Holga Or Pinhole?

[jyl]

In late Feb, we're spending a week in a mountain cabin with some friends. There'll be a few kids in the 7-8 year old range and, of course, we'll need some fun things for them to do. Puzzles and books are all very well, but I am thinking about something photographical.

One alternative is a pinhole camera. I could build one or two ahead of time, and make up kits for the kids to build their own as well. I'm inclined to use photo paper rather than film, and bring up some little trays, chemicals, and a little safelight so that we can develop the prints in the bathroom right there. I guess they'll be "negative prints", but it will still be fun.

But I don't know how interested kids will be in taking just one picture per camera, that they can't even frame (unless I built "viewers" for the coffee cans). I mean, these are modern kids after all.

The other alternative is a couple of plastic Holgas. I can get them for $20 or so. The kids will be able to look through a viewfinder and take 12 exposures. I could develop the film - a 5 reel Paterson tank should hold 3 spools of 120 film, right? - then make 6 cm x 6 cm contact prints.

But how to make a contact print without an enlarger? Let's see, how many seconds exposure using a 60 watt bulb at 4 feet?

What do you guys think? Or is this too complicated, so that you'd recommend just bringing up a bunch of Sunprint kits for the kids and a Holga for myself? Oh, and where do you get a motor drive for a Holga anyway?

Edit: I have added "(Or Polaroid)?" to the thread title after this option was brought to my attention. So that's a third alternative, some cheap Polaroid cameras and some unfortunately not-so-cheap Polaroid film.

 

[rover]

It will be much more expensive, but this is screaming Polaroid to me. My guess is that the kids will enjoy having instant results and just goofing around more than they will the experiment with light and chemistry. I hope I am wrong.

 

[jyl]

Hmm, we seem to have lost some of the follow-on posts when the forum changed.

Anyway, I observed that I could cover all the bases with a Pinhole Holga Polaroid.

$20 later, I now have a plain old Holga and if it seems workable enough, I'll think about bringing some up to the cabin for the kids.

 

[wlewisiii]

I do believe that the Holga/Pola idea was best - it will cost more but the kids get instant feedback about what works and what doesn't. That's not a small thing for most of the younglings I have known.

William

 

[RML]

You can modify the Holga in many ways for your own pleasure. I modified mine so it will take 135 film instead of 120 film. Easy as pie, really. I just need to change the film in a changing bag.

Check http://www.holgamods.com for more modifications. I think there's also a Polaroid mod.

 

[RML]

Here are some shots of my modified Holga.

The locking mechanism of the rear is re-enforced with Velcro; this after the sliders came loose while I had film in the thing.

The peek hole is completely covered up. 120 film has a paper backing so an open peek hole isn't too disasterous, but 135 film gets exposed that way when I don't (yet) want it exposed. 🙂

The roll of 135 film is stuck between two pieces of semi-hard foam. It took me little testing to get two pieces that would put the film right before the lens but it was easy. I added a little piece of foam to the left hand side to prevent the roll from being pulled out of the chamber. A little piece of card board (from a film box) is used to jam the 120 spool into place.

Advancing the film is easy; just count 36 clicks (perhaps a few more at the beginning of the roll, and e few less at the end) to advance 1 double-length frame.

 

[jyl]

Sat down last night and took the Holga apart. It really does remind me of a 1:25 Monogram Snap-Tite Chevelle.

That secondary aperture is crying out to become functional . . .

Let's take a poll: what pair of apertures do you think would be most useful in a camera that has a single shutter speed of roughly 1/125, that will be used with Tri-X and FP4+? (No suggestions faster than f5.6 please).

 

[jyl]

Having now developed two rolls from the Holga . . .

Gee, these negatives look pretty normal, the ones that I got in focus anyway.

Maybe I'll see something in the contact prints.

 

[jyl]

Couldn't decide which two apertures to be limited to, so I cut up the Holga and installed the aperture diaphragm assembly from a junk lens. Now I have any f-stop from whatever the shutter opening is (maybe f5.6?) to f32. No more grossly overexposed sunny day shots using TriX.

 

[jyl]

Oops, forgot the pic.

 

[RML]

JYL, could you relate to a three-thumbed person how you did all that? I like my Holga; no-one, not even in Mongolia, will take me serious when I shoot with it. And I could use more apertures with it, especially in sunny and bright Mongolia. So, pretty please, can you write a piece about this conversion? 🙂

 

[Kyle]

I'm interested in this conversion as well! I have a good junker Minolta MD lens I could take apart and use the aperature assembly from.

 

[jyl]

It all depends on the aperture assembly being the right size. I've only taken apart the one lens, so I don't know how much variation there is in aperture assemblies, or even if most lenses' aperture assemblies can be removed as one working unit. Someone else (Brian?) will know that.

Anyway, I used some calipers to measure the Holga lens and the junk aperture assembly, and figured out that the thickness of the aperture assembly was equal to the distance between the Holga's plastic lens element and the lens mounting flange. So I simply cut off part of the inner barrel of the lens, leaving just the part where the lens element sits, and placed the aperture assembly there. I also widened the hole in the lens mounting board, to make room for some threads that protrude from the aperture assembly - it was easier than hacksawing off the threads. Used a Dremel tool, round file, sandpaper - the Holga's plastic is very soft and practically melts under the Dremel. Cut a little at a time, and remember you're only risking $20.

I know these are pretty vague instructions, but since the aperture assembly in each junk lens might be different, it'll be a matter of measuring and improvising.

I've attached a picture.

For now, I adjust apertures by unscrewing the lens and moving the aperture lever. Eventually I'll bend and extend the lever so it sticks out through a slot in the base of the lens helicoil.

Also, I used the Dremel to open up the rectangular shutter hole, a little bit. Just to get a bit more light.