Holga EF mount lens vs Canon 100mm Macro? Yep.

This might quite possibly be the strangest lens comparison on the Internet. Let me explain why I posted this blog. On a whim I purchased a Holga 60mm f/8 lens. It was only $25 and I thought it might be fun to play with. When it arrived, I wasn’t really surprised about the quality of the lens. It is completely plastic and looks and feels as cheap as it really is.

If you’ve never heard of Holga, don’t feel bad. Here is a link to more info.

Apparently they started making lenses for Nikon and Canon so you can get the Holga experience using a modern DSLR. As far as I know, the only focal length available is 60mm, it has a fixed aperture of f/8, and crude, limited manual focus.

Holga 60mm f/8 EF mount lens.

My first attempt was to use the lens on my Canon 5D MkIII, a full frame camera. The lens was basically unusable on this camera. The vignette was so bad only the center of the image was visible. In addition, even thought the ISO and shutter speed were set to get a proper exposure at f/8, the image was quite under-exposed.

I put the lens on my Canon 7D and, because of the 1.6x crop factor, most of the vignette was gone. However, now the effective focal length had changed to 96mm. So, in order to compare the performance of the Holga lens I had to find a similar lens that I was familiar with. The only fixed focal length lens I have that is close to 96mm is the Canon 100mm Macro IS. I know that $25 plastic lens can’t compare to the $1000 Canon 100mm (one of Canon’s sharpest lenses). And to make things worse, I shot the 100mm Macro on my 5D MkIII.

So here is the unworthy comparison between the lenses. Disclaimer: these are not artistic or even good photos. I shot them out the front door of my studio. Both images are JPGs converted from RAW with no adjustment. The first photo was shot using the Canon 100mm Macro IS.

Canon 100mm Macro IS

This next photo was shot with the Holga Lens.

Holga 60mm f/8

Notice that the Holga vignettes are quite severe, the image is softer, there’s less saturation, and contrast.

There’s also one much larger difference between the two lenses. Both photos above were shoot at ISO 400 and at f/8 (the aperture is fixed on the Holga). But the photo with the Holga lens was shot at 1/40 of second whereas the photo with the Canon lens was shot at 1/320. That’s 3 f-stops! The Holga lens is not an f/8 lens, but is really an f/22 lens! That makes the lens ridiculously slow.

Final impressions? It’s a cheap plastic lens with limited use. The truth be told, I’ve never shot with the Holga 120 camera, so I can’t compare the results of the Holga lens on a DSLR to it. Is it worth the price? I don’t know, it’s something to play with, shoot some photos, then grow tired of. For $25, maybe you’ll get your money’s worth if it helps spark some creativity or inspires you. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Ken.