The Holga
A plastic 120 roll film camera, generally available for less than $15.00, the Holga is the successor and heir apparent to the fortunes of the legendary and totally cheesy Diana camera, (and its permutations) now a cult item that sells for $50.00 or more on eBay and elsewhere. I just saw a Diana e-auctioned for over $110.00! If you have a Diana locked in a closet somewhere - this would be a good time to implement Plan B - The Holga Liquidation Retirement Fund Realization Option.All these cameras have individual personalities - one Holga doesn't perform the same as any other Holga - pays to have a bunch of them to play with. This is also true of any Cheesy Camera.
The Holga has one more distinct advantage over the Dianas - it has a hot shoe and with a simple, inexpensive PC (positive contact, not personal computer) adapter can be used with studio strobes. How cool is that?
The humbling nature of cheesy cameras cannot be overstated - one of my Holgas kept putting big...BIG...light leaks on the top of the frame (the bottom of the film plane). My natural reaction was to increase the layers of gaffer's tape until it took fifteen minutes to get the film out. Finishing up a roll was like unearthing Tut. Turns out the Holga sneers at conventional wisdom. I had been s-l-o-w-l-y squeezing the shutter release like a good boy, but what I didn't know was that as I was attempting to create sharp. quality images, the Holga was partly opening the shutter as I was taking out the slack. D'oh! Workaround: jab the shutter like your grandma used to. Think about it - what could it hurt?
Holga Images 
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