Holga: Glass or plastic lens?

athanasius80 · May 12, 2011

Hey guys,
What are people's experiences with Holgas in regards to sharpest center and most corner vignetting? Do the glass lens models have greater sharpness or smoother light falloff?

Thanks!

Klainmeister · May 12, 2011

Buy both and find out?

athanasius80 · May 12, 2011

I would but I'm broke.

Discoman · May 20, 2011

experiences? well, i only got vignetting when I took 16 pictures with the 12 picture insert in place.
never had it when I run the camera correctly.
plastic lens has REALLY good sharpness in my camera. maybe it's just an anomaly.
the glass lens is just a holga with a higher quality lens that will produce higher quality results.
i'd assume both can vignette about the same, but the glass probably takes slightly better pictures, assuming everything else is the same.
IMHO, it seems the 'idea' behind the holga is kinda reduced with a higher quality glass lens.
get either one. if the camera doesn't quite do it for weird pictures, then try the holga films and the holga enlarger.

yeknom02 · May 20, 2011

I'm going to guess that the differences between the glass and plastic are going to be insignificant when compared to the differences caused by randomness in the manufacturing process. I've seen different sharpness and vignetting characteristics among a wide variety of the Holga 120N, so I think that it really depends on luck of the draw, so to speak.

That said, I did find this comparison article that may interest you:
Dead Link Removed

mooseontheloose · May 20, 2011

yeknom02 said:
I'm going to guess that the differences between the glass and plastic are going to be insignificant when compared to the differences caused by randomness in the manufacturing process. I've seen different sharpness and vignetting characteristics among a wide variety of the Holga 120N, so I think that it really depends on luck of the draw, so to speak.

That said, I did find this comparison article that may interest you:
Dead Link Removed

+1
I have three Holgas (one being a very expensive Holgamod) with plastic lenses (sorry, never tried the glass lens) and every single one is different. The one I like best is the first one I ever bought -- sharp center, soft around the edges and mostly even vingetting around the corners. I think if you truly want a Holga look, for for the plastic lens.

Josephine · May 21, 2011

I have one with glass lens and I really like the results. I never tried the plastic one, but I bought mine because of an advice from a friend who own both of them. I had the same doubt at the time.

moki · May 22, 2011

It's all about luck with Holgas... some actually take sharp pictures and some don't, whether it's glass or plastic. The (usually bad) build quality and allignment is much more important than the lens material. I once had a box camera that I wanted to use for Lomography, but it was just too good for my taste - a light tap with a plastic hammer did the job

I'd go for the plastic... it's the classic. And it's hard to actually break anything, if you decide to "modify" it.

michaelbsc · May 22, 2011

I'd go for a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye.

Sirius Glass · May 23, 2011

Does a Holga even have a lens??

brian steinberger · May 23, 2011

yeknom02 said:
That said, I did find this comparison article that may interest you:
Dead Link Removed

Interesting article. Seems the biggest difference is vignetting. The plastic lens does, the glass lens does not. That makes the decision easy for me. I prefer vignetting, to me it's the signature of the Holga. I still have my first Holga that I bought back in 2007. It is super sharp in the middle and vignettes wonderfully, especially in the top left corner, which goes almost black. A year later, in 2008 I bought another Holga so I could shoot two different films at the same time. I was disappointed at how different this new Holga was, not as sharp and didn't vignette quite as much. So I sold it. It really is true that every Holga is like a finger print, no two are alike.

Jeff Kubach · May 23, 2011

I never had a Holga, but I would geuss that glass would be better.

Jeff

ArtTwisted · May 23, 2011

from what ive read the glass lens is "more dreamy" and the plastic lens has more bite. The vignetting is also different.

medium120 · Jun 23, 2011

plastic one.... classy

Silverhead · Jun 27, 2011

I remember when the original glass-lens version (called the Woca) was out--the difference between it and the Holga 120S was negligible, and I have a hard time picturing that much could have changed since then.

BTW, Freestyle has a new version of the Holga Manual out now in their store. They haven't put it up on their site yet, though.

Holga: Glass or plastic lens?

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