A Holga for $75 !?!?!?

The Sundance Catalogue, the upscale store started by Robert Redford, is now

marketing the Holga Camera as an icon of style. Check it out at

 

http://www.sundancecatalog.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=10931

 

Here's what they say:

 

Holga camera starter kit

 

A cult favorite turned classic, the Holga? camera derives its iconic and

iconoclastic reputation from a quirky lens and quintessential affordability.

Each unique lens imbues photos with an abstract, color-saturated, dreamlike

quality?all the serendipity you need to take your art?or play?to another level.

 

Cool, huh? And the price they want for a Holga is $75. The last time I checked

with B&H for a Holga, I could get 3 Holgas for $75 and have money left over for

at least three rolls of film.

 

As PT Barnum said, there's one born every minute.

<a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=25405&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=25405">Urban Outfitters</a> has the same "deal", albeit $5 cheaper. I asked my friend who works for them how they could charge that much, and she said, "That's what we do... we make some really cheap things expensive."

For those of us old enough to remember pet rocks and mood rings, this newest case of marketplace gullibility of the status-nazis is particularly delicious.

Hey that's not a fair comparison. Sundance throws in the electrical tape for sealing the leaks, B&H doesn't. I bet it's real good tape.

Holga CFN = $37.99

 

Book = $20.00

 

Film = $5.00

 

Batteries = $2.00

 

3M photo tape = $15.00

 

Total = $79.99

 

Seems a fair price to me.

Same price for a REAL classic 1970s SLR with option of dozens of lenses that can make any damn kind of image you want... now THATS the real bargin. It figures that in the age of Nihilism, a camera reknowned for being a peice of junk could fetch prices as high as real System cameras. Not to say Holga doesnt have its place and in the hands of a real wiz cant make great images... but once the suckers realize how much medium format film costs to buy and have processed they will realize they should have just spent $1 at the local thrift store for a Polaroid! Maybe the costs reflects the high quality optics? -(snickers)-

Which is more egregious? Paying $75 for a Holga or $20 for movie and popcorn?

"That's what we do... we make some really cheap things expensive."

 

I like that idea! (^U^)

I wonder if the shoppers of Sundance would like to buy a bridge.

I agree the price is bit high, but you do get all of those other things.

Besides, seeing three of my photographs in the book makes it worth it!

;-)

Brian

if you buy it from lomography they want 70$ for it, so i suppose that is somewhat of a reasonable markup...

That tape could save your life.

Holga kit $75... pictures it makes ...priceless

If anything photographic costs more than what they're selling it for at Lomography.com, you <i>know</i> it is overpriced.

folks, it's not overpriced at all, you are buying a kit here, which includes all the extras... if

you buy a fancy camera, film or digital, all of your accessories cost extra- memory cards,

film, instructional dvd's or books, tripods etc.

b&h isn't selling the same item, they are selling the camera, not the kit. try calling b&h

and ask them to include all this extra stuff for free and you will get laughed at and hung

up on.

lomography does offer basically the same kit, and more power to them. all the stuff

bundled with the camera is good useful stuff for someone starting out. i agree with

andrew, it's a fair price to pay for someone who needs the book, film, and tape. if you

don't need the extras, it's not a bargain. someone shopping at a specialty shop like this

may not be a photo nerd and knows nothing about it. guess what, the more people out

there that there are buying and loving holgas guarantees its future. if holgas become an

elitist snob camera, then everyone loses.

I have a lawyer friend that doesn't know anything about photography, never owned a

camera all her lilfe and is now the proud owner of 2 holgas , and loves them. these are

the only cameras she owns and she is exactly the type of shopper that the kit is targeted

for.

I bought a Holga about a month ago and I imported it from Hong Kong, through E-bay. Together with an adaptor for a 35mm film and shipping costs included, it cost me about 67$. Might sound pricey for the two items, but the price they want in Europe for such a kit (as you described) costs... 100 US$!!! AND the online store wanted an extra 24 US$ for shipping costs, which is pretty insane. Plus, the kit sure has all that stuff, but I don't want to buy overpriced batteries that I'll toss in the garbage sooner or later, because I already have rechargeable batteries at home. I also don't want a book with pictures that are bound to put me down after a coulpe of not-so-good shots rather than motivate me. I want to select my film, and not be depending on which film they selected for my first trial. And I certainly don't want foto tape that I might actually not need - because indeed I was surprise: my Holga has no leaks at all!

 

I was a bit upset about the prices they asked for a Holga at the "lomography embassy". I was also very upset seeing how much merchandise they have. They go around bragging how it all started so neat in Russia and Hong Kong with cheap camereas, like it's so pure and simple... and then they overprice the trend. Ooooh, that annoys me so much!

 

So well... my Holga probably sounds pricey to you, but as you see, it was a bargain for me, even it being an imported item. I pretty much wanted to comment on how overpriced things get once they achieve a certain status, and that's my two cents. ;)

Rip-off!

You think $75 is expensive? Check out the new special edition Holgas being sold by the White Stripes at $180 plush s/h: http://www.whitestripes.com/lomography/lomography.html

The White Stripes Holga has built in options you can't change too. I think. I just paid 99.93 for my camera, filter holder, color filters, crazy angle filters, a case, and two rolls of film @ BandH. I'm not sure if this is a good deal I just know I didn't need a book and I get free gaffers tape and batteries from work.