Holga 135BC Review by Jay Versluis

Holga 135BC - what's in the box

I’ve had my eye on this camera for a while – like every Holga Nut I imagine… who could resist the temptation of another Holga, especially if it’s different to the ones we know and love? Unlike its big brothers, this one takes standard 35mm film and produces 24×36mm negatives – easily processed on the High Street.

I rushed down to the Photographer’s Gallery last week to get the Holga 135BC, and I couldn’t wait to try it out. But before I show you the breathtaking results, here’s what this camera is all about.

There are two versions: the Holga 135 and the Holga 135BC. As I understand it, the only difference is a pink sticker on the BC version, and the fact that BC stands for “black corners”. This one should produce stronger vignetting, while the non-BC version shouldn’t.

Although there are no clues on the package or the manual, it’s fair to assume that this little baby is made by Tokina in Hong Kong, along with the rest of the fabulous Holga family.

What’s in the Box

We have the following ingredients at our disposal:

1x Holga 135BC (nice!)
1x Lens Cap with HOLGA written on it (I think all the new ones have that since 2008/2009)
1x pink box with example photos, a “drawing” of the camera featuring some monkey sticker. Note that the word “Holga” is written in a different font than what’s on the lens cap, the camera and previous boxes (I guess they’re not branding specialists – which makes it more attractive to me)
1x user manual
and one of those hand straps that you *can* attach, although nobody in their right mind ever would

The Outside

Plastic. Cheap plastic, that’s what we like. But unlike his bigger brother, this one is really well built. The back doesn’t come off completely (it’s hinged, like on a proper camera). There’s a film counter on the top (just like on a proper camera), and the shutter button is at the top, not next to the side of the lens. Speaking of which, you can screw in a cable release for long exposures.

As for features, they’re almost identical to the 120 version: at the bottom, you’ve got a switch for “normal” and “bulb” settings, so double-exposures or as-long-as-you-press-the-button exposures are back with a vengeance. Of course there’s a standard tripod mount. Nice!

On the top there’s a hot shoe for an external flash, and we also have that notorious aperture switch. Just like the 120 version, it technically works, but both apertures are the same. Should make for easy modding I would hope. The lens barrel (if you want to call it that) has the same outer dimensions as the 120 version, so all accessories should fit like a glove. I love it when manufacturers do that!

The Inside

This is how the vignetting is created: there's a translucent cut-out mask 1cm behind the lens

Under the hood, things look a bit different. The film winds from left to right, like on standard 35mm cameras. However, it unwinds counterclockwise (as determined by the cartridge), and winds into the camera clockwise. I’ve not seen that before! It’s a great idea though, because it makes the film less curly when you come to handle it for processing or scanning. If this is in fact the reason behind it, who knows.

Tha back pops open by lifting the film rewind knob. You wind the film with a wheel at the top right, like on a disposable. Film transport is done by a sprocket next to the film chamber, and a 1cm thick take up spool. All the components, like the rest of the camera, have a very sturdy feel to it.

If you look closely at the film chamber, you can see a translucent mask behind the lens that covers the corners – the responsible part for creating that great vignetting effect.

A massive difference from the 120 version is the pressure plate, a spring loaded black plate that presses the film gently over the film chamber. That keeps it flat during exposure and is often left out for cost.

Technical Specs

The manual states the lens to be a 47mm, which means it’s wide-ish for a 35mm camera. It looks just like the 60mm lens from the 120 version though, but judging by the results (see below), 47mm sounds about right.

Size Comparison: Holga 120GCFN vs. Holga 135BC

The Leaf Shutter speed is 1/100th of a second, which I can’t confirm or deny. The one stated aperture is f8, which is true for both the sunny and the cloudy setting.

An external flash gun gets triggered on either setting (I’ve tested the camera with a Canon 580EXII), but interestingly it triggers both the first and second curtain. It’s an important detail if you’re out for some bulb-flash experiments.

Let’s take some pictures

I couldn’t wait to try my brand new Holga out. After all, it’s the 6th in my collection, but I didn’t know what to expect for results. Would the 35mm version deliver pictures just as cool with an otherworldly feel to it? I paid my £39.99 at the Photogrpaher’s Gallery Shop (just off Oxford Street) and picked up my wife from a osteopathy session. There’d still be plenty of time left in the afternoon.

To my disappointment, it was a rainy cloudy day over Marble Arch that afternoon, but I decided to give it a spin anyway. I grabbed a roll of Ilford HP5 and finished it off in Camden the next day.

I knew I had to help matters a long a bit, so I developed the roll at 3200 ASA. Here are the results from my first ever roll in what could well become one of my favourite cameras.

The grain is not artificial, it’s due to the higher ISO setting I’m using. Although I’m not heavily into black and white photography, this could just convince me to keep going that way on cloudy days.

The slight sepia tone was added by Adobe Lightroom, I like it a bit warm – it certainly helps make black and white pictures look their best on non-calibrated monitors.