Hole-On Ex Bust

For my birthday my sister bought me this pinhole camera kit that I had been eyeing forever. Maybe I should add pinhole photography to my list of things to do in my life, but it just doesn’t seem to ever happen. Unlike an experience, it seems, most kids did when they were in grade school, I’ve never done any pinhole photography. Yes, In ALL my college photography classes I’ve never done pinhole. When I signed up for a community course in pinhole photography the class was canceled because I was the only one who signed up.  I’m just lucky that way.

  I was so excited to get this camera, The Hole-On Ex. And then a little less excited while building it and seeing how skimp the instructions were. The camera seems to focus too much on form rather than function. I ended up omitting some minor parts that were purely for show. I shot a roll of film at Shabonna Park experimenting on exposures and was so excited to go pick up my film. Only when I went to pick it up they said “no charge, film was exposed”. I had taped it closed so the only place I imagine light leaked was at the location of the “detachable lens” Why they made the lens detachable is beyond me. To me it seems like it is just asking for problems. I also found the on/off switch very difficult to maneuver without jostling the whole camera, and pinhole cameras depend heavily on their stability. My sister then found the following review on amazon and I couldn’t have agreed more.     

1.  I bought this kit for my 9-year old son (younger than the package’s recommended age), but even with me doing a lot of the work, it was extremely difficult. Some of the most difficult parts are only decorative. The package says that all you need is glue, a ruler and a pencil, but one instruction calls for double-sided tape. Also, the directions indicate that you need Elmer-type glue, but it was impossible to get the pieces to hold without using more powerful hobby-type glue. (We used Duco cement.) Also, the directions say to light test your camera, but don’t tell you how. We shot one role that didn’t work, but will try again.
   

One good thing I can say about it is that it actually did forward the film as it was supposed to. I think if I were to use it again I will really disassemble it to a freakish frankensteinish shape of it’s former self to get it to work correctly.