How to use Holga 120WPC Pinhole Camera

In this video I will be unboxing the Holga 120 WPC Pinhole Camera and running a roll of Ilford Delta 100 through it. You’ll learn what you get in the box and how to start shooting with this incredibly simple to use pinhole camera in very little time.

What is a Holga 120 WPC Pinhole Camera?

The instructions manual is about 6 pages long. If you are confident with your analogue film photography skills you can skip this, however it will only take a few minutes to read and may save you from making any little mistakes!

The Holga 120 WPC comes with a 6x12 mask and a 6x9 mask. The 6x12 mask will allow 6 full sized medium format images to be taken and on the 6x9 in total 8.

Gently remove the silver hooks to open up the back of the camera. On the back of the camera, you've got a few instructions, the exposure guide. It outlines your exposure settings working with 100 ISO film. For fine weather, hold the shutter down for seven to nine seconds, overcast 10 to 12 seconds, and then for morning and dusk settings, up to 13 seconds.

I strongly recommend that you go and get the light meter, you can download it onto your phone and then adjust it using that. But I also believe that there must be some instructions on here about setting exposure times. Nope, there's only the exposure table, which is here, which is the same as what you get on the back here.

How to take your first shot with the Holga 120 WPC

Once you have loaded your film into the camera and firmly closed it shut. Mount your camera to a tripod and take off the plastic pinhole cover.

The shutter release button is located next to the pinhole. To release the shutter simply push the/depress the shutter and light will pour on to your film. Once the shutter button is depressed just hold it down for however long you want to expose the shot for.

I strongly recommend using a cable release for this as manually depressing the shutter will lead to camera shake and may affect the quality of your final image. Essentially screw the cable release in the shutter release button and then you can just hold the cable release down for however long you want and then let go.

In this video I use Ilford Delta 100 professional film, so this should give us a good range of images. If you expose it correctly. Place the film in to the left hand side of the camera and pull the paper across to the right. Carefully make sure the film is secured on to the right spool by rotating the dial at the top right hand side of the camera. Once done close the gates on either side. Make sure these are securely locked. Once done rotate the dial on the top right hand side of the camera. As the film moves along you get some arrows first, some star, sun signs, and then there you go until you get number ‘1’ in the red gate at the back of the camera. Be careful not to overshoot this!

Shooting the first frame

Before you start shooting, make sure that you light meter for the space that you're gonna be shooting. The Holga camera comes with its own set of parameters, it recommends that in fine weather, you want to be holding it for seven to nine seconds. On this F135 aperture,double check and see what settings the light meter suggests. Better to use the most accurate measurements if you have the ability to do so.

In the first frame the white building gave a reading of one second. The blue building in the background, for about two seconds, so a two-second exposure for this to probably have, maybe to be on the safe side, maybe three seconds perhaps.

Once you have your light meter readings get your camera aligned for your shot. At the top of there are three points, which helps you to frame your shot carefully.

The camera also has a useful level bubble to make sure you have the camera aligned completely level. Once you have framed your shot and levelled, take the lens cap off and take your shot!

In the video you will be able to see how I frame up each shot and shoot with the corresponding results.

Conclusion

When shooting with any pinhole film camera there are a number of fundamental things you must use to capture the right shot each time.

  • Tripod

  • A light meter

  • Appropriate film for the day

  • A cable release

When shooting with the camera, remember to skip the frames. Start with Frame 1 and then skip to 3 for your second frame and then 5 for the third frame and so forth in odd numbers. This applies to both 6x9 and 6x12 formats on the Holga 120 WPC. Failure to pay attention to this fine detail will result in multiple overlapping exposures leaving behind half of your negative in post processing blank!