I bought a holga for my ex boyfriend for his birthday. We broke up before his birthday so now I am going to learn how to use it! I found this video helpful and I plan on watching all of your other holga videos!
One thing you can do to figure out how the camera focuses or what will be seen/focused is to put wax paper or something like that (even thin plastic bags work, as long as the concept is the same - I've used opaque-ish tape before) where the film should be and you can see the image that would be captured, using it like a pinhole projector. I imagine it would only work if you kept it open in bulb mode or could force the shutter open. Then you could mark the focus distances on the lens, or the area seen in the viewfinder.
I found your Holga show to be very informative and interesting. I have a lot of Holgas and other lo-fi cameras and really enjoy them and what comes out of them. They're really fun and surprising at times. Thanks for the show.
I'm enjoying dad's former Mamiya Press which came with three formats and three lenses to explore, but alas, the Holga provides for artsy picture in a big negative and that means large pictures of fancy unrepeatable photographs! What's not to love
Hi Ted, thank you! I enjoy your web clips and am just about to load my Holga 120s, are you still doing the Holga study? What film would you use the Kodak Portra 400 or the Ilford XP2? Thank you. Rajeeve NZ
I have a 120N, and I've gotten as much garbage out of it as I've gotten good shots. I've gotten some really creepy, ethereal shots with it using Lomography's Metropolis.
i downloaded official manual and the pictures there show film is loaded upside down. and in this video it is not upside down. what is correct way ? or doesn't it matter ?
Could you do that episode on working around camera limitations to make macro shots? I'd love to try that out on my TLR camera (which is just a step up from a holga, lol)
@ethancfbz ...(cont) without overthinking it. To focus on the camera (here, the Holga) kinda misses the point, and invalidates your argument. "One must keep photography simple, and stop focusing on the camera =/= One must use a Holga" ...a bit of a contradiction.
I'm afraid I just don't get it. For 30 dollars you can get a wonderful little fixed lens rangefinder that will have character while still providing a quality negative. when you wanted to have a technically horrible picture (which I can understand somewhat) then scan your negative and do it in photoshop or intentionally misfocus your enlarger lens. but then when you want a good negative you don't have to go out and buy a new camera. well maybe it'll help 120 film popularity
@rorrt What you seem to be getting at is that taking pictures is good practice. I understand the idea of stripping photography to its essentials - trust me, I do. I think it's important. However, you're confusing the concept of simplicity with the concept of style. Holgas certainly have a style - one that I like with certain subjects. However, I don't think that shooting with a Holda rather than a Canonet or similar is beneficial to one's photography skills. It's really all about shooting...
@rorrt but it's not great. it's intentionally not great. what can you do on a holga that you cannot do with a konica auto s or canonent? I can tell you lots of things that you can do on the latter that would be impossible on the former. and I dont understand how shutter and aperture are an imposition. I shoot without a meter about 75% of the time, even on slide film, and rarely have to put much thought into it. Im hardly an old, wise and experienced shooter either. real basic stuff IMO.
No Thank you - Just pulled out my Holga and wanted to be reacquainted with it. Yes the batteries corrode, my own fault, but its ready and ive got 12 - wait no 11, pics to have fun with (overwound) but thanks again and happy F-stops
Does the Holga 120N really have to be spray painted flat black on the inside if you have a 6x6 mask? Can a person not Spray paint it and still have usable pictures?
1972myc You don’t have to get the inside painted. I’ve read that some people never noticed a difference. I’d only consider it if you had problems with film fogging or undesired light leaks.
