toycamera

How I Built a Digital Toy Camera

Are you sometimes annoyed by having too many easy and convenient ways to take perfect photos? Don’t despair…

Watch Photography Professors Do a Shootout with Kids’ Toy Cameras

Northern Arizona University recently decided to conduct a photography shootout that pitted two of its photography professors against each other. The challenge: to shoot the best graduation portraits they could with toy digital cameras designed for children. You can see how it went down in the 8.5-minute video above.

Watch Pro Photographers Try to Shoot with a $22 Bunny Camera

In a bit of a call back to the classic DigitalRev TV "Pro Tog Cheap Camera Challenge," YouTuber Jessica Kobeissi enlisted one of her professional photographer friends for a special photo challenge: get the best possible campaign/editorial photos using only a $22 bunny camera. Hilarity ensues...

I Shot Military Survival Training with a Holga Toy Camera

My name is Corban Lundborg, and I just completed a series of rare military survival courses at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, during February 2020. I was authorized to bring a film camera to the field portion of SERE (Survive, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) School. Equipped with a Holga 120N plastic camera, I was able to capture four rolls of Ilford HP5+ medium format film.

A Toy Camera Shootout with $40 VTech KidiZoom Camera for Kids

There probably isn't a photographer in the business who hasn't heard someone say, "You must have a great camera!" But is the camera really the primary reason behind a great shot? Putting this to the test, Jessica Kobeissi teamed up with photographer Brandon Woelfel to see what can be achieved with a toy camera.

The Holga 120N is Coming Back from the Dead

After its launch in the early 1980s, Holga cameras became popular options for people looking to shoot medium format 120 film on the cheap. Production was shut down in late 2015, but now the camera is making a comeback: the classic Holga 120N is coming back this year.

Four Dirt Cheap Toy Camera Lenses You Should Try

Want to mix things up a bit, gear-wise, without breaking the bank? Photographer Mathieu Stern has an idea for you. In this short video he shares four cheap toy camera lenses that he thinks are worth your time.

I Bought a Holga Digital. Here’s a Hands-On Review.

I bought a Holga Digital through the Kickstarter fundraising campaign in August 2015. It is a fairly early model, so by the time you read this there might have been some tweaks or firmware updates.

I have never owned the original film Holga (or any medium format camera for that matter), so this review is based on the behavior of the Holga Digital camera on its own merit, not compared to its film predecessor.

R.I.P. Holga: The Hit Toy Camera Comes to an End

After being designed in 1981, the Holga medium format toy camera developed a cult following among photographers who valued its affordability and unique lo-fi results.

But all good things must come to an end: Holga cameras will no longer be produced from here on out.

Tilt-Shift Effect Applied to Photographs of the Cosmos to Create a ‘Tiny Universe’

Photographs of galaxies far far away rarely convey just how large what you're looking at really is -- after all, how can you even fathom something that is measured in light years across. But these photos of the cosmos do an even worse job. By applying the tilt-shift effect in post, these photos show galaxies and nebulae look like they could fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

The Bonzart Lit is a Fun and Affordable Tiny Toy Camera

The Bonzart Lit should look somewhat familiar since we shared its big brother, the Ampel, with you back in June. But even though the toy camera-style design is the same, the two cameras offer very different experiences.

The Ampel was a not-quite-toy camera with a tilt-shift lens built in, whereas the Lit is a very-much-toy camera that offers a fun and strictly non-professional photo experience on the cheap.

Is This the First Toy Camera Photo Taken from the Edge of Space?

We've seen cameras sent to the edge of space to take pictures, and we've even seen toys photographed at the edge of space. What we had never see, however, was a toy camera photo taken from the edge of space -- until now that is.

The photo above was the result of a summer-long project by a class at Harrington College of Design in Chicago, and it's the first Holga toy camera photo taken from the Stratosphere.

Using Disposable Cameras as Makeshift One-Time-Use Toy Cameras

When visiting Lancaster, Pennsylvania recently, Portland, Oregon-based photographer Lindsey Boccia made the mistake of not bringing her camera bag along for the journey. Boccia wanted to play around with analog photography, so she decided to buy some disposable cameras.

A quick visit to a nearby camera shop netted her four one-time-use cameras for about $6 each. She then "distressed" them to turn them into experimental lo-fi toy cameras.

Build Yourself a Leica M9-P Hermes with 114 LEGO Pieces

Leica's Hermes edition M9-P is a beautiful camera that comes with a steep price of $50,000. If you don't have a spare 50 Gs lying around waiting to be burned, check out this replica created by Halifax, Nova Scotia-based photographer Chris McVeigh using 114 LEGO pieces. Sure, it may not be functional as a camera, but it's a great conversation piece, and one that you can build yourself at home!

How to Use a Holga as a Handheld Wet Plate Camera

Wet plate photographer Ian Ruhter has received a good deal of attention over the past year for using a custom camera van to create giant collodion process metal photos. When he's not turning large sheets of metal into photographs, he's sometimes working on the opposite side of the spectrum.

One of his recent interests has been shooting pint-sized photos using a Holga toy camera that he converted into a wet plate camera.

Holga’s New Rotary Filter Lens Brings the Lo-Fi Craze into the World of DSLRs

It was about this time last year that the world was introduced to the Holga iPhone case: a strange-looking gizmo complete with a rotary wheel packing 9 separate lo-fi filters for the toy-camera, retro lover in you. Well, much like the Swivl we reported on yesterday, Holga has decided that bigger is better, and is attempting to break into the DSLR market with a new rotary wheel lens for DSLRs.

Fuuvi Nanoblock Digital Camera Lets You Build Your Own Toy Camera, LEGO Style

Nanoblock is a plastic building block system that's like a shrunk-down version of LEGO. It has been growing in popularity as of late, and may soon become a fad on the level of Buckyballs. Japanese novelty photo company Fuuvi has partnered up with Nanoblock for a new toy digital camera that can take on all kinds of custom shapes and designs.

Manga-Camera is Like Instagram Filters for Japanese Comic Lovers

There's an iPhone camera app generating quite a bit of buzz, and it's not Instagram or Camera+. The new rising star is Manga-Camera, a fun app that's been downloaded like hotcakes in recent days (okay, we made up that expression). It has been downloaded over a million times in just the past week, and is currently the number one most popular app in the Japanese App Store.

The app is similar to Instagram filters, except instead of making your photos look like they were taken with a retro or toy camera, it makes them look like they were drawn by a Japanese manga artist.

Dirkon: The Vintage DIY Pinhole Camera Made of Paper

The Dirkon pinhole 35mm camera is made entirely from paper cut from a template by designers Martin Pilný, Mirek Kolář and Richard Vyškovský. The three published the template in a 1979 issue of Czechoslovakian magazine ABC mladých techniků a přírodovědců (translated as An ABC of Young Technicians and Natural Scientists). While original prints of the magazine are rare, the Dirkon gained cult popularity in Chzechoslovakia.

Lomography Announces a New Pocket Camera To Go With Their 110 Film

Admittedly, people didn't react all that well when Lomography announced that they were bringing 110 film back from the grave, but you have to give them credit for pressing on. Despite criticism that the old toy camera film was never any good to begin with, Lomography have now announced their new Fisheye Baby 110, a pocket-sized camera to go with the pocket sized film.

Homemade Digital Lomography Camera

Faking toy camera effects with apps or software is a big fad these days, but Joel Pirela of Blue Ant Studio went a step further: he built his own homemade digital Lomography camera using some walnut wood, hand-polished aluminum frame, parts from a 5-megapixel Vivitar Vivicam, and an Olympus OM series lens.