Happy Father’s Day, Brought to you by Holga

Holga HL-N 60mm f/8.0 Lens. Photo Courtesy B&H Photo & Video.

Well, I was right. Amongst the many thoughtful gifts I received today from my wife and daughter, was a genuine Holga NL-N.

The tiny lens-sized box gave me a hint, so I made it the last gift I opened. Once I got past the quaint, generic packaging, and removed the tiny rear cap (Kudos to Holga for not overlooking this detail) I ran for my D90.

It mounts with a reassuring click, much better than the Holgamods “body cap” version. There’s lots of play, but then that just adds to the charm. Perhaps there’s a light leak in my future. My daughter poses for a quick portrait, and right off the bat I can see that they got it right. This truly has the characteristic Holga look.

Another nice thing is that this qualifies as a “pancake” lens; very compact and lightweight. Technically a 90mm lens on an APS-C camera, this is the perfect length for portraits. Although it only focuses as closely as three feet, the magnification its focal length affords lets you get in pretty tight, and it’s incredibly sharp. Yet it performs equally well at with long shots at infinity focus. Very versatile.

It actually makes my D90 behave like my Holga 120FN! At ISO 400, it’s good in bright sunlight, but move to the shade or indoors, and the camera’s built-in flash is in order.

I’ve read that the “vignetting mask” tends to create an odd pattern, but I’m lucky to have received a version where the mask is perfectly aligned to create four dark corners. All I can say is, look out Lensbaby!