Holga 25mm?

[mh2000]

Ok, I know this is not news, but I only now just got around to ordering one (actually, two, one for me and one for my girlfriend)...

Anyway, after looking around at examples, I'm pretty sure I'm immediately going to remove or modify the vignette sieve. Native images look way too excessive for close focus IMO.

But posting here... just to see if anyone is currently shooting the lens, if you want to post photos etc... keep my excitement up while I wait the few weeks it will take this lens to come from HK.

Best!

🙂

 

[Lss]

Not sure if this is the same lens, but a plastic 25mm anyway:

 

[mh2000]

creepy weird images Lss! 🙂

 

[Larry H-L]

I have one, pleasantly soft, vignettes quite a bit. Focus is stiff on mine, hope it loosenes with use.

The sink strainer on these is really small, I'm sure you would speed up the lens if you took it out.

 

[mep]

Untitled by one seven one, on Flickr

 

[petronius]

I removed the sieve of my Holga lens too. It gives a weird patern when shooting close-up. I removed the stopping screw of the helicoid too, to be able to get closer.

 

[mh2000]

Looks fun! Of course... as excited as I get over all toy cameras and lenses... I never do much more than just try them out and go back to my regular gear.

🙂

 

[mh2000]

I think that the process of conceptualizing toy gear is a great creative tool... even if I don't generally get what I want in results. Creative efforts, even when unsuccesful, often lead to other creative thoughts and results that are... and never would have been realized without going through the exercise.

 

[petronius]

I removed not only the sieve, but also the aperture plate. The naked lens´ diameter gives f1:4 (approx.) and is very soft:

 

[ray*j*gun]

Is the OP referring to a lens only or a Holga camera with a 25mm lens?

 

[Godfrey]

One of Holga 25mm toy lenses was included with the E-PL1 body I bought recently. I haven't fooled with it much, so I decided to compare what it saw to what the Olympus ZD 25mm f/2.8 (@f/5.6) sees by shooting my desk lamp:

Holga 25mm (f/8):

Olympus ZD 25mm f/2.8:

Straight out of the camera JPEGs set to 1:1 format, Natural color, 768x768 size. All the EXIF data is in them.

It looks to me like the Holga is really about a 35mm focal length. It's surprisingly sharp ... the rear mask is kind of a very large zone plate with the simple lens in front of it giving it the sharpness.

The E-PL1 has become my "camera to try weird lenses with." I'll have to play with the Holga lens further to see if its useful to me.

G

 

[mh2000]

For some reason your photos are not showing up Godfrey. Went out and played with the lens over the weekend and will post photos soon. It was fun... though utlimately, it felt like all "toy lenses," more an enjoyable exercise...

I did choose to remove the zone plate thing. I guess because it felt like an "effect." Probably just a weird clinging to some sense of purity... or some other nonsense, but adding a vignette for effect annoyed me. The original Dianas and Holga would vignette because that's just what the crappy optics did, they didn't try to make them worse out of some attempt to be hip... the cameras were just made to be (really cheap) cameras. I guess I take the original toy cameras, Brownies etc. because all possess an element of "sincerity." The Holga 25 seemed to be more sincere without the zone plate, then it is just a cheap lens, no attempt to produce a romanticized image of an older class of camera.

Regarding the FL, it sure felt close to my Sigma 30, maybe a little longer, I didn't test it for that.

Anyway, it was fun and I got some fun photos and enjoyed the experience... worth the $15 I paid.

 

[mh2000]

OH yeah, and the focus marks are completely wrong! Neither my gf's or my lens really focuses to infinity, probably not even to the hyperfocal distance and 10ft is just the near side of the "mountain." Once we figure that out, we just shot accordingly.

 

[petronius]

 

[mh2000]

Nice stuff petronius! I think I'll have to consider removing the aperture plate too!

🙂

 

[JonasYip]

I have a set on flickr that's all done with the Holga lens on m4/3:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwR256Z

 

[Godfrey]

For some reason your photos are not showing up Godfrey. ...

Hmm, that's odd. Here are the links:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25268645/130317-olyZD25-3175073.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25268645/130317-holga25-3175072.jpg

They show up fine on here, on two different systems.

But I agree, it seems a little forced. I'd rather just have a cheap, simple lens and apply my own effects if that's what I'm after. 🙂

G

 

[mh2000]

Godfrey, getting a 403 Forbidden error for those links... dunno. I'll check with my home computer tonight.

I will say that my gf took some photos with her unmodified lens that came out pretty nice, where the effect was effective.

Honestly have to say that after a quick view in LR, that I wished I would have just shot my Sigma 30 and had boring old normal photos.

🙂

 

[Godfrey]

I have a set on flickr that's all done with the Holga lens on m4/3:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwR256Z

That's a great example of 'great photographs transcend equipment'. 🙂

G

 

[Thardy]

I have that lens somewhere. I must dig it out now.