Basic Holga Questions

[brian steinberger]

I've been messing around with the Holga for about a year now. I'm researched and researched and have come to no conclusion. Is anyone in agreeance on the general aperture and shutter speed of the un-modified holga? I've heard everything from f/8 and f/11 at 1/60 to 1/125 of a second. Now I know that every holga is unique in some way, but there should be some common ground as to aperture and shutter speed.

Thanks

Brian

 

[pauliej]

Brian, I think the general agreement is that the Holgas have a large tolerance, as an engineer would say, in it's associated bits and such. I dont 'spect that NASA has sent many Holgas up on the shuttle, even though they are cheap and reliable, in their own way. I have 2 Holgas, and I use them sparingly and am not surprised when the pics dont come out quite as I had envisioned. If anyone gets good, or usable, pics from them I imagine they are positively astounded. As they said once or twice in an old economics class way back at the university, "Ya gets what ya pays for", and for $20 (more or less) that's what you get.

I wonder if the Holga sales would increase if they made them entirely out of clear plastic. Seriously, they are useful to learn some about 120 film and medium format cameras in general. They are also a hoot!

I hope this helps you.

Paul

 

[winger]

I think the instructions that came with mine said f8 (cloudy) or f16 (sunny) at 1/125. Mine is the original model, I believe. I know there's been some discussion about whether changing the aperture actually changes anything and I'm sure that the shutter isn't exactly any particular speed (or necessarily the same each time).

I usually figure that getting anything is good and I've gotten some decent, funky results with it. I tend to put expired film in it, so that can only increase the odd results.

 

[Christopher D. Keth]

Mine is an f8 on both settings. Using the aperture switch just puts a square mask behind the lens. The odd thing is that the square is larger than the back element of the lens so it doesn't do a thing in either position.

As for shutter speed, you'd have to test it out. They're all different.

 

[Michael W]

I've always worked on the assumption that my Holga exposes at f/8 at 1/100. The results are good enough that it must be pretty close. There is only one functional aperture on an unmodified Holga.

 

[nicolai]

A stock Holga is f/13.3 on either setting (I measured, details here). I had a Holga's shutter tested, and it was a fairly reliable 1/100... but that was just one. But as I tested and wrote about here, the exposure math still doesn't add up.