this page contains all the tips and tricks i know about this wonderful little camera.
the holga is a low quality mass produced plastic toy camera that uses 120 medium format film.
a brand new holga will cost you around $20, how can you go wrong! 🙂
how to use 35mm film in your holga
- step by step instructions on how to use 35mm film in a holga
- slideshow of photos showing each step in the holga 35mm conversion process above.
close focus holga trick
this is an awesome hack that will enable you to make full frame portraits with your holga.
out of the box the holga will not focus closer than about 4 feet when set to the “single person” icon.
basically, to fix this, you force the lens all the way to the end of the barrel…
recommended method: using a jewler’s screwdriver, back out the tiny screw that you can just see through a small hole next to the shutter spring inside the holga.
my method: force the lens off the camera. unscrewing the lens for the first time requires a bit of force to bend the screw. this method is more fun.
once you can remove the lens easily, simply unscrew it all the way and hold it up against the threaded barrel for close focus loveliness!
here are a couple of close focus images of my friends nate, mike and mary johnson taken this way.
How to develop your Holga film
I drop off my film with the marvelous folks at Color Services (they also do mail in processing) and they will scan the film or just develop and sleeve it.
I usually cross process my slide film as C41 instead of the E6 because it is a bit cheaper and I like the resulting color.
Color services also offers a very cool and unique option of developing your B&W film in coffee, contact them for details 🙂
here is a gallery of some of my holga stuff…
to be super cool, pick up a trendy holga t-shirt from cafe press 😉
now get out there and shoot!
