The Holga 120WPC is a wide angle pinhole camera from the same people that brought the iconic toy camera, the Holga 120.

Like it's older brother, the 120WPC takes 120 medium format film and comes with two removable masks. The first is a 6x9 cm mask which will result in 8 shots on a roll. The other mask is 6x12 cm and results in 6 wider shots on a roll.

The camera has no viewfinder but on the top of the camera, there are guide lines which can be used to roughly compose the shot . Also on the top is a bubble level which is useful for ensuring you don't have a tilted horizon.

Because it is easy to get camera shake during long exposures, it is a good idea to make use of the threaded shutter release and use a cable release. There is also a tripod socket provided on the bottom of the camera.

The pinhole itself is stated to be 0.3mm with an aperture of f/135 (f/133 in the manual) and there is an exposure table on the back of the camera.

During my tests, I used a Sekonic L-208 light meter to meter the scenes and then used the exposure guide on Mr Pinhole's website to convert the metered values into pinhole exposure times.

The times I measured were vastly different from those on the exposure table on the back of the camera. In some cases, those times were 5 times the values that I metered so the use of a light meter is recommended.

When a shot is taken, the film is then wound on to the next odd number frame so for example when using the 6x12 cm mask, you would shoot at frames 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 & 11 or at frames 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 & 15 when using the 6x9 mask . Multiple exposures are possible by not winding on between shots.

Here are a few photos from the first roll. For these I used the smaller 6x9 cm mask.Click a picture for a larger version.

For this roll I used a small amount of tape to keep the camera back on but I deliberately did not do anything to reduce light leaks. There was a small amount of leakage around the edges of the film but nothing appeared in the image areas.

The user manual has an interesting section under "optional extras". The "FA135-120WPC" is a 35mm converter kit that produces 24 frames 108 mm wide. Unfortunately the section is written in strike-through font so I have to assume this option is not available currently.

The Holga 120WPC can be purchased from Freestyle and currently costs us$50.

Update: I have taken a few photos using the 6x12 cm mask and you can see them here.