Should i get a holga?

Markok765 · Jul 9, 2006

I got a lot of B&w MF film from someone going digital, and i need aMF camera. i was thinking of the holga. i like the viggeting and the characteristics of it(except the light leaks so il just use tape.
Should i get one?
People who have one, do you like it?
What characterisitcas does it have, and can it do 6x6 also?

DBP · Jul 9, 2006

Try something a little more predictable, like an old TLR or folder, so you can get comfortable with MF.

BTW, weren't you the same kid who couldn't afford a subscription?

arigram · Jul 9, 2006

If you got film to burn, why not?
With the Holga the expense is the film really...

ann · Jul 9, 2006

it can do 6x6, and they don't necessarily leak. check out leon taylor or john satterlee for some examples of great holga work.

Andy K · Jul 9, 2006

You could probably pick up an old folder on the 'bay, something like an Agfa Isolette, for less than you would pay for a Holga.

medform-norm · Jul 9, 2006

Marko,
go visit the site of the 'silver nitrate queen' Merill before you take a decision. Or the Toycamera webring. There are so many more options out there waiting to be picked up for a dollar. No need to spend it on a trendy Holga, which are close to becoming so last year. Afterwards go visit the local second hand shops, they must have something equally satisfactory on sale. Like a nice Vredeborch, a Felica, an Isoly or Isola, a Pouva Start, an Empire Scout. Look for things that have plastic lenses, like a 'fine polished optical lens'. The world's your oyster when it comes to toy cameras.

eubielicious · Jul 9, 2006

Holgas are good to try, although one of the first things I did with mine was to remove the lens and make it into a wide angle pinhole camera. In the end I binned it as the winding mechanism broke. So, I'd say, yes, buy one, use it to experiement as they're pretty much disposable. On the other hand, for not much more money you could get a Zeiss Ikon Nettar or, as someone else has mentioned, an Agfa Isolette.

Euan

StephenS · Jul 9, 2006

No. No Holga. Get a Diana or a Diana clone. They are much better cameras (actually worse) than the Holga. The Holga lens is too sharp.

Markok765 · Jul 9, 2006

StephenS said:
No. No Holga. Get a Diana or a Diana clone. They are much better cameras (actually worse) than the Holga. The Holga lens is too sharp.

I like sharp i have takumars. mabye a lubitel instred?

DBP · Jul 9, 2006

Markok765 said:
I like sharp i have takumars. mabye a lubitel instred?

If you are looking for the medium format experience, instead of the bad lens experience, go with a more serious camera, like the aforementioned folders or an older TLR. There are lots of recent threads discussing those options. If you just want to fiddle around with blurry optical effects, then spend $2 on an old box camera, or make a pinhole camera, or make a pinhole camera from an old box camera.

StephenS · Jul 9, 2006

A good cheap medium format is still a Yashica Mat - something like the 124G or whatever it is I have. You should be able to find one in near perfect condition for around $100. I wouldn't pay much more than that. I used mine for several years while in school and it was a fine camera for casual use. The lens is decent enough (was never too good shooting into the light) and at the price you can see if you enjoy the format and want to get more serious equipment. Mine is still in mint condition though I never use it.

Looking down through the viewfinder is the important thing about using these; it's a new way of seeing for most.

Seriously, toy cameras are great but can cause a headache if you are new to them.

kb244 · Jul 9, 2006

http://www.thebokeh.com/-article/18/
http://www.thebokeh.com/-article/15/

'nuff said

Greg_E · Jul 9, 2006

DBP said:
If you are looking for the medium format experience, instead of the bad lens experience, go with a more serious camera, like the aforementioned folders or an older TLR. There are lots of recent threads discussing those options. If you just want to fiddle around with blurry optical effects, then spend $2 on an old box camera, or make a pinhole camera, or make a pinhole camera from an old box camera.

I would have to agree here. If you want really "funky" pictures, then build a paper pinhole camera like the Dirkon. Don't use metal for the pinhole, just pop a hole in the paper. You can find plans on the web, with really good directions. If you look around, I'm sure you can find plans for a paper 120 format camera too.

Kino · Jul 9, 2006

Markok765 said:
Should i get one?

No, the REAL question is, "Why don't you already have one?"

I mean, plastic, light leaks, aberrations out the wazoo...

What's not to like? It takes you HOURS with a a $2K computer and photoshop to seriously "customize" an image like that...

Besides, you can attract the attention of that chick with the neon pink hair and the dragon tattooed on her face; can't be bad!

Oh to be in art school again (not that it did me any good other than...)!

