Holga Camera Users?

[MiamiHurricaner]

I just purchased the cheap Holga camera with a flash. I have had mixed reviews of people telling me to tape and not to tape. My question is... should I tape it? And WHAT am I taping, how do I go about it?! Any other suggestions or photo samples would be nice. Thanks!

[ben-s]

Do you want the light leak effects?
If so, forget the tape, if not, plaster all the gaps and joints with opaque tape.

You can buy proper light sealing tapes, but they would probably cost more than the holga itself, so just use a reasonable quality black insulating tape.
Peel the stuff off the roll and let it relax before applying it - as you remove it from the roll, it stretches, and will shrink and become a nasty sticky mess if you don't let it relax.

Holgas are totally unpredictable, so consequently some swear by them, others swear at them :D

[vidled]

There's quite a bit of info on the Holga's on the web. Google will be your friend.
There was a good resource called "Maine Photographic Resource: Holga Instructions", but the main page is down; found this though:
http://www.rit.edu/~lgfpph/photo1public/holga_instructions.pdf

Neat little plastic cam; you'll get some really neat/different looking shots.

http://pig.us/holga2.jpg
http://pig.us/holga7.jpg

[monkeyking]

Black paper tape is what camera assistants use to seal film cans/mags. Comes off clean with no sticky residue. Tears off roll w/fingers, no scissors needed.
FilmTools among other vendors carry it.

[Dmitry Kichenko]

I must have been lucky because I've never had any light leaks with mine.

Pop in a roll of 160VC or Ektachrome in there, go out, take pictures without a regard for photographic conventions, and see what happens.

I especially love the aperture switch (ie the sun and the moon) that doesn't do anything. Tops off this plastic piece of joy so well.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/378063486_49b5119772.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/415410307_ed9d9de895.jpg

[pheboglobi]

That aperture switch is so bogus... If you take apart the camera lens and shutter assembly, which is real easy to do with a small screwdriver, you'll see the iris is a little plastic piece directly behind the lens and the "aperture" control is another plastic piece that's LARGER than the opening on the iris - meaning its completely useless.

However, if you carefully remove the iris with an exacto knife, you can cut open that iris a bit more or take it out entirely which would give you around an f/4 lens at the expense of some sharpness. You would have to glue the main objective lens in too. After this though, the "aperture" would actually do something, albeit closing down the lens in reverse of the switch markings.

Another popular mod is to make the bulb shutter - holding down the trigger keeps the shutter open. This is pretty easy too, you just have to block the full movement of the blades with a piece of plastic and glue. Pretty easy.

Here are some more detailed mods that you can do:
http://www.geocities.com/markhahn2000/holga_mods.html
http://www.argonauta.com/html/holga_modifications.htm


Alright, good luck and have fun with your new camera.
Garrett

[Dmitry Kichenko]

I'm quite interested in the Polaroid back for the Holga. The price is the only thing holding me back, but it's supposed to be pretty versatile and be able to accommodate a number of different cameras.

Wonder if I can convert one of my packfilm polaroids to work with the Holga. Would hurt my heart to rip out those bellows though :(.

[Haskell]

is there some way I can attach a holga plastic lens to my M2 HVX combo?

[Dmitry Kichenko]

I'm pretty sure you just rip it out of the Holga and fix on the HVX lens with masking tape.

Or plasticine.

[bustak]

my advice is shoot 1st, then tape. I just got my Holga 120fn, so here's some test photos I took last week.
http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga1.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga3.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga4.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga5.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga7.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga8.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga10.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga11.jpg

http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10949/holga12.jpg

The bottom one of the monk blessing my motorbike was originally color, but the saturation was out of whack so I made it B&W, along w/ tweaking the levels BIG time in Photoshop.

[Billy Pilgrim]

I don't have a Holga, but I did find a 'Woca" (which is very similar to a Holga) at a thrift store last summer, for about two dollars, and I've been wanting to use it for a while. Anyone ever use one, or have any advice on what film to use?

[robmneilson]

Ive got a Diana Plus camera and couldnt be happier with it. Ive been buying lots of expired 120 color film on ebay to get some cool color shifts.

[RyanT]

I would suggest not taping it. Light leaks are what makes the camera what it is. I would however suggest taping the back on. I've had multiple instances in which my holga back has fallen off, ruining many masterpieces in the process.

Try to take bad pictures with it and they will come out good, then try and take good pictures with it and maybe they'll turn out awesome. It's really hard to say.

Here's a few of my most recent holga photos.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/rtk9r2/Lani2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/rtk9r2/09_MiaPortrait1.jpg

There definitely a shift of quality from the newer holgas to the older ones. My girlfriend has one of the older ones and all of her pictures are soft soft soffffffft. For some reason mine on the other hand are reasonably sharp. I guess I got some premium plastic.

I've had to cut back on the holga recently though, with 12 exposures per roll and film and processing costs, man...I get broke really fast.

What kind of film does your Woca take, Billy?

[Matty_g]

love that sunset pic.

[MikeA]

i second what has been said a few times here - DONT TAPE HER!

light leaks and the aspect of unpredictability IS the Holga/Diana experience. if you really dont want light leaks at all, then by all means tape it up good, but not every Holga will elicit leaks, and if yours does, she wont do it on every shot. leaks are part of the excitement of the Holga/Diana realm of lo-fi photography and I personally love em.

I dont have any shots with light leaks scanned, but when i do, ill share em...i love em, gives the image a nostalgic, dreamy quality. this may not be what you want, but purists just eat that stuff up. :)

i kno this one doesnt have any leaks, but this is my favorite shot ive ever taken and i just want to share...shot with my Diana F+, FujiPro400, 20-40second exposure:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v194/bobcockrocks/00060004copy.jpg

[RyanT]

Wow man, really love that shot. Very....strange, yet cool.