Holga Newbie in need of help

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VWxyz67

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I recently bought a Holga 120N because it was cheap, simple, and imo take cool pictures. Now, i am fairly new to photography so bear with me. My impatience coupled with my inability to find a store with 120 film the day the camera came in possesed me to try the 35mm mod as my first roll of film going through this thing. I watched a few videos and thought i had the basic concept down. I taped the hole in the back on both sides because the 35mm doestn have paper backing blah blah blah. Shot a whole roll of film. Now, i am aware that when you unload it, you have to roll film by hand in a dark room. Well, at this time its 9pm and dark out so i decide to go into my bathroom (no windows) turn off the lights and put a towell under the door. I unload the film, roll it back up, and exit my bathroom. The next day i take it to CVS to have it developed and they say that the film is COMPLETELY blank. Where did i go wrong? Does my holga have a major light leak? Bad enough to ruin my film? I knew they leaked but i didnt think it would be this bad. Was my bathroom not dark enough? Also, i shot (as per directions) with no mask. What would happen if i shot with either of the 2 included masks? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. thanks,

Hunter
 
What ISO speed was the film? That could be part of the problem. If it was slow film and you were in not-so-great lighting conditions when taking pictures, then the film probably did not 'record' anything.
 
If the film is completely black, then you can probably take out light leak. Holga can leak, but not that bad, unless maybe it's defective and the shutter is wide open all the time or not firing at all or something like that.

Film is much more light sensitive compared to wet print paper, but based on what you described, quick rewinding in your bath room with all visible lights shut shouldn't give totally blank film.

I'd suspect the possibility of the film somehow not been exposed at all rather than leaks.
 
holgas are bizarre and mysterious mistresses, and cranky ones to boot. I would say that it is very likely that your camera had a light leak if you removed the mask. When you remove the mask, you need to gaffer tape over all of the screws, you need to use plastic tubing over the edges where the mask clips on, and you need to gaffer tape over that tubing. You also need to jam some black acrylic yarn down in the grooves in the back to create a light seal. If the back clips on very easily, it probably leaks. Check out squarefrog.co.uk, and do the aperture mod, the close focus mod, the bottom right corner fix, and all of the light leak fixes, which are spread out throughout the site. The mask fix I was referring to is under the masks section.

As to your rewinding of the film, your bathroom was probably not dark enough. If you can percieve your hand when it is waving in front of your face, even if you can barely percieve it, your room is too bright. Get a changing bag.

Also, if you want to shoot 35mm film out of your holga, you might be better off just getting a 35mm holga.
 
When you say the film is completely blank, you need to look at the film and determine if it is clear or black (both can be called completely blank.)

As above, black film implies that the back was opened in light, or that the entire roll got exposed to light somehow.

Clear film with the numbers showing along the side, indicates that no light ever got to your film. Either the shutter is defective, the light level too low (a Holga shutter is about 1/100th of a second, and the lens is about f/8 (and the bright, not bright switch doesn't change that! So you need to use fairly fast film, or shoot in bright light), or (most likely) the film slipped off the take-up spool, and never went through the camera. Did you hear it move as you wound it?

Finally clear film with no numbers on the side means something went wrong with the development. Blame your lab for that one.
 
You should try to order some cheap 120 black and white film from freestyle and get a changing bag off of craigslist. You can the develop and scan the film yourself.
This is another fun part about using the holga. It isn't that hard to do and everyone here will be glad to help. They helped me out. Check out youtube videos. Don't be afraid to experiment and it is really cool when you see the results of home developed film.

If you can't afford it have a friend pich in with you on the cost. You will find out holgas are alot more funner that P & S digital. To me everyone has a digital and you barely see the holgas, which makes it that more unique.
 
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