jimi Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Ok, so is this glass lens on the Woca model REALLY that much better than the classic plastic lens on the original? Excluding the whole artsy image that Holga gives you... let's say I am trying to expose the sharpest image possible- is it worth it? (not that they are a big cost anyway) Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen hazelton Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 If you are trying to expose the sharpest image possible...why the heck are you using either one? Anyway, the glass lens MIGHT be more perfect optically, and MIGHT have less variation from sample to sample, but it is still a single element lens with whatever loss of quality the entails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 I thought the whole purpose of the Holga *was* the mediocre optics. Of course, a Holga with a truly sharp, well-corrected lens could make an interesting stealth camera. Heck, I sometimes saddle up my Olympus and Nikon SLRs with a Spiratone Portragon, a single glass element lens with horrible spherical aberration just to emulate that Holga look. Now *that's* going overboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hudsonphotos Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 "If you are trying to expose the sharpest image possible...why the heck are you using either one?" I second that. And the part about defeating the whole purpose.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_c._miller Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Hmmm, Freestyle sells the Holga for $17, and the Woca for $21. How about you go buy both, then write a comparison review for us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimi Posted March 3, 2003 Author Share Posted March 3, 2003 Thank you everyone for your input. However, there appears to be some of you out there that cannot appreciate the power of low end optics. I own Zeiss, Rodenstock, Mamiya, Nikon... but one of my favorite lenses is one I made from scratch. I even had a friend make the glass. And it's those images that gets more raves than any other of my prints... (I really should put them up on my site) Holga is NOT just for students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd frederick Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 <img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1301248&size=lg"> A Woca is a Holga trying to be a real camera. The whole idea of a Holga is the plastic lens "look." It is even recommended to remove the 645 mask to get the full vignetting effect of the 6x6 square. Look here for some interesting Holga variations and good images: http://www.holgamods.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd frederick Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 <img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1301229&size=lg"> This is another sample with more of the Holga look. Backlighting tends to increase the effect. I enjoy digitally printing small (4x4) square Holga images on ordinary watercolor paper...nice effect. Stay with the plastic lens. The earlier Diana camera was even more fuzzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen hazelton Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Hey, James, we didn't say you shouldn't use or buy a Holga/Woca. Just that lens sharpness is not normally the criteria these things are purchased for. (FYI, I'm in the process of building a pinhole camera, which is another step down the quality scale). I suspect most people buying one in the US would be looking for more distortion, or more flare, or more vignetting, rather than less, and the question I would expect is, "Can I still get the "Holga" look with the glass lens?" There are some very high quality plastic lenses made. And, some cheap glass ones. That makes it impossible to say for sure that the glass lens is really better in this case than the plastic. One would assume that the glass is at least INTENDED as an improvement. It seems like I have read that with the plastic lens, there is some variation from sample to sample, and that variation may be greater than the difference from glass to plastic. It does occur to me that the glass lens would be more resistant to cleaning marks, so that might make it more worthwhile, even if it was optically identical. I don't recall if it was mentioned on some of these Holga sites, you could quite likely improve the optical quality (and use higher speed film) by installing a smaller apeture in the Holga. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in the eye of a holga 120 Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 Holga woca 120 G IS GOOD .. See Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rika_chiya Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 <p>In response to</p> <p ><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=15975">"Brian C. Miller</a> , Mar 03, 2003; 09:50 a.m.</p> <p>Hmmm, Freestyle sells the Holga for $17, and the Woca for $21."</p> <p>5 years later in 2008 it's selling for $46.99 - still relatively cheap but I wish I got mine for bucks!!!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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