Plastic Passion: Revisiting lomo cameras in 2025 (Part one)

By Steve Thomas | 3 September 2025

I felt a little insulted and turned my nose up when I was first handed my mom’s old Kodak Box Brownie as a teenager. Surely my mates would laugh me out of the room when I pulled that thing out!

But oh, how times have changed. That ancient box and others like it could quite likely be a valuable classic now, and one I’d give my best Hawaiian shirt to own again, even in an era of digital perfection.

Luckily though there’s a burgeoning market in cheap, plastic film cameras today, with these tiny and highly temperamental, imperfect devices picking up a new audience of fans.

Like anyone of a certain age, I grew up using film cameras. Back then there was no other choice, and for the first 15 years of my career film was what I used. That all changed with digital, and to be honest, I’ve never looked back.

Well, that was until I picked up a magazine over two decades ago with a lovely but slightly imperfect image on the cover. It was a shot captured on a Holga, a small and highly basic 120mm plastic toy film camera, and I just had to track one down.

Later, I also bought a Lomography Diana and all the accessories the company could throw at me. But sadly, apart from the initial fling we had together, these devices have all been largely ignored, until now.

So, is it possible to still produce quirky old magic with these funky devices? I decided to dust mine off and find out. Here’s what I’ve learned.

A statue outside a rural northern Thai temple, captured around 16 years ago. This is a fascinating place, but to give it a different and more engaging feel I walked around this Buddha statue and shot it from numerous angles.

Modern history

Plastic and toy film cameras have been around for decades, but it was the Austrian company Lomography that re-discovered a lost love for them.

Although today there are many different plastic film cameras to be found in the Lomography range, there are two models that stand out: the Holga and Diana. Both are “medium format” 120mm film cameras, but both can also be adapted to shoot 35mm film too.

The Holga was first produced in Hong Kong in 1982 and was aimed at the evolving middle class in China - offering a cheap and cheerful way into photography, and as 120 film was the most readily available film at the time, that’s what the designers went with.

The Holga is an extremely simple fixed lens camera, with a plastic lens that is around 60mm in focal length. It has a shutter release trigger, a bulb setting, a cloudy and a sunny setting (somewhere between approximately f8 & f11) and a shutter speed of somewhere between 80-1/100 of a second, a basic focusing ring, and many models come with a built-in flash.

Every Holga is different and highly imperfect, which is something you will need to figure out and work around to taste.

There are no real manual controls, and the viewfinder is vague on accuracy to say the least.

It may sound crazy, but this totally unpredictable camera is often touted as both the best and the worst camera in the world – which I can attest to, having one model that fits each of those definitions! That said, it’s probably the camera that I would recommend over almost any other.

By comparison, the Diana, which was first produced as a giveaway novelty gift by the Great Wall Plastic Factory in Hong Kong during the 1960’s, comes in countless variations.

Unlike the Holga it can be found in interchangeable lens varieties and comes with all manner of plastic lenses and accessories, which include 120 & 35mm film backs.

By using various mask inserts you can also shoot different aspect ratios, with the 35mm panorama being my personal favourite. At the same time, if you so desire, you can also find lens adapters to mount the plastic Diana lenses on certain digital camera bodies.

With its many lenses and accessories, the Diana is perhaps the most versatile plastic camera out there.

The back seat of a rickety local rural bus in Northern Thailand, captured 16-17 years ago with my red Holga. The idea was to capture that dreamy travel feel by combining the emotion and the sensation of this basic transport in one image through a double exposure.

Film and scanning

There is no getting away from the fact that film, processing and scanning are a costly business these days, and unless you strike it lucky, your journey with plastic cameras will start out with a fair amount of trial and error.

Buttons and dials slip and slide, films can get over and under exposed, and you will burn through a few rolls before you can even begin to decide whether they are worth persisting with.

Although the Holga and Diana are essentially 120 medium format cameras, do not expect medium format results beyond the negative size.

Northern Thailand, around 17 years ago and captured on my original red Holga with 120mm film. The idea was to use multiple exposures to show the contrasts between the old and new methods of transport in one single image.

At the start at least, I recommend using cheaper 35mm film if you can, as it’s more readily available and easier to get processed and scanned. It’s also more forgiving of imperfections. Unless you have a dedicated film scanner or a good flatbed and film adapter it’s probably worth just paying for a lab to scan the film too.

As you progress, it’s worth trying a little cross processing if you do have any slide film to hand, as the results can be quite surreal and pleasing when they are C41 developed.

A reclining Buddha statue outside a rural Thai temple, captured on a Holga with a 6x4.5mm film mask. The aim was to capture a pensive and respectful image, the slight exposure overlap was one of those unexpected gems you only discover when you develop your film!

It’s likely you will also see a lot of Kodak Vision3 35mm film available at the lower end of the film price range. This is cine film re-rolled into 35mm film canisters. It comes in various ISO’s and comes in D & T rated varieties (daylight and tungsten). I’ve used a few versions, and I like the classic and simple look of it.

If you do decide to use this film, choose a lab who can process Remjet backed films. It may cost a bit more, but it will still work out cheaper than most other film processing.

Look out for part two next week.