Frank

JBrunner · Jul 10, 2006

Marko,
I think you should get a Holga, and a decent cheap folder or TLR, and build a pinhole camera too boot. They each have wonderful and lasting photographic lessons buried in them.

André E.C. · Jul 10, 2006

No, play it safe, get a Diana!

Cheers

André

battra92 · Jul 10, 2006

Let me put it this way, I asked a similar question on another board after I got and played with a Diana clone for a while. They told me how I'd love the Holga and it was fun ... for a while. The novelty wore off after a while as it had with the Diana clone.

I guess I can't quite understand the appeal. I mean, why take pictures that I know won't come out and I'll have to pretend to be some snobby artist to claim I get it. But that's just me and what I like and what I view as art.

But as many have mentioned, a folder or TLR can be a lot of fun. Or if you want to get something cheap and wacky, avoid the Chinese and get an old Brownie or Ansco bakelite box.

Heck, an Ansco Reflex II can be had for next to nothing and it takes fantastically sharp images for its price.

Dave Parker · Jul 10, 2006

if it was me and I didn't have a lot of money, I would pick up an old Ciroflex or a graphic 22, they give pretty decent results and if your lucky, you can find for around the same price as a new holga or dianna, I used a ciro for a number of years and got some real good shots from it.

R.

Claudia · Jul 20, 2006

beloved Holga´s

Personally I think that Holga´s are wonderful little things. Leightweight and still unpredictable - I own several and just love them to death.
From double-/ triple-/ .... exposures to panoramic shots in either medium format to 35 mm film ...
the options you will have are just amazing.
The trick is to work with the flaws of a plastic lens I guess. I use a light meter and different filters or even my Nikon SB 800 flash.

Got my Holga´s through ebay directly from Hong Kong for only 15 EUR each.

Could only recommend them if you are open minded enough and have the berve to experiment.

B/W film to burn: maybe "Lucky" , a cheap b/w 120 film sold for 1.80 EUR here in Germany.

Sincerely
cLAUDIA

eubielicious · Jul 20, 2006

I'd personally make a pinhole camera if I bought another Holga, but maybe the answer is to buy two and butcher one. There's a lot to be said for making pinhole images, and there are plenty of good guides on the net - try this for starters, plenty of images to look at (only one from me):

http://www.pinhole.org/

Euan

Bighead · Jul 20, 2006

Everyone that said not to get a Holga, has already bought one and used it........ I suggest you do the same.

Me personally, I prefer obtaining these effects under the enlarger. Start with a good neg, and manipulate it as you wish, but, I didn't know that until I shot with one.

cheers.

PatTrent · Jul 20, 2006

By all means, try a Holga. I had three for about a month before the novelty wore off and I gave them away.

But they are so cheap to buy, there's really no reason why you shouldn't get one and get it out of your system before you shop for a "better" camera.

DBP · Jul 20, 2006

Whether to get a Holga at all is a very different question than whether to get one as your first foray into MF. There are some valid reasons to get something Holga-like (it needn't be an actual Holga - plenty of junk store cameras will do). But I can't think of a good reason for a bad camera to be your first foray into MF. Spend the money on a Ciroflex. After you have printed good MF negatives you can think about making bad ones.

k_jupiter · Jul 20, 2006

DBP said:
Whether to get a Holga at all is a very different question than whether to get one as your first foray into MF. There are some valid reasons to get something Holga-like (it needn't be an actual Holga - plenty of junk store cameras will do). But I can't think of a good reason for a bad camera to be your first foray into MF. Spend the money on a Ciroflex. After you have printed good MF negatives you can think about making bad ones.

Markos you troll...

I agree with DBP. Once you see what a decent TLR can do, you won't go back to your Pentax stuff. At least not without a fight. A Holga and the like are for "Artists". The good ones have mastered their process and get a vision of their artwork out into the world. The rest of them, produce crap and that's what they have.

My opinion of you is you haven't mastered your process, and we know you haven't mastered it in 120. It's a different animal than your 135 stuff. Get a real camera. Yashica TLR, Ciroflex, graphic 22 are all decent options. Get your parents to fork over for a C3 with an 80mm lens. The first B&W negs or the first transparencies you produce with one of those cameras will blow you away.

Learn what a 6x6 can do, then go play with the junk to expose your "inner vision".

tim in san jose

ZorkiKat · Jul 21, 2006

If you're not getting it as an expensive bulky trinket from the Lomo society, then by all means get one. Holga or Woca are really inexpensive, but are sold indecently at high prices by the LS.

Or get a plastic or carboard box camera (make sure it really eats 120, not 620 , or any of the extinct roll film gauges) from the 1940s or 50s. Agfa and Ansco box cameras are good to choose from.
Jay

Should i get a holga?

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