Cheap and dirty film for Holga 120 suggestion please...

darkosaric · Jul 4, 2014

China Lucky 100, Fomapan 400.

baachitraka · Jul 4, 2014

May be color film and give a dirty C-41 development at home...

darkosaric · Jul 4, 2014

baachitraka said:
May be color film and give a dirty C-41 development at home...

Cheap: either expired from ebay, or Lomography (3 films are 10 at fotoimpex - cheapest you can get).

Truzi · Jul 4, 2014

I don't know, I've seen some nice Portra pictures from an Holga. If you accept what the Holga does, you can enjoy it for those aspects. For me, the Holga is a bit soft, and that can be nice. I like it for things that are not too far away (close up to about 10 feet (~3 meters)).

The camera doesn't influence whether I'm using cheap (like Ultrafine) or expired film. Rather, I use cheap & dirty film for practice at taking pictures (composition), developing the film*, testing a camera, or experimenting with other aspects (like low lighting) regardless of whether I'm using my Holga or Bronica.

* When I say practice at development, I mean the act of developing - times, temperature, and agitation. Consistency in the act, not the resultant frames.

baachitraka · Jul 4, 2014

These days I'm printing lots if holga negatives, mostly shot using RPX 400.
Now I am curios to see how things go with C-41 when developing not exactly at 37.8°C ;-). Apart from this I have no big interest in shooting color.

baachitraka · Jul 4, 2014

I may order 1l Tetenal kit since I have some film from Rossmann(local drug store) to develop.

baachitraka · Jul 4, 2014

Holga 120GFN is not that bad compare to Holga 120N.

Pioneer · Jul 4, 2014

Keep watching EBay and the various forums for large quantities of expired 120 film. Last time I picked up 50 rolls of a mixture of b&w, c-41 and e-6 at less than $2 per roll. The b&w I salted away in the freezer for future use and the color is being put through my little Holga. Lots of fun. The E-6 is also in the freezer but until I start developing my own I am not sure what I will do with it.

I may run a roll or two through one of my 6x9 folders and have it developed. It could be fine but the last time I worked with some slide film of unknown origin it was pretty bad.

pdeeh · Jul 4, 2014

Just because it's a somewhat crude camera it doesn't mean you have to put crude film in it ...

Pioneer · Jul 4, 2014

pdeeh said:
Just because it's a somewhat crude camera it doesn't mean you have to put crude film in it ...

Certainly not. But there is also nothing wrong with finding usable, low cost options either. In fact, I think that is what the OP wanted.

baachitraka · Jul 4, 2014

I would like to see something like this...
https://www.flickr.com/gp/baachitraka/7bW9o5

With bit of hues...

* sorry for d------ crap from cheap smartphone.

Dr Croubie · Jul 4, 2014

I got about 10-15 rolls of Velvia expired in 1991 for not much more than the cost of postage off fleabay. I've loaded one but haven't finished it yet, not sure if i'm going to E6 it or XP in C41. But whatever I do I know it'll be 'dirty'.
Just hang around on the bay and buy the cheapest crap you can (bulk lots of the same are better, then you can 'dial it in' after a few rolls).

Kyle M. · Jul 4, 2014

Arista EDU Ultra from freestyle, it's availabe in 100, 200, and 400 and it's pretty good stuff I've shot alot of the 100 and 400. It's currently $3.09 a roll for 100 iso, and $3.19 a roll for 200 and 400.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jul 4, 2014

Expired Shanghai GP3 with the wonderful imprinting of the backing numbers....

bvy · Jul 4, 2014

Another thought is to modify it for 35mm film, which will give you more options in terms of film to plow through it. It's actually quite easy: Use two pieces of foam to center the new roll of film where you would load the film normally; spool it into the take-up reel; tape the windowed back with black tape; and then refer to a "click" chart, which tells you how many clicks to count as you advance the film after each frame. A regular 35mm roll of 24 exposures will produce about 20 frames.

Be mindful of the crop and that you'll be exposing over the sprocket holes.

Truzi said:
I don't know, I've seen some nice Portra pictures from an Holga. If you accept what the Holga does, you can enjoy it for those aspects. For me, the Holga is a bit soft, and that can be nice. I like it for things that are not too far away (close up to about 10 feet (~3 meters)).

I bought some close-up filters a while back. Set the focus to infinity and choose from the 500mm, 250mm or 120mm filter. Quite honestly, I've only ever used the 500mm filter; I find it perfect for closer-up portraits than the closest focus setting gives you.

250swb · Jul 5, 2014

pdeeh said:
Just because it's a somewhat crude camera it doesn't mean you have to put crude film in it ...

Very well said. Supposing that using a Holga 'crafts' the image how the photographer likes it there is no reason (other than 'can't be bothered') to throw craft out the window and trust to luck with the rest of the process.

Steve

Regular Rod · Jul 5, 2014

250swb said:
Very well said. Supposing that using a Holga 'crafts' the image how the photographer likes it there is no reason (other than 'can't be bothered') to throw craft out the window and trust to luck with the rest of the process.

Steve

+1 here too!

Use the best you can afford and work carefully with it. Oh and make sure you get rid of any dust specks so there is nothing to distract us from the images...

RR

baachitraka · Jul 5, 2014

I am printing more and more negatives from Holga 120 esp., portraits with flash and I'm happy with it.

One experiment to add is C-41 at home without precise temps with cheap and dirty film.

Like any other camera I don't underestimate Holga 120.

Also looking forward to get 120 WPC once it is available.

Wallendo · Jul 6, 2014

I used to use cheap film for my "toy" cameras, but I quickly realized that it costs just as much (Time, chemicals, scanning, and post-processing) to develop cheap film as it does good film. I probably wouldn't put Velvia, at its current price for film and developing, in my Agfa Isola 1, but good quality economy films are available such as Freestyle (Arista), for only a little more than cheap film.

Cheap and dirty film for Holga 120 suggestion please...

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