Holga with flash, exposure question

[matt_m__toronto_]

<p>i'm borrowing a friends holga with a flash built into it. there is the cloudy or sunny setting.  i recall these being f8 and 11. <br>

i'm not sure though. anyway, i want to take some bare bulb flashes in a club with a colour neg film.  just wondering if anyone has found a happy combination with a certain film.  i'm thinking 800 iso and a shooting disctance within 5 feet on the 'cloudy' setting should do me ok.<br>

that said, i have no idea the flash output of this thing...the charm of holga. any low light, flash holga experiences are welcome :)<br>

thanks</p>

[steve_parrott]

You have it pretty well nailed. The flash is good at about 5 feet, maybe up to 10 with the 800 ISO film. One thing though, don't be concerned

with the cloudy / sunny switch. It does nothing. Somethiing about the design of the camera that prevents the switch from acutally changing

the aperture. There is a fix for it, but it requires disassembly of the camera. I believe the setting for the aperture is somewhere in the f11

range, regardless of the switch position. Shutter speed is about 125. Everything is "about" with the camera... lol. I actually enjoy the Holga

when it is in it's element. Unfortunately, flash shots are not really it's forte, but you will get by ok doing as you propose. Here are some of my

Holga shots if you want to browse: http://www.lightanon.com/-/lightanon/gallery.asp?cat=92459

 

Steve

[viridari]

<p>Unless they have fixed the design, the aperture control does nothing because the mask that comes down is f8 but without the mask it is f11. You're covering a smaller aperture with a bigger one so you're always at f11 no matter what.<br>

I'm going to try a Holga 120N, which has a hot shoe but no internal flash. That way I can drop one of my Vivitar 285's on it and have a bit better control. For example, with ISO 400 film, if I want to photograph someone 10 feet away I know I need to set my flash to 1/4. If they are closer I drop it to 1/16. Just chasing f11 around on the calculator.</p>

[gary_watson]

<p>Get some Fuji 800Z, do some rough flashmeter readings, and take what you get. Consider grayscale if the colour's too murky.</p>

[matt_m__toronto_]

<p>thanks guys. cool shots steve!</p>

<p> </p>