Review: HOLGA DIGITAL – The Art of Mezame Blog
DISCLAIMER: This is not a paid review.
A friend got me this HOLGA DIGITAL camera. Many thanks!
Like it’s an early birthday gift, I took it for a quick spin when I got home but spent the first hour or so trying to figure out how the bloody hell do I even shoot with it.
It didn’t come with a manual of course so I had to rely on YouTube videos. Guess this is part of the HOLGA DIGITAL discovery journey!
Options for capturing images: 120 (1:1 aspect ratio) or 135 (4:3 aspect ratio). There is no “on” option but switching to either aspect ratio turns the camera on, signified by a red LED light. To turn it off, turn the dial to “off”.
So here’s a quick review of this tiny toy camera.
First impressions
- It feels like a plastic toy compared to the professional cameras I use for work
- Very lightweight – feels almost like an empty bottle of Yakult reshaped into a camera
- Totally retro feel – similar to the HOLGA 120 film cameras we are used to
- Compact – waaaaaay smaller than a HOLGA 120 film camera
- SD card slot has no cover – there goes the weather-sealing! Haha
- No LCD screens – that means no flip-up screens – so take that, Insta-selfie-perfectionists!
- Viewfinder is simple – no need to worry about eyestrains from looking through EVFs (haha)
- 2x triple-A batteries are required to power the camera up
- No way to change focus manually on the 60mm lens – minimum focus distance is around 1.5m
- You have only a few modes to choose from – 120 or 135 (1:1 or 4:3 aspect ratio), colour or black and white, or sun/cloudy to change aperture into either f2.8 or f8
The shutter to capture images onto the 8 megapixel CMOS sensor can be activated by pressing the shutter lever located next to the lens down, similar to its larger film counterpart.
Shutter lever right next to the lens. You can get the optional lens adaptor to enable fisheye lens attachments on your HOLGA DIGITAL.
There is a bit of a lag when it comes to shooting with it so wait for the red LED light inside the viewfinder to completely be off before moving to your next shot.
You can use a tripod as there is a tripod mount underneath the camera if you are shooting a scene which may drag the shutter.
The tripod mount sits in between the SD card slot, the micro-USB port and the battery port. Slide towards the arrow to open the battery port. Simple!
The SD card was what made me experience a delay in trying out the camera. I use a SanDisk Ultra 64gb SD card for this test. It wasn’t the SD card’s fault.
Usually, we have either NTFS or exFAT format on our external storage devices. Windows 10 doesn’t even offer FAT32 options for formatting SD cards unless you use third party software to make it happen.
Some users say the camera only supports SD cards up to 16GB. I had no issues with the 64GB Sandisk Ultra SD card.
I used EaseUS Windows 10 FAT32 formatting tool to have my SD card formatted into FAT32.
The camera can format SD cards when holding down the shutter lever for 10 seconds and waiting for the flash to go off but since I don’t have 10 seconds to spare (haha) or a flash unit, I didn’t get to try it.
Once the SD card has been formatted into FAT32 format, I can finally register my shots. Before that, when it was in exFAT format, pressing the shutter does nothing. LED in viewfinder lights up but no images were captured.
Image file sizes range between 800kb to 1 megabyte in black and white. I have yet to try colours but I expect them to be similar in size or maybe more. It is after all an 8mp camera.
Conclusion – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- The Good: It’s lightweight and has simple functions. If you are looking at a way to have digital photography go the way of hipsterism, this is it. There’s a hotshoe on the camera for flash possibilities.
- The Bad: Its functions are so simple that it can confuse first-time users. Very limited controls and feedback for your actual use. You don’t know what you are focusing on but this matters little.
- The Ugly: SD card formatting can be an issue for those who are not tech-savvy. File types are all JPEG (but it is expected after all), and have one major flaw – when the camera shoots, it labels everything as taken on 1 Jan 2012 and there’s nothing you can do about it. Welcome to Groundhog Day!
It’s a tiny plastic toy, not a professional camera, ideal for hobbyists who want artistic or abstract shots. Great especially for hipsters who feel film can be too expensive. Forget about getting those colours and looks HOLGA film cameras are known for. You will need a third-party software to edit your images to look like them.
It’s a nice throwback to the days of film with a digital twist. It’s absolutely unpredictable, and you don’t really know if you got the shots unless you download the images off the SD card or with a USB cable from the camera itself (it has a micro USB port).
Image samples
The following images were captured in black and white mode and are taken straight out of camera. EXIF readings are read with Capture One Pro 12.
ISO: 100 | Shutter: 1/8500s | Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100 | Shutter: 1/60s | Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100 | Shutter: 1/16000s | Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100 | Shutter: 1/610s | Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100 | Shutter: 1/2750s | Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100 | Shutter: 1/95s |Aperture: f/2.8
Should you get it? That’s up to you. You can find used ones on eBay or Carousell at prices between SGD$70.00 (if you’re lucky) to SGD$150.00.
If there’s anything I would like them to improve on, it’s a beep or different LED colours to let me know if my shots are possible – a beep to say it’s ready or in-focus, and LED colours to differentiate operations – green for ready, yellow for busy and red for errors. This would be extremely helpful if I am doing formatting of the SD card in the camera itself.
Overall, I love this camera! Will I use it everyday? Not likely. I have my camera phone for that. Will I use it for fun, or for street photography? Yes. Its nuances are its charm, and its unpredictability makes a break from serious work a welcome.
#HOLGA #HOLGAdigitalcamera #review #theartofmezame #theartofmezameacademy
