My holga looks too.... normal

After much research across the web, and finding I liked alot of the

results of shots taken with a HOLGA, I bought one. Excitingly, I

exposed my first roll (HP5) and was looking forward to the results.

What I got wasnt anywhere what I expected. Now I uderstand that you

get what u get with these plastic toys, but I expected vigeting at

least.. not a single shot was like that. All had that cheap disosable

camera look, but nothing else inherit to the Holga. Is there any way

I can help this "look" along? One thing I DID do was I remvoved the

645 insert, and cut it to make it fit as a 6x6. Any help would Be

greatly appreciated!!

Same this happended to a friend who, after seeing some of my prints made with a Holga, ordered one from the US, only to find that his lacked any of those...er...admirable(?) Holga qualities. I think the only solution is to buy another one and the keep the first one as a collectible ;-)<br>

<br>

Best, Jamie.<br>

<br>

jamie drouin : photographs<br>

<a href="http://www.jamiedrouin.com">http://www.jamiedrouin.com</a><br>

Leave the insert out altogether but make sure you cover the two holes inside

the chamber (that the insert normally covered) with tape. You'll still get a 6x6

image but the film won't be pressed as flat and it should vignette like crazy.

James...relax!

 

First, I do not know what you expected with the Holga, and I do wish you could post a sample...that would be so much easier to give you an answer...if only this damnable forum would allow easy "browse" downloadinding of images...the moderator of this forum is so totally rigid against easy image psting...I don't know why!!! Hells Bells...that's what photography is all about! Images...not hardware!

 

I will send you a couple of samples of what I have done with my Holga unit by personal e-mail.

 

Be patient...and do remove the 6x4.5 frame.

 

My cameras comes from the HolgaMod site and they are a bit different.

 

Go here: http://www.holgamods.com/

<Img Src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1301229&size=lg">

 

The attached photo was taken with a HolgaMod comera with extreme backlighting using a modified film frame to accomidate 6x6 images.

 

I will also attach another example below of a more "normal" image once I can get it ready for image transfer.

 

I just wish Mr. Andrew Booth, the moderator, would key into the Photo.net easy image download system. It takes me such long time to post images here. That's what photography is all about: IMAGES!

 

Bottom line: play with your camera and see what it will do for you.

There's the problem with indifferent quality control: Sometimes they just can't get it wrong.

 

Give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of Holga parts and an infinite amount of time and eventually they'll produce one that beats the best optics in the two universes.

<Img Src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1301248&size=lg">

 

This is another sample using a "modified" Holga. Please contact me if you have any questions.

 

Many users of these cameras have quite different expectations, and results...in both B/W and Color.

 

What is a Modified Holga? Look here. You can also get your basic Holga Modified throught this site: http://www.holgamods.com/

 

I use the first Modified Waist Level Holga ever made...the SWL...serial number 000,000,0001 ;>)!

 

Hey...this is just fun photography...and a bit of a challenge to get something good from a Toy Camera...no big deal!

Taking out the insert completly will do it, take up the two holes as

said already, then i had sharp scratchy edges left where the

insert should have been so I put tape along these and it works

well, warped, blurry, dark everything you want from a holga!

true story. while at Santa Fe Workshops week-long workshop in San Miguel de Allende, several Holga experts claimed a necessary requirement for the true Holga experience, is to put the camera into the oven and bake it till the lens starts to deform. I have posted this before, and need to state the disclaimer of bearing no responsibility for my suggestions and the sad fact that I do not have oven temperatures and durations to publish.

 

I took a more prosaic option and drilled-out the aperture, which didn't get me as far as I desired. best of luck.

A concentrated blast from an electric hot air gun does the same trick and with better control too than an oven.

I can relate. Like some of the responders I bought a modified Holga last year from Holgamods and made some necessary additional modifications (e.g. film tensioners, duct tape on body, tape over the 2 small holes around shutter etc.). Yet, when I shot my first few roles in Chicago, I was disappointed. Sure it had the expected vignetting (although not as exteme as I expected), but I found the lens surprising too "good". I like using selective focus and shooting wide open, but found I the images too focused for my liking. There was poor focusing on the edges as shown by the image of the tree above, but when I shot a picture of a the corn cob buildings in Chicago with the focus set @ 3 feet, the towers were still too focused for my liking. (e.g. check my folder Chicago-Holga images to see what I mean). Therefore, I went back to my other project and made my own version of Mark Tucker's famous plungercam (check marktucker.com/plungercam) for my Hasselblad 202FA. While I love Keith Carter's image and style with the Flexbody, this seemed too cumbersome and expensive, for my point, shoot, and run style of photography. Discovering Mark Tucker's plungercam images was a godsend.

