Holga HL-C 60mm f/8 Lens for Canon DSLR Camera(Black)

This is a fun lens for the price, it's certainly niche but you can get a lot of cool effects out of it with very little effort. That said, it's absolutely NOT f/8. It's MUCH slower, so slow that the viewfinder will be fully blacked out in low light conditions. I did a little digging around and confirmed my suspicions that it's more like f/24. Apparently, this is because Holga lenses are terrible at focusing to infinity, so they basically make it "squint" with a very small aperture, which greatly increases the distance it can focus at. This also means it has a very deep depth of field. From what I've seen, it's easy to modify the lens to open the aperture up, which makes the depth of field much more limited and allows for some pretty crazy chromatic bokeh effects, but it also makes it impossible to focus past ~25 feet. I'm half tempted to buy another just to try that out, haha. Still gets 5 stars, just because of the price.

I have several film Holgas from ancient history, and this will mush up your 40something megapixel images *perfectly*. I have an R5, and it works great with an R-EF adapter tube. Even with the adapter, I was amazed at how quickly the camera recognized and communicated with the lens for rapid, tack sharp foc—Nah, I’m kidding. This is as manual as it gets, nothing is sharp, but at least on a digital back you can see “focus”. Holgas are medium format, so I can confirm that this will cover a full-frame sensor with no problem. This is a great update to the toy camera tradition, and it’s doubly great for being basically plug and play. Plus, now you can use it for video. It’s f8 so don’t expect to use it indoors without a flash or some kind of light, but it’s also f8, so it lends itself well to long exposures. It’s also 60ish mm in practice, so don’t expect much in close quarters. Overall, for $20, it’s same as it ever was. This is the lens for getting out of that ultra-perfect advertising aesthetic and into something less predictable.

My main gripe with this lens is not the image quality, which is lousy in a perfectly acceptable and expected way, but the vignetting. On my full frame camera, unless focused at infinity, the frame edges are practically black - it's a round porthole into the image. This effect is significantly lessened if the lens is focused at infinity. I would also note that the distances listed in the manual for the focus symbols are way off. The minimum focal distance is really a bit over a meter, not 70cm. I'm fine with that, but it's worth noting. Also, there is a rosette pattern to the aperture opening, with little holes around the central one. On my full frame camera, this rosette pattern is clearly visible and oddly distracting. I would have preferred a simple hole without the extras. On a crop sensor, this is a lot more useful - much of the vignetting and odd aperture effects are out of the image area. This is incredibly inexpensive, and can certainly produce fun images - and I will continue to explore it on a crop sensor camera - I wouldn't bother with it on full frame.

I picked this up to experiment with Holga-style images on my old DSLR. It’s very easy to attach and definitely fun to play around with, but you get what you pay for. The lens is made from basic plastic, and the image results just aren’t what I was hoping for—more soft and inconsistent than that classic Holga vibe. At this point, it might be more effective to take regular photos and apply a Holga-style filter afterward. It’s still a cheap way to experiment, but the creative payoff is limited.

If you don't know anything about Holga cameras or if you don't like the aesthetic, this is not the lens for you. If you like the look of photos taken with a Holga camera and are wondering if this lens is right for your Canon digital camera, it probably is. Read on! This is essentially the same plastic (NOT glass) lens in a plastic housing that is used on Holga cameras, except it's attached to an adapter ring that allows it to screw onto any Canon DSLR in place of its normal lens. It has the same optical qualities, for the most part. Since I use a mirrorless Canon EOS M100, I used an additional adapter to fit the lens to my camera. Here's what I learned: 1. Due to the cropped sensor size of my M100, the Holga functions more as a 90mm lens than a 60mm lens. 2. Although the lens is supposed to have an f-stop of f/8, it seems to be much closer to an f/20. I needed to crank up my ISO well beyond 1600 when taking photos outdoors in twilight conditions if I wanted to keep my shutter speed at 1/100 or 1/200. Indoor photos require a LOT of lighting. The lens does make longer exposures possible, due to the tiny shutter speed. 3. You're not going to get light leaks from this lens. You wouldn't get them from a Holga lens mounted to a Holga body either, as the light leaks are caused on the body's shoddy construction. 4. Even with the crop factor, there's some vignetting visible in my photos. As with the 35mm version of the Holga, this vignetting is kind of a 'cheat' and not due to the plastic lens itself. Holga introduced a mask of sorts to the adapter ring, and it's that mask that causes the vignetting. 5. The focusing ring is the same as on the regular Holga lens on a regular Holga camera. Love it or hate it, this is what you've got and you'd better learn to use it because autofocusing does not work on analog, manual lenses. This is a great lens for capturing the dreamy, quirky look of classic Holga images. It has a much stronger (some might say "overbearing") personality than the 'Oreo Cookie" pancake lens that is currently making the lo-fi rounds. It's not for everyone as the Holga has a very selective appeal. But I'm glad I have it in my camera bag and I love using it. I much prefer using this lens to emulating the Holga look using software or the "toy camera" setting on my Canon M100.

