Holga 120fn Medium Format Fixed Focus Camera with Lens and Built-in flash

Okay, buy this if you want a fun, low-quality, inherently do-it-yourself, medium-format film experience. Whew, that's a lot of qualifiers!

What you get here is a simple 120 camera, with a simple flash, and possible light leaks. You should be prepared to futz with the camera, seal up light leaks if you don't want them, adjust the shutter, etc.

My suggestion if you're interested is to use this with B&W film, develop the film yourself, and scan the resulting negatives onto your computer. That way you get the best of the film world, the emulsion and the processing, along with the ability to actually use the resulting pictures.

This is definitely not for everyone. Know that you want an "artsy" camera before buying.

The Holga has quite a reputation preceding it. And it is a very cool camera. My first experiences (this is before the prints come back... cross your fingers!) are a really mixed bag. actually loading 120 film wasn't as tedious as I thought it would be (its only slightly more complicated than a standard 35mm camera) and the use of the thing is dead simple.

What is difficult though is figuring out the quirks of your own camera. Mine had a shutter issue at first in which the shutter plate (the shutter is simply a disc with a hole cut into that springs into position when you push the shutter) was actually rubbing against the shutter housing, so it was essentially stuck on "bulb" mode. Fortunately, all you need is a "0" size mini- philips head screwdriver and you can get right to the shutter mechanism and bend the flimsy piece of metal.

Update: the Holga experience was a bust for me. The thing was frustratingly inconsistent in simply just taking pictures (which, due to its simplicity was supposed to be a virtue). At this point, I've deconstructed the whole thing and am going to take the lens and mod it for use on my Rebel XT. You really need to accept a certain level of risk that you will get a total dud. And with that in mind I would recommend the most basic Holga without even a flash if you're going to "take the plunge".

The product here is even less reliable and more chintzy than the product description suggests, but that's a good thing: the idea here is that you don't quite know what you're going to get. It'll often turn even the most banal snapshot into something interesting. Not a good introduction to medium-format, though; start with a pro camera and pick this up for fun.