Francais | English | Espanõl

Holga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Image:Holga 120 GCFN.jpg

The Holga is a very inexpensive, medium format box camera appreciated for its low-fidelity aesthetic. The Holga originated in Hong Kong in 1982, and used 120 film, the most widely available film in China at that time. The camera was originally intended to provide an inexpensive mass-market camera for working-class Chinese in order to record family portraits and events. The Holga's cheap construction, combined with poor quality materials and simple meniscus lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions. The often bizarre photographic results of these effects have ironically popularized the camera with an international audience, and Holga photos have won numerous awards and competitions in art and news photography.

Contents

[edit] Lens

Image:Holga sample.jpg

Most Holga cameras use a single-piece plastic meniscus lens with a focal length of 60 millimeters and can focus from about 1 meter/yard to infinity. There is an aperture switch on the camera with two settings: sunny and cloudy. Due to a manufacturing defect, this switch has no effect and there is only one ('cloudy') aperture of around f/13 - although this switch may be easily modified to provide two usable apertures.

As all single-piece meniscus lenses, the Holga lens exhibits soft focus and chromatic aberration. Other Holga variants, denoted either by the letter 'G' in their model name, or the name WOCA, feature a simple glass lens, but are otherwise identical in construction. Almost the entire circle of light that the Holga lens projects is captured on film, which gives Holga pictures their characteristic vignetting.

[edit] Body

The plastic camera body is no less prone to fault, often allowing light to leak into the camera. Older models only included an optional 6x4.5cm frame insert, whereas newer models include an additional 6x6cm insert. Shooting without an insert produces negatives of approximately 6x6cm aspect ratio, although can lead to problems holding the 120 size film flat against the film plane.

Multiple exposures are possible as there is no shutter interlock. In other words, the film advance and shutter are independent, whereas in most contemporary cameras the shutter of a camera is cocked simultaneously with the advance of the film as the film advance lever is wound or flicked. Problems with fogging and scratched negatives are also plentiful.

Image:Holga-triple.jpg

[edit] Modifications and variants

Due to its hobbyist fan-base and low price, Holga cameras have been produced in several variations, and are often modified. Some include:

  • The "Holgaroid": Holga 120 cameras may be fitted with a Polaroid back, allowing use of Polaroid 80 series instant film. This modification renders the viewfinder unusable.
  • The "Pinholga": The lens, and sometimes the entire shutter assembly, is removed and replaced with a pinhole. Produced by holgamods.com
  • The "Pinholaroid": Holgaroid + Pinholga.
  • The "Holgablad": A Holga with a Hasselblad lens attached.
  • The "WOCA": A variation of the Holga with a glass, rather than plastic, meniscus lens.
  • 35mm film: By sandwiching a normal 35mm roll of film into the Holga's 120 spool, "sprocket hole" exposures may be taken that expose the entire surface of the film. A film advance guide for Holga sprocket hole photography is available at Photon Detector.
  • A Holga's interior can be "flocked" — coated with matte black paint — in order to limit the effect of light bouncing off the plastic interior from light leaks.
  • The Holga's aperture switch can be modified to give a large ('cloudy') and small ('sunny') apertures.

[edit] Models

  • Holga 120S - The original Holga. Fixed shutter speed, adjustable focus, plastic lens, ineffective adjustable f/stop switch, hot shoe, and 6x4.5 film mask. Out of production now.
  • Holga 120N - Updated version with the same "Japanese" plastic lens, tripod mount, bulb exposure mode, an easier-to-move film counter window switch, and an additional 6x6 film mask.

Other model identifiers are available for both models and are as follows:

  • FN - Designates a camera with a built-in flash.
  • CFN - Designates a camera with a built-in 4-color flash.
  • G - Designates a camera with a glass lens (also known as a Woca 120G and GF (w/flash)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

He sells his modified versions to amateur and professional photographers worldwide

  • http://www.THEHOLGABOX.com Pretty and well designed Holga pictures gallery site. Images by photographers from all over the world.
  • Holga at Lomography A vast list of Holga tricks, galleries, books and cameras from the Lomographic Society.

fi:Holga fr:Holga th:โฮลก้า

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Holga"
Personal tools