The Holga inspired Instagram

TheRook

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Holgas, or simply plastic toy cameras in general?
Until the 2000's, I've never even heard of "Holga". But I have encountered plenty of all-plastic toy cameras before then. Even major toy companies such as Mattel and Fisher Price made real working film cameras for children. Could it not more likely be these cameras that were the true inspiration for instagram?
 

mooseontheloose

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A colleague of mine mentioned this article to me yesterday. Of course, I had already read it (and am not sure if I agree with it, as there is no instagram filter that mimics the Holga). He wanted to know if I knew about the camera and I had to tell him that I've not only had one for over 10 years but that I have at least ten of them! We had a nice conversation about film photography (he used to be into it when he first moved to Japan) and how with digital, most of the shots (for him anyway) are just throwaways, never to be printed. He liked how in the past he had one camera (Pentax K1000) and one lens and he took time to take one shot, and then moved on. He seemed surprised that film (especially medium format film) was still readily available and easy to get processed. Who knows, maybe he'll go back to it someday.
 

Denis OLIVIER

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Yes, the Holga 120 is a consumer toy camera, simplistic and all plastic, using medium-format 120 film, but totally singular and fascinating, removing the technicality to give way to surrealist creativity. Learn how to use it, modify it, even customize it and discover why this icon has become cult in the culture of photography in just a few decades.
Well I love it
 

Valerie

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I thought it was the Polaroid image that inspired IG.
I do love my Holgas! Was first introduced to them by Keith Carter when I was a student, back in the 80's/90's. Believe it or not, that first one I bought is still in use!
 

Don_ih

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Valerie said:
I thought it was the Polaroid image that inspired IG.
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sterioma said:
That's what I thought, especially because the name seems to refer to instant photography, which a Holga is certainly not. Their very first logo was basically a Polaroid Camera (ref: https://turbologo.com/articles/instagram-logo/)
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Absolutely. The whole thing, including the fact that the pictures were square by default, looked 100% Polaroid rainbow cameras - the cream coloured ones with the rainbow tape on them. Why would anyone think a Holga or Diana camera inspired it? The filters. maybe, because both those cameras notoriously light leak.
 

Disappointed_Horse

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Before Instagram, there was an app called Camerabag that had a number of "lo-fi" type filters, one of which was called "Holga." Instagram pretty much stole this idea, along with a photo-sharing network which they stole from Chase Jarvis' "Best Camera" app.

Kodak's 126-format Instamatic film cameras were square aspect ratio. I always thought the name "Instagram" and the square format images were inspired by the Kodak Instamatic.
 

Donald Qualls

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And there were Robot cameras ten years or so before the Instamatic that put 24x24 images on standard 35mm film.
 

radiant

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And do you remember the good times in Instagram when it was iPhone only and just about photography. I think it was sad times when people started posting "selfies" there
 

xya

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Donald Qualls said:
And there were Robot cameras ten years or so before the Instamatic that put 24x24 images on standard 35mm film.
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it was about 30 years before. the robot appeared in 1934 and the instamatic in 1963. if you are interested in robots, go to this page https://www.135compact.com/robot_star.htm, there are other models on the site.

concerning the holgas, there were polaroid backs, later the more intersting instax backs https://www.plastikcam.com/holga_instant_.htm
 

xya

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the original diana, dating from the 60s, had already disappeared, when the holga hit the market in 1982, so it was the first post-diana hype. the real hype with these cameras began with the lomography diana + in 2007. if you are interested, there are quite some models in my plasic cameras site https://www.plastikcam.com/ and yes, there were instant dianas as well...
 

Kino

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Last edited:

Kino

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Andrew O'Neill said:
Now I've got three Holgas since I last posted here. One of them is the pinhole wide.
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I have the panoramic pinhole as well. A fun camera that performs amazingly well, all things considered.
 
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