Review: Holga HPL-C Pinhole Lens

Friday 6 May 2022, 20:10 by Elja Trum | 5,385 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Pinhole photography is the oldest form of photography. Instead of using a lens, the image is formed through a tiny hole. The Holga HPL-C Pinhole lens lets you easily try this form of photography on a modern camera.

At Photofacts Academy, there has been an interesting course about the history of photography for a week or two now. Naturally, pinhole photography is also covered. That inspired me to try working with a pinhole lens myself.

To try pinhole photography on your modern camera, you can start crafting something yourself, for example by drilling a hole in a lens cap, but you can also buy a ready-made product.

Personally, I found the Thingyfy pinhole lenses, starting at 69 euros, a bit expensive for an experiment like this. Fortunately, I also discovered the Holga HPL-C Pinhole lens.

However, the Holga is no longer available new. I found one on Marktplaats for 15 euros.

I used the Holga HPL-C pinhole lens on my full-frame Canon EOS R5. The first thing you notice is that the lens's image circle is not large enough for full-frame. So you get black edges in the corners.

1 second, 100 ISO
Of course, you can crop the image afterwards in your photo-editing software so that the black edges are no longer visible. It is something to take into account when taking the photo: you lose some of the image as a result.

You cannot focus the Holga pinhole lens. That is the case with all pinhole cameras, incidentally. The image is always equally sharp everywhere. How sharp it is depends on how small the aperture is. A smaller hole produces a sharper image.

The hole in the Holga HPL-C is about 3 millimetres in size. A smaller hole would produce sharper photos, but the disadvantage is that the exposure time would also be longer.

Because of the relatively large hole, you can achieve a reasonable exposure time with a high ISO, during the day. So you can also shoot portraits with this little lens, for example.

Vera, 1/50s, 3,200 ISO

Quality of the Holga HPL-C Pinhole Lens

The Holga HPL-C Pinhole lens is really nothing more than a piece of plastic that fits a Canon mount. It does not even contain any glass, the 'pinhole' is literally a hole in the plastic. So do not use this lens in a dusty environment, as the dust will land directly on your sensor.

After just a few photos, my Holga broke. A piece of plastic came loose from the back. This made the photos even more blurred than they already were. Fortunately, the solution was simple: a little glue fixed everything.

So focusing is not necessary, and there is no aperture adjustment either. You set the correct exposure on your camera using the shutter speed and light sensitivity (ISO).

Conclusion

The Holga HPL-C Pinhole lens really is a toy. It is only fun as an experiment. A way to experience what pinhole photography is and how the first photos were made.

The build quality of the piece of plastic is mediocre and there is nothing to adjust. You screw the piece of plastic onto your camera and play with the shutter speed and light sensitivity to take photos.

Fortunately, the price reflects this too, at around 15 euros it is a fun toy for anyone who wants to experiment with pinhole photography.

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