Help! My Holga is Too Good!

[sircarl]

I recently bought a Holga 120GN and have just developed and printed my first two rolls. A big disappointment. There is only very slight vignetting at the corners, and slight (and quite concentric) blurring outside the center. I was expecting... distortion! light leaks! scratches! What I've got instead is nothing more than a bad normal lens. I suppose it's my fault for buying the GN, the glass lens version, instead of a plain N, the plastic lens version, which I gather is satisfyingly bad. Should I give up hope? Or is there anything that can be done to make the lens -- or the camera -- less "good"?

 

[Ash]

get a small hand drill, and a few cans of cider. I'm sure the next morning you'll have done something regrettable. and if you're lucky it will only have been to the camera! 😀

 

[Jamie123]

Actually this sounds like it would be great to use with 35mm film. I always found that the blur on 35mm modified holgas doesn't look that good. A sharp copy should look really interesting!

 

[Ash]

what's the point in a 35mm holga?????? haha sorry that seems as silly as the buyers remorse for buying a rolleikin.

there are looooads of 35mm toy cameras as it is

 

[lZr]

You want blur? Try Lensbaby 2.0 or the new one LB 3G. For it you must wait till end of october. Keep a look here:

http://lensbabies.com/phorum/list.php?1

 

[Greg_E]

Just drop the camera a few times. If the lense is too good, take it out and use it in the rain a few times. Don't clean the lens, EVER.

 

[40oz]

take it as a score. You have a cheap, not terrible medium format shooter. Use as is. As they say, if you can't shoot with a bar cue, you can't shoot. 🙂

 

[Athos6]

Try again

Try again

They are cheep. I agree, just bad engough=Camp value, not bad enough=99% of photography. Save it to take pictures of your cats to post to drive people nuts. 😀

 

[jano]

Where do you get a holga? 😀

 

[lynn]

Actually this sounds like it would be great to use with 35mm film. I always found that the blur on 35mm modified holgas doesn't look that good. A sharp copy should look really interesting!

I've been itching to try this with one of my MF cheapies:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sprocket_holes/pool/

 

[Ken F.]

Carl,

I do a fair amount to toy camera photography myself, there are a number of ways to modify your Holga to produce the type of effect you desire.
If you head over to www.toycamera.com there is a section with a number of simple modifications, and or adjustments that you can do yourself. There is also an excellent new publication a friend of mine has recently put out, called Light Leaks, Low fidelity Photography magazine. The magazine has many good articles explaining various tips and tricks, along with some great toy camera user interviews, and galleries. The Toy Camera Handbook is also another good publication, put out by the same crew.
Have fun with your new toy!

Cheers,
kf

 

[Bryce]

Haven't actually tried them, but here are a couple ideas to add extra Holga to your Holga- or anything else:
Try making "filters" out of warped glass. Maybe like old window glass or intentionally distorted glass.
For vignetting, use a sharpie on the filter. Just darken the edges to taste.
For general softening, do it like the pros- stretch panty hose over the lens.
Here's something I actually have tried- I got wondering what OOF areas look like through a cat's eyes, you know, slit shaped iris? I used an 85mm F/2 lens with a carboard mask over it to find out. Here you go:

 

[sockdaddy]

regarding the very slight vignetting : are you using the 6x4.5 mask? if you are using it to make rectangular pics instead of square 6x6 pics, then a good deal of the edges of the frame are cut off on both sides, effectively removing more of the vignette.

 

[sircarl]

Ken and Bryce -- good suggestions, I'll look into them. Thanks!

Sockdaddy -- I am not using the 6X4.5 mask, so unfortunately that quick fix won't work.

Maybe for a start I'll dab some of my wife's clear nail polish on the lens and see what that does!

 

[jonasv]

Carl, are you using the 6x6 mask or not? When I use it, my images are pretty 'good', but without that mask the images have a lot more blurring and vignetting.

 

[Jamie123]

what's the point in a 35mm holga?????? haha sorry that seems as silly as the buyers remorse for buying a rolleikin.

there are looooads of 35mm toy cameras as it is

Check out the link Lynn provided. I don't know of any 35mm toy camera that also exposes the sprockethole area and gives you 5.4cm wide negatives.

Besides, you don't have to modify your holga perminently in order to use 35mm film with it. Some foam, duct tape and rubber bands are all you need.

 

[Epimetheus]

Try to shoot without the film mask or modify the existing 6x4.5 mask to shoot 6x6. The 6x6 film mask that comes with the GN models wont give you that much vignetting.

Holga is an excellent street photography camera. It doesn't weigh anything and it's fast to use. You can also experiment with 35mm film and get fun results.

See my holga pictures: http://markuspuustinen.com/pf/

 

[Bromo33333]

I recently bought a Holga 120GN and have just developed and printed my first two rolls. A big disappointment. There is only very slight vignetting at the corners, and slight (and quite concentric) blurring outside the center. I was expecting... distortion! light leaks! scratches! What I've got instead is nothing more than a bad normal lens. I suppose it's my fault for buying the GN, the glass lens version, instead of a plain N, the plastic lens version, which I gather is satisfyingly bad. Should I give up hope? Or is there anything that can be done to make the lens -- or the camera -- less "good"?

That's the thing about Holga's - you never know what you are gonna get! 😀

I mean if you wanted a "good" camera - you would have had the fill Holga experience, but you were going for a BAD one! Shame on you!!! 😀😀😀

 

[bHeinemann]

Makes me want to try my Holga again 😀 ...I bought it about 2 years ago and like you said didn't get one that was "bad" enough, plastic lens and all.

 

[bellyface]

I love 35mm in a holga... sprockets exposed: