And give me your best advice!

Got one today, and it is a far cry from the 20d, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

adina

Congrats, Adina. The Holga makes a perfect compliment to the high tech 20D.

The way you should approach shooting with a Holga depends literally on how much you want to think (no, for once there's no joke here).

"Purists" will tell you the only correct way is to damn the lighting conditions, damn the scene composition, shoot from the hip when the impulse strikes you, have fun and check out your negs later.

Well, some of us cannot let go of our "training" so easily, and so I find myself in a slightly different group: one that embraces the mega-flawed alternative images of the Holga, but one that wants (no, make that needs) a certain degree of control and predictability in the pics the camera will produce.

With that in mind, shooters in this second group make it point to match up the scene lighting somewhat with the actual exposure of the Holga (or at least document the differences and make adjustments), make an attempt at composing the shot, and most importantly, make notes from exposed negatives as to the various light leaks in the body, then either leave them or modify the body to eliminate or accentuate them (think gaffer's tape...).

Personally, I don't feel exerting a little bit of control over the very eccentric and quirky Holga goes against the spirit of the camera and its pictures, but that's something you have to decide for yourself... ;)

Brush up on your Sunny 16, or else get a light meter. But that might not even ensure a good exposure. I know Holgas have a f 16, but there is some debate as to whether it actually is f 16. If it were me, I would probably just resign myself to having fun with it, and not worrying too much about exposure. Just have fun with it.

Dzerzhinski

Luke, I am your father, come to the dark side Lu... Oh! Hello!
Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.....

Okay - first - did you get one with or without a flash? That will determine whether or not you tape up the holes on the inside.

First - get some black masking tape - matte, not shiny electric tape. Open your sparkling lovely Holga. You will see a "chassis" that is rectangular. Grab it and wrestle it out. Spit and stomp on it - you don't want no stinking rectangular photos. If you got the Holga with the hotshoe, look up under where the chassis was, and you'll see two holes on either side. Put a small piece of black tape over them.

Film-wise, I recommend 400. Anything slower and you'll be very disappointed. Even if you shoot in bright sun, I recommend pushing the film when it's processed, but try a roll on a sunny day and develop it normal just to see where the exposure stands.

Oh - since you took out the chassis thingy, take a flatware knife and push the slider on the back piece so that you get 12 exposures.

Ummmmmmmm.... okay. After you load up the film, tape around the edges of the back piece so no light gets in. Make a flap over the red film number window, sometimes light will leak through that.

And don't use 220!

Megan

I think I posted tons more comments when I did my review of the Holga in camera reviews.
Feel free to ask tons of questions.

Megan

I've only shot a couple rolls with mine, but a roll of g-tape will come in handy.

A light meter isn't going to help here unless you want to really get into B&W processing. My thought about this is that you could figure out about what the ISO should be (the only real variable) and choose the film speed and developing time accordingly. I think it's about a 1/100 shutter speed and the two apertures are around f8 and f11. Not sure about that but I think I read those numbers in the manual. Seems like a little less exposure than that in practice though. IOW, ISO400 on sunny days.

Don't use 220 film because it doesn't have the backing paper that 120 has. This way the backing paper blocks light from getting into the back of the camera, and lets you know where to wind to for the next frame. 120 is half the length of 220 and will give you 12 frames on 6x6 (without insert) or 15 on 4x5 (with insert).

Use 400 speed film for sure! I use color.
In my experience, the sun(f/11) is the only f/stop you'll use.
In addition to Megan's tips. Use the long sides of the box the film came in, you'll need two. Read This Link! It will make more sense than me explaining! (http://www.holgamods.com/mods/order/tips2/tips2.html#loosefilm1)

Above all... Have fun with it! It is a different kind of camera. It will soften things out, so look for bold subjects.
Do a search for other Holga/toy camera photographers, and take a look at mine and Megan's sites too. One of my other favorite Holga photographers is David Burnett (http://www.davidburnett.com/), who is a photojournalists, and has been