@letmebereal]

Hi Ari, what frame numbers do you use? Is it 1,3 5.... or 2,4,6,.... or just either one .

[@ShootOnFilm]

Odd numbers. 1-3-5-7-9-11

[@danncorbit3623]

Can you use a cable release on the wide Holga? I am really sure that the reach would bother me.

[@ShootOnFilm]

Not directly. You need to get this: www.ebay.de/itm/234183091514

[@baggerrider8073]

Ari, that particular Holga takes pictures that are just too good to be a bad, quirky camera. Maybe after you use it a while you can decide if it’s worth buying another one to see if perhaps you can find a Holga panoramic that’s a really good, bad camera!

[@ShootOnFilm]

Yeah, Holgas seem to be all different. 😊

[@danncorbit3623]

@@ShootOnFilm Maybe you can swap lenses with the bad lens Holga. I guess the barlow lens sits below it and is not integrated.

[@ShootOnFilm]

@@danncorbit3623 That's an interesting thought!

[@VictorBezrukov]

You're right - i expected some distortions like in frames taken with Horizon 202. :-)

[@ShootOnFilm]

Exactly!

[@terrywbreedlove]

I was just looking at this camera on BH. Very tempted but not so sure what I would actually do with it. And you know $99 could buy lots of film for my Olympus point and shoot.

[@ShootOnFilm]

I know what you mean! I hope this video would help a bit ....

[@terrywbreedlove]

@@ShootOnFilm Just finished watching and yes I am not going to buy it. Your video was just in time :)

[@ShootOnFilm]

@@terrywbreedlove Got you! It is what it is 🙂

[@Dwarvenchef]

I just picked up the Holga 120 pinhole and find it to be quite entertaining

[@ShootOnFilm]

Entertainment is what Holgas do best!!!

[@ggaffrey8573]

You may have found a use for 35mm.

[@farouk6564]

Can you replace the lens with a large format lens?

[@ShootOnFilm]

I believe I could -- theoretically. I mean, I'd need to break the camera, do some calculations about the distance etc etc. So yes you can, but it would be more like rebuilding the camera.

[@farouk6564]

@@ShootOnFilm 6x17 cameras are so expensive , this could be a great solution for people that already have 4x5 lenses

[@letmebereal]

Hey Ari do you or any one out there know of a source for shutter release adapter for the 120 pan. Thanks.

[@ShootOnFilm]

www.ebay.com/itm/125533418672?itmmeta=01HTPVAZFJ79VX0M8NZVPKPZ2Z&hash=item1d3a5ff4b0:g:PsYAAOSwGtJjXRTQ&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwKRyi3k3uIvHJKL42hpa1Utn525Wu0QvdCeN01jcNKePnDufJmIuYbn3U6Gyf624eB2NliRkszDG1z9G4swZ5li7u5CQc%2B5o3EI45ga6CSytg0zZJIaagTSzVn1HuGS9uh7QOzSwfL1oLZzAiTkQpprFIg2cKUKnnXN7CffXTAbXOaUo456I7%2F5imu3tX639IhhNp85%2Bbwlu9YWB7fpeQm3GBHjGu%2F8OKqo8MliYC0Uox0rS1CDkCcFEXxfUoiAz4g%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_D3q9vVYw

[@letmebereal]

Thanks Ari

[@spuggym8986]

I personally quite like it, although it just looks more like a conventional wide angle camera

[@ShootOnFilm]

It does, doesn't it!!

[@spuggym8986]

@@ShootOnFilm it could be still interesting for night time or long exposures, since it's arguably less precious than other cameras because of its price point and simplicity you could arguably use it for more risky photography, rain/snow/near water as you have done

[@ShootOnFilm]

@@spuggym8986 I already took some photos really close to the water in a moving boat -- as you can see. :-). But that long exposure and leaving the camera out for hours is a very very cool idea!!!

[@rick-fstop-lewis]

I have a Holga and I'm almost disappointed that it has no light leaks.....yet...lol. I wish holga or whoever is making holga now, would reissue the holga 3d

[@ShootOnFilm]

A Holga without light leaks now like a punk band without a drummer 😊

[@Headin_South]

Just buy another one Ari, no two are the same 😂

[@ShootOnFilm]

That is so true. At least with a regular Holga! :-)

[@HelmutHergarten]

Heyhey ... if the Holga 120 pan is not that good for you, you can sell it cheap to me.

[@florian_kopr]

rofl, i just ordered 5 days ago the same holga 😀

[@ShootOnFilm]

Let me know how you like it

[@rmchenryphoto]

Panorama Panorama pan a lan a ding dang. That's what my baby said to me...

[@ShootOnFilm]

She's cool!

[@tedphillips2951]

Please do more with it. It really looks interesting!

[@ShootOnFilm]

I did. Here is the new video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKLEinWip9N5n7M