I am a total noob in the photography world, but always have loved it. I have an upcoming trip to Boston, and fell in love with the idea of doing a film album of it. However, I realized that today film cameras are not the affordable thing they used to be, especially when it boils down to revealing your pictures. I have a Canon Rebel T6 which I’m taking on the trip with me, so I figured I’d give the Holga lens a shot. In my inexperienced-experience, this lens was simple to install and use. It is very lightweight and made out of plastic. It works great in the auto setting which is great for those of us who are not handy with the manual settings. The pictures with flash also look great in my opinion . What I find the most tricky is the focusing aspect, which may not be the lens but just me. I have added some of my practice pictures in this review in case some of you want to see what kind of image can be produced with this lens:) Overall, if you are looking for a fun alternative lens that gives you pictures similar to those family photo albums from the 80’s… then you’ve got yourselves a deal with this one. **UPDATE** You all better buy this lens! I finally went to Boston and I’m so happy with the pictures I took using it. I added some in this review! Very important to play with the settings to get your best shot!!!

Once I received the lens, I removed the single screw on the back, screwed off the lens and then popped out the small black plastic that has the pin holes in order to allow full light exposure. After putting it back together in reverse order, the lens now takes pretty cool pictures (: It is not fully in focus, it acts like an old polaroid style image, but I love it. No focus, just point and shoot. Cool effect for retro looking photos!!!!

I was taking a gamble on this when I found out these existed. I have had a Holga 135BC for 10 years or so and I used it a lot, but then it ended up in a box. Preparing for a road trip, I found it and two rolls of film. I took it on the trip and tried to get some good shots. Only to discover how insanely expensive film and processing are these days. Also, come on, whose computer has a CD drive these days? Two weeks to process? Digital killed 1-hour photo, I get it. Smartphones basically killed handheld camera-only devices unless you're a photographer. Yet, I yearned for the past but didn't want to break the bank or use Instagram filters, so I gave this a try. I figured if it sucked, I could return it. But it works great. Granted, the Holga aesthetic is not just the lens. It's the light leaks, the film, the mistakes that often make unique photos. So, not *exactly* the same. But good! And for $20? I got it the next day and for less than the price of getting a roll of 35mm developed. Just accept it's not gonna be 100% the same and you'll be extremely satisfied. I try not to look at the photos until I've taken 36 of them so I don't start tweaking too much. It'd kill the vibe.

Este lente debe ser usado a manera de diversión y experimentación, la foto tiene viñetado y unos colores retro que me encantan, si te gustan las fotos super definidas y a gran resolución no compres este lente, es mas bien para jugar a tomar fotos y hacer fotos estilo "lomography", tomar fotos en blanco y negro y este lente son una gran combinación.

Es un lente muy muy obscuro, pero se puede arreglar modeando el lente.

I would give this 5 stars if it weren’t for the imperfections, and the imperfections might lead me to give it 3 stars if it weren’t for the price. Frankly I think you get what you pay for— a cheap toy lens that sometimes gives you really cool photos. Whatever f stop this lens is listed as having consider it f22. You need high ISO even in full sun and if shooting indoors is combined with high power flash. Considering the look I don’t mind it. It’s not supposed to be perfect, I just find you have to mindful not to blind human subjects if shooting in darker environments! I’ve ordered 2-3 of these over the years. They all had their own imperfections. The lens my sample photo was taken on has a foggy spot on the middle-right of the frame which annoyed me, leading me to order a second which had no issues. That being said I like the imperfections with the look of this lens and will be using the original to play around with lighting and add interest to my photos. I have no issues using this on my older EF mount canon camera, for some reason my RF/EF adapter won’t work with this lens but I believe if I turn off the setting in camera requiring lens focusing it may work though it’s yet to be tested. Would recommend, it’s fun way to get the Holga look with immediate turn around and a much better cost!

I'm gonna give this a 4. I'm enjoying this so far and see the potential with this lens. Yes it gives you that nostalgic feel, but with the right framing and shot it gives an artsy fartsy look to your photos. It is not a super sharp lens, it flares lights and can be over washed for brightness, but if that's what you want.... well then this lens does that. It's extremely light to carry and not very big, so if you're worried about carrying it cause of extra weight or size.... no worries! I'm honestly tempted at getting a couple more and modifying them.