The Holga 120 WPC is plastic-bodied pinhole camera. It does 6x12 frames as well as 6x9 with a mount. It is the most simplest camera you will find out there, especially if you want to shoot medium-format wide landscapes in particular.
The way that you use this camera is pretty simple. I'm going to take you through the basics of it so that you can get shooting straight away.
How to start shooting with the Holga 120WPC
The way that you release the pinhole is by pushing this button inside. It's on the side. Then it will release the f135 aperture with a 0.3-millimeter radius, pretty small pinhole. You'll get your frame on 6x12. In total, you're going to get six shots on a 120 roll. You've got to carefully think about what you want to shoot as well as how you want to frame it before you start shooting it.
At the top of the camera, you have a very simple outlay. This is where you wind your film. You can hear the little click. The little dots at the top are guide on how to compose your image. You will need to look down the middle and line your shot either side. Thankfully, you have a little spirit bubble at the top here, so be sure to align your bubble in the middle to get some balanced images.
Before you start shooting with this camera, make sure that you have this arrow at the back that's on the downward one. It should point at ’12’ instead of pointing at ’16’. As such, you will get 6 frames when shooting 6x12.
I have created a little label and stuck it of my Holga 120WPC. It outlines what I need to do when shooting 6x12. IIn summary, once you've got frame number one lined up in the window , then you need to skip once you've taken the shot to number three, then to frame five, then to seven, then to nine, and finally 11. If you don't do that, you're going to get double exposures happening along the frames themselves. It can also create a great deal of confusion when cutting your negatives after they have been developed! In summary, remember the frame count is always in odd numbers.
If you are unsure about other guidelines, www.mrpinhole.com is a great website for the finer details on pinhole photography. At the back of the Holga, there is some exposure guide information. If you're shooting fine weather, hold the shutter for seven to nine seconds. Overcast hold for 10 to 12 seconds and morning or dusk, hold for 13 seconds. Ignore this! I've tried several times with these recommendation and not had much good luck. Instead, invest in a light meter such as a Sekonic L308x or use a light meter off your own mobile phone. Even if you are shooting for fun, you want your images to be well exposed, as such, don’t cut corners with this.
How do you load the film on a Holga? Pull the silver latches on either side and gently lift them off to remove the film back. You'll need to make sure that you have a spare spool so that you can load your film on. Just try not to move this foam bit in the middle because otherwise the film would not sit properly and also make sure you don't remove the foam from the other side either.
Now pop the film in and then draw it across. Once you've got the film in place and you put the tongue in on the right hand side of the camera. A word of caution, just make sure that you can actually feel the film going on. So you might need to give it some help here cause for some reason there's no not another latch down here to attach the film on. You might find that it won't catch in which case you're going to have to keep on just trying. A way to get around that would be to put some sellotape.
Then align your film arrows as you're loading it on until it's in the middle so I don't lose any frames. Make sure that you tighten the roll on so you can feel the firmness on the right hand side of the camera. Once you have the arrow in the middle, all you need to do is pop back on the film back make sure that it's the right way up, and then just gently hover over and it should definitely go in.
Then on the either sides of the camera just make sure that the film back sits flush and pull down the latches to firmly put in to place. There won't be anything in the red viewing window so you need to keep rolling the film until you see a bar. Then you keep going until you see some sundials. It is very easy to skip the first frame. Therefore just be really slow and gentle with it when you are first starting off. Keep going until the sundials get larger and larger. At this point slow down further until you get to frame number one.
You can shoot handheld or with a cable release by depressing the button located next to the lens of the camera. Just remember, when you have shot the first frame skip to number three, then five, then seven, nine and then finally 11. Once you have your six frames make sure you do some extra winding of the film at the end just to make sure that it's all securely rolled up. Take off the film back off by depressing the silver latches and you've got your film.
Top Tips on Using the Holga 120WPC
That is the full breakdown of the Holga WPC 120 pinhole camera. Firstly, I strongly recommend that you shoot this camera on a tripod because any little shake on this camera will have an major impact on your film.
Secondly make sure that you have a cable release. Get a strong sturdy cable that will last you a long time. It gives you that further control when you're shooting. Particularly when you're shooting on a tripod.
Remember the images are not going to come out tack sharp. If you are one person who can do that I would love to know how you do it in comments section of my video. On each frame expect that you're going to get heavy vignetting occurring.
Get out there, play with lots of different films, just get an understanding of how light works, how you need to compose your images. This is perfect for that. It's very inexpensive. I think this costs about £50. You can use this pretty much forever. It's completely mechanical, nothing electronic about it in any way, shape or form. Finally, don't use the exposure guides given on the back of this camera!