Holga 120 Pan
The Holga 120 Pan appears to have launched in 2011. The 120 Pan answers the question: “What if we make a Holga that eats film twice as fast as before?” Don’t worry, they did not fix anything or add more controls or upgrade the quality. No, they just made it bigger. At least wider. Much wider.
It is basically two Holga 120 camera bodies wide, with a 90mm lens attached and a viewfinder slapped on top. It still has all the quirks of a Holga. Sun = f/11 and Cloudy = f/8 are the approximate apertures. A fixed shutter speed of about 1/100th or bulb mode. A nice set of four icons for focus distance, starting at 1m. Same plastic back, precariously held in place by the same clips, except now the back is twice as wide as before. There are two hot shoes on the top and a bubble level. The level could be helpful with such a wide frame. With something this wide, being off on the horizon really shows. Not that I would know. You can also buy a 35mm film adapter kit to turn the 120 Pan into an extra wide Sprocket Rocket.
Actually, shooting this beast is very Holga, with a few exceptions. The normal peeking through the back window to advance the film is now twice as long because you are skipping the even numbers. Pressing the shutter release and holding it down is more difficult because the shutter button is now much further out and the camera is twice as wide. To get a 90mm lens on this, they did not develop a new lens. They took a regular Holga lens and shutter assembly and built a plastic housing to move it further from the film. A tripod would be a good idea but seems a bit un-Holga to me. There is still a tripod mount in case you decide to be a serious photographer. Did I mention they added a cable release for use on a tripod? No? That is because they didn’t. Where do you think you are?
My Take:
At six shots per roll, this is a great use of expired film and adds to that classic Holga experience of guessing at the settings, pointing it in the general direction of a subject and having no idea what you are going to get. But now you need to look for wider subjects. Landscape felt like a safe target for my first roll and the advantage of living on an island is you can get a sunrise and sunset over the water on the same day.
Don’t worry, it is still a Holga so if you get a good shot, you are a creative genius and if you don’t, it was because you were just playing with a toy camera. To prove they have not lost the true path, look at the photo of the camera above. Notice the picture on the box? It is flipped. This is an “agloH”. I did not do that. That is the actual box. One side is correct, and the other is inverted. Just the Quality Control we have come to love from Holga.
What, you shoot 6x6, 6x7, and sometimes 6x9? That is cute. Hold my lens cap, and I’ll whip out this 6x12 plastic monster and show you how to waste film faster with my wide-ass Holga 120 Pan!
Lens: Holga Optical Lens 90mm
Film: Kodak Portra 800
