Leica M9 vs Holga! Which is Best? What IS Best?

[gdi]

M9 for Color and Holga (or a Quaker Oatmeal box) for B&W.

 

[Jamie123]

Exactly. It comes back to "Those who quite like this sort of thing will find that this is the sort of thing they quite like."

I have nothing whatsoever against those who like Holgas, until they start trying to persuade me that they are right, and I am wrong. I'm not. Nor are they, necessarily, until they start getting evangelical about it.

Cheers,

R.

What annoys me is when people champion the Holga with the statement that image quality is overrated or equipment is overrated. IMO there's hardly any other camera that stresses image quality and equipment over all other aspects like the Holga does. You're not using a Holga because you don't care about image quality, you're using a Holga because you want your images to have exactly that quality (or lack thereof) that only the Holga gives you. The pictures say 'I was taken with that specific kind of camera'. Whenever I see a series of some professional photgrapher using a Holga I think to myself 'oh, the guy uses a Holga in a war zone' or 'oh, the guy uses a Holga in the White House' or 'oh, he uses a Holga at a fashion show', etc. etc. How exactly is this not putting equipment first?

 

[dogbunny]

Oddly, there are filters and plugins etc to make an M9 file look like a Holga file, but none that I've seen to make my Holga scanned file look like an M9 file. Apparently, there is a desire/market to make something expensive look cheap, but not the other way around.

Humans, wow!

 

[Jamie123]

Oddly, there are filters and plugins etc to make an M9 file look like a Holga file, but none that I've seen to make my Holga scanned file look like an M9 file. Apparently, there is a desire/market to make something expensive look cheap, but not the other way around.

Humans, wow!

That's some flawless reasoning you got there...

 

[dogbunny]

That's some flawless reasoning you got there...

Oh, my mistake, no one pointed out that this thread was supposed to be reasonable 🙂

parameters, must have parameters.

 

[Jamie123]

Oh, my mistake, no one pointed out that this thread was supposed to be reasonable 🙂

Sorry, I thought you were being serious. I might aswell make the argument that, oddly, there are loads of watches and clocks available to tell you the time, but no time machines. Apparently there is a market for knowing what time it is but not for traveling in time. Humans, wow! 😉

 

[Ronny]

Holga - Leica M9 = 1-0
Happy New Year!

 

[eia41]

Here goes another daft poll to finish this -globally- horrible year...

 

[Roger Hicks]

What annoys me is when people champion the Holga with the statement that image quality is overrated or equipment is overrated. IMO there's hardly any other camera that stresses image quality and equipment over all other aspects like the Holga does. You're not using a Holga because you don't care about image quality, you're using a Holga because you want your images to have exactly that quality (or lack thereof) that only the Holga gives you. The pictures say 'I was taken with that specific kind of camera'. Whenever I see a series of some professional photgrapher using a Holga I think to myself 'oh, the guy uses a Holga in a war zone' or 'oh, the guy uses a Holga in the White House' or 'oh, he uses a Holga at a fashion show', etc. etc. How exactly is this not putting equipment first?

Elegantly analyzed!

Cheers,

R.

 

[zauhar]

I think you can take important and wonderful images with any grade of camera , provided that you love it.

Randy

 

[rlouzan]

Some years ago I saw Robert Vizzini's exhibit Cuba: A land Baked in Time, at the NY Camera Club. All photographs made with Holga and Diana cameras printed up to 5x5' 😱 on FB paper.
Some of the nicest prints that I've seen in a long time.

Coverning the White House with a Holga or Rolleiflex TLR has to be refreshing, when everyone else is using the same EOS bodies😀.

Happy New Years!
Robert

 

[isoterica]

Yes you could and if you do.. I want to see 😉 You are right of course the M9 is a better piece of machinery, my old antique cameras are as well and most were for the price of a Holga or LESS. The question was absurd to begin with but the responses are amusing.

Happy New Year!

Yes, and I could also learn to whistle the National Anthem while standing on my head. The question is why I would want to bother.

What ARE the strong points of a Holga, as compared with just about anything else, including many cameras that are cheaper or free?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Particular]

Poor man's Holga.

Poor man's Holga.

I own neither a Holga, nor an M9, so I have no opinion which is better.
To those unfortunate souls who blew last years bonus on an M9 with matching lens, but are not getting a bonus this year. It must be really disheartening to read this poll and realize that you have no budget for a Holga upgrade. DO NOT DESPAIR! The following solution will cost $0, provided you have access to a bathroom, scissors, sharpie, elastic and cling film.

fake_holga

Following is a test shot taken with a fake M9 (R-D1), and fake Summicron (Canon 35 f2).

fake_holga_shot

 

[jsrockit]

Christian (CNNY), the construction quality of your home made camera equipment has gone downhill lately. 😉

 

[Particular]

Christian (CNNY), the construction quality of your home made camera equipment has gone downhill lately. 😉

If you use Holga-math, it is really high quality for the time, effort and cost. And btw, it is only the result that counts right (?).

ps. It was harder than anticipated to make the image quality this bad.

 

[raid]

If I had lots of money for spending on camera equipment, then I would have opted for the M9 over the Holga. One lens is too limiting for my liking.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Yes you could and if you do.. I want to see 😉 You are right of course the M9 is a better piece of machinery, my old antique cameras are as well and most were for the price of a Holga or LESS. The question was absurd to begin with but the responses are amusing.

Happy New Year!

This is, for me, the heart of the question. I think my last three cameras were free. One was a Zeiss Contaflex BC, with a Tessar on the front.

And a happy and prosperous New Year to you too, and to all RFF members.

Cheers,

R,

 

[bigeye]

What annoys me is when people champion the Holga with the statement that image quality is overrated or equipment is overrated. IMO there's hardly any other camera that stresses image quality and equipment over all other aspects like the Holga does. You're not using a Holga because you don't care about image quality, you're using a Holga because you want your images to have exactly that quality (or lack thereof) that only the Holga gives you. The pictures say 'I was taken with that specific kind of camera'. Whenever I see a series of some professional photgrapher using a Holga I think to myself 'oh, the guy uses a Holga in a war zone' or 'oh, the guy uses a Holga in the White House' or 'oh, he uses a Holga at a fashion show', etc. etc. How exactly is this not putting equipment first?

This sounds a bit overwrought.

There is an appeal with de-emphasizing equipment to emphasize skill.

.

 

[terrafirmanada]

I'll take both if your offering

 

[isoterica]

LOL! Don't forget the vaseline on a filter trick too!

I own neither a Holga, nor an M9, so I have no opinion which is better.
To those unfortunate souls who blew last years bonus on an M9 with matching lens, but are not getting a bonus this year. It must be really disheartening to read this poll and realize that you have no budget for a Holga upgrade. DO NOT DESPAIR! The following solution will cost $0, provided you have access to a bathroom, scissors, sharpie, elastic and cling film.

fake_holga

Following is a test shot taken with a fake M9 (R-D1), and fake Summicron (Canon 35 f2).

fake_holga_shot