Who is using external flash with their holga? Any tips?

<p>On expert village there is a gentleman who has a video discussing using external flash with their holga. You can see it here.<br>

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/121715_toy-cameras-holga-plastic-cam.htm<br>

I am curious how many of you out there have used an external flash, what flash you are using, how you setup your flash and if you have any tips on using flash.</p>

<p>I have the colorsplash holga so it doesn't have a hot shoe. I have seen mods to add a PC socket but I think I may try using a sky-4 optical flash trigger with a old L bracket I have laying around which has a flash mount. Has anyone tried using a setup like this before with your holga?</p>

<p>No need for a hot shoe. There are two approaches you can take that I can think of, and neither are expensive. </p>

<p>1. Shutter drag. Mod your Holga for a B setting and then fire the flash during long B exposures. A flash with automation will make for perfect exposures in many situations.... a flash capable of bounce as well can actually do stunning work. For this you will need either a flash with a Test button or a hot-shoe adapter with a Test button.</p>

<p>2. Optical trigger. You can get these things for under $15. You could have a flash setup on a stand and fired by the trigger when your on-camera flash goes off. To make that system effective, you will probably want to put a filter over the on-camera flash to reduce it's power, as well as use slow film. (It's important to rate your film based on the available apertures of the camera and the capabilities of the specific flash) Optical triggers must be in the line-of-sight of the main flash... so an optical trigger would probably not fire a flash mounted on a flash bracket somewhat behind the on-camera flash. To use that arrangement, you will need two optical triggers, with PC ports. Mount one trigger in front of the on-camera flash, effectively blocking it, and connect it via PC cable to the other trigger (or hot-shoe adapter) on a flash bracket. Those triggers are actually cheaper than many of the hot-shoe adapters, so go figure. </p>

<p>In both situations, if you do use a flash bracket, be sure your Holga has a tripod mount, most do not... although you can go to Lowes and buy something called a "T-Nut" in 1/4-20 size and mount it to your Holga. T-Nuts come in two flavors... one with barbs for mounting it to wood, and the other with tiny holes for mounting it with screws. You can buy super miniature machine screws and nuts from Radio Shack... size 6/32 is good for this kind of stuff: </p>

<p>http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103351<br>

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103303</p>

<p>why not buy another Holga to complement your colorsplash. I use flash with holga 90% of the time. I use Holgas modified by Randy at Holgamods. I then set it at the sunny setting (f11) and my flash at f16 (I shoot 160 asa color negative film). If I set the camera at f8 the I set the flash at f11. I use auto mode on which ever flash i'm using (I'd recommend a Vivitar 283 or 285 but I use the Nikon ones too). I know a couple of people that hook up pocketwizards to the hotshoe and use studio strobes (I've done this on occasion). Holgas/dianas work great with flash.</p>

<p>Hey James,<br>

I would recommend just getting a holga that has a hot shoe on it. My holga is about 5 years old and I use a crappy flash that must be more than 20 years old and the work perfect together. The flash doesn't have screw thingy to tighten it down, so sometimes I will keep my thumb behind it to keep it on, or put a rubberband around the whole thing to keep it in place. Take a look at my holga galleries if you have some time. thanks<br>

Chris Durnin</p>

<p>Paul, so use auto setting on the flash then? I tried with my SB-800 and my shots were overexposed... I surely need to lower the flash power.</p>