 

So I finally found the time to make my own. Now, while all of you Americans have been rushing around buying out the entire nation's supply of duct tape, I got out my black Duck brand tape (fortunately left over from my Holga modifications) and taped a Rodenstock 6x6 3x loupe to a drilled out Hasselblad body cap, to create what I call my HasselDuck MT camera. Fashioned together with Duck brand black tape and the MT recognizes Mark's invention. I shot a couple of rolls today and hopefully early next week I will have the film developed to see if this can create the "perfect" Holga-like effect. That is, very selective and controllable focus, with virtually 0 depth of field. Even better, the f stop is probably @ least f2 I suspect, so it is more versatile in low light than my Holga. I will keep you up to date.

Well, to further my post, my images had zero vigeting, which was the main thing I was looking for. All were exposed fairly well, within stop of each other, but I would say that it was nearly too sharp. Now, of course Im not talking tack sharp like a true optic, but somewhere between... I understand compleatly that u get what you paid for, and Im not complaining.

I'll first take the insert out, and maybe smooth out the edges around the center to prevent the scratches as advised. Now, Ive been using soft foam inserts under the rolls to cause them to have more tension, if I remove those will that cause the film to vigent more? Is there a healthy middle?

<IMG SRC="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=1302281" WIDTH="599" HEIGHT="479"> <P>Here is my HasselDuck MT camera (modifed version of Mark Tucker's plungercam... Hopefully, this will cure the "my Holga is too good syndrome" ... Besides, what else are you going to do with all your left over duct tape next week ..

<IMG SRC="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=1302281&size=md"> Here is my HasselDuck MT camera (modifed version of Mark Tucker's plungercam... Hopefully, this will cure the "my Holga is too good syndrome" ... Besides, what else are you going to do with all your left over duct tape next week .

 

sorry for the repeat but I can't get my image up

Let's see if this shows up: <img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1302281&size=md">

Todd, you said "Hey...this is just fun photography...and a bit of a challenge to get something good from a Toy Camera...no big deal!".

 

I admire your modest understatement, however reflect on this. One glance at your portfolio and I think most people would agree that you're an extremely accomplished photographer, delivering authoritative images across a range of oeuvres with unswerving accuracy.

 

However, out of your formidable body of work the image that made the greatest impression, that provoked that involuntary shiver of emotional engagement, was the ghostly statue in the church wall. Holga or not it's unnerving, thrilling, disturbing, haunting, and completely compelling.

Well I think Todd's only allowed one oeuvre, unless he's Hindu, but I like the Holga photo too.

<img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1307707&size=md""><br><br>

Is this abnormal enough ? ... Well, I think I may have found a better solution to the Holga, thanks to Mark Tucker's invention and suggestions. I guess there are some better ways to use duck tape than sealing up a room. Can't wait to take my duck tape lens to Europe.

I recently bought 2 Holga cameras hoping for the same but I was a little disappointed. I used gaffer's tape to cover the 2 holes inside, left the 4.5x6 insert in, and sealed the entire thing in gaffer's tape. No light leaks, no vignetting, just a little out of focus. And, boy, did that tape ever leave a sticky mess. I think I will load my next roll into my 2nd camera and not tape, maybe not even use the insert at all. That kind of hurts after spending the better part of an hour over the weekend cutting it out and filing it to a nice 6x6. Oh well, live and learn. If I have any luck it will be posted to my web site listed below.

 

Jef

http://inDigital.ca

One solution might be to get a Diana! Holga's have too much quality about them.

 

Or don't do too much taping.

 

Or print dark (check Todd's image of the church) to accentuate the vignetting.

 

Or filter with some strange optical thingy (this is tricky, with all due respect, the 'blad flower image does look like it had one of those groovy Hoya special effects filters on it).

 

Or pinhole it (remove the lens completely!).

 

Note that some Holga's have glass lenses, and it is presumably the plastic lenses that are the more perversely desired.

yes reminds me of when i bought a diana and was so sad when i got no vignetting. but then after a few more rolls i got vignetting in certain images. i don't know why.

 

then i got an holga and the vignetting is not pronounced but its definitely there. my advice would be like others have said- just remove the insert completely. DO IT!!!!!!!11

 

someone told me to drop the camera repeatedly and forcefully. can't tell you if that really works...

Nick, it's the Woca that has a glass lens, the Holga's lens is definitely plastic.

well, I did what most of u said ... took out the insert, and taped over the holes... and it made a huge difference in the end.. not all were wonderfull, but I did learn that shooting into the sun at mid day can make for intersting almost sunset like photos. Enlcosed is a example. Thanks for all your help!!!

http://www.photo.net/photo/1314931&size=lg for some reason it didnt post