We personally have a soft spot for the Holga. In our days as undergrad art students, the discovery of this “toy-like” medium format film camera was an epiphany. It was a more affordable, not very precious, device whose sometimes finicky behaviors created surprising effects, could easily create double exposures, and was just fun to experiment with. It has endured with photo enthusiasts through the years and, now especially, there’s something to love about the return to analog, of tempering immediate results with patience, and the surprise of what’s to come… very much like the relationship to the garden.

We actually think it’s a great for garden photography. Gardens are notoriously hard to capture… and the Holga takes some of the pressure off of perfection and brings us back the basics of light and composition. It tends to create slight distortions resulting in a dreamy vignette that can capture the romance of landscape beautifully.

About the Holga 120GCFNA
This glass lens version of the cult classic adds greater sharpness and contrast while maintaining the charm of light leaks, soft edges, and rich vignetting that the camera is known for.

Sharpness is better achieved with its glass lens, but the real joy is in its unpredictability: the built-in flash with a spinning color wheel (choose red, blue, yellow, or white) adds playful bursts of light, while the manual film advance and zone focusing slows things down in the best way.

Note: Film is not included. We recommend starting with 120 film (ISO 400). Both black & white and color films are suitable and will each produce distinct visual results with the camera.