Holga Factory Shuts Down Its Production of the Iconic Camera and Accessories

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The announcement was made last week by the Hollywood, California-based Freestyle Photographic Supplies, the exclusive distributor of Holga cameras in the USA.

“It is with a sad heart that we say goodbye to a camera that has been so popular with so many. A Holga Camera really is about creativity and unpredictability and a refreshing medium in today’s digital age,” Freestyle Photographic’s President and CEO Gerald H. Karmele was quoted as saying in a statement.

Quoting a spokesperson from Holga, Freestyle Photographic further reported that “…all Holga tooling has already been thrown away and there is nothing available for sale.” This means that while new units will no longer be available in the market, Holga cameras may still be bought from remaining stocks in shops and distributors all over the world until they run out.

First introduced in the early ’80s in Hong Kong, the Holga was created by T.M. Lee and remains to be popular among analog photography enthusiasts for the characteristic soft focus images, with the occasional light leaks, that it produces.

In honor of this cult photographic classic, let’s have a look back at some of the most popular Holga photographs from the Lomography community:

Credits: tommynorth, frauspatzi, atria007, gendis, stouf, hodachrome & evev

Information in this article was sourced from Freestyle Photographic Supplies via TechCrunch. Additional information on the Holga from The Wall Street Journal and Lomography’s Holga microsite.

2015-12-01 #gear #news #holga #news #discontinuation

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25 Comments

rancliffhasenza · 2015-12-01 09:52
nooooo
thobie · 2015-12-01 10:13
Och nein!
stouf · 2015-12-01 11:36
My first 120 too. Will love it forever!
pearlgirl77 · 2015-12-01 11:40
soooo sad :( i orderd last week a cmyk version after i hear this :(
frenchyfyl · 2015-12-01 12:27
:-(((
ivaylo · 2015-12-01 12:48
Sad news.
sirio174 · 2015-12-01 13:12
I hope that one day Lomography will restart the production of the Holga 120 camera (as was made for the Diana F+). Both are great cameras, similar only in appearance but that complement each other!
dermanu · 2015-12-01 13:26
I'm very sad about that, too. But maybe it was inevitable. My first lomographic camera was a Holga 120 GFN, which is still in use and still one of my favorite's. I too made a Panic purchase. I ordered the 120 GTLR, a yellow 135 TLR and the HL-N (the Holga lens for Nikon SLRs).
carsten-schmitt · 2015-12-01 13:32
Even if the tools have been "thrown away" it's not a particularly difficult design to copy. Look at all the cameras which were available (rather expensively) in the Japanese "Gakken" magazine. All of them are available as cheap knock-offs, i.e. Recesky Cameras from China. I'm pretty sure that someone who sees the opportunity to make a quick buck with the Holga will step in.
Not to mention the possibilities with 3D printing getting cheaper and more accessible...
jvujnovi · 2015-12-01 13:52
Although I never owned a Holga, I always find news of any factory closing sad. I especially find the decision odd & sounding like a quick decision. The reason seems unclear, but the owner of the factory was apparently 84 years old & this may have had something to do with it. It seems strange the tools were thrown away seems strange as well - normally when a factory closes they at least try to sell the assets & land to get something out of it!
However, maybe this an oppourtunity for Lomography to manufacture a similar product, as well as looking into some new ideas for film cameras. Perhaps an online poll by Lomography of its users to see what types of cameras they use & would like to see developed is an idea.
dermanu · 2015-12-01 15:53
I am guessing that many things come together here. The Age of the T.M.Lee, a congested market, and maybe even the new Holga Digital.
zhenyaetoya · 2015-12-01 16:56
:C
lawypop · 2015-12-01 17:13
My First Plastic camera :((
troch · 2015-12-01 17:40
Deep sadness. If I was restricted to only one camera, it would be the Holga 120N. Thankfully, I have a collection of them.
sirio174 · 2015-12-01 19:53
Holga Digital was an error. True Holga users wanted film holga only
alienmeatsack · 2015-12-01 20:17
Sadly, the Holga Digital project is not directly connected with Holga and the people running it have run their ship aground. It's very possible that it will never produce a working product in it's backers hands.

Makes me want to get a few extra 120N bodies and one day fit a small digital inside if I so desire.
ihave2pillows · 2015-12-01 22:09
no..........
gepo1303 · 2015-12-01 22:47
bad News!
dermanu · 2015-12-01 23:18
@alienmeatsack do you know more than everybody else? I wouldn't lose hope yet.
b2377 · 2015-12-03 08:18
Why did they throw the tools away!?!? So wasteful! >:-(
chas52 · 2015-12-03 16:10
Seems to be a mean and spiteful act, not only to close a factory that makes a product people want, but then to gloat "I thrown all of the tooling away" shame on you
alienmeatsack · 2015-12-05 21:10
@dermanu About the Holga Digital project? Ive got little birdies who've been doing their homework and tell me the chances of a product showing up are 50% and about 90% that it's junk. It's not officially a Holga product sadly, basically "Polaroid" all over again.

Or Holga in general? And I agree with you all, throwing away the tooling, hell, I would have pitched in to help buy it so someone could make more Holgas and I dont have much money.
alienmeatsack · 2015-12-07 18:20
I've noticed that Holga cameras are already starting to be marked up by people who want to make some money off this. Sad.

And I got some updates on the Holga Digital from the Kickstarter so I am thinking that things are progressing which is good. Maybe these new guys will do well enough they'll take over the film camera builds too?!
mmxi · 2015-12-10 16:47
I think I know what is going to be the next Mystery product)
Will load some film in my Holga TIM.
Factory closed, which means that you will not get a new camera. Holga is so sturdy that yours will last for ages!
neja · 2016-03-15 23:16
oh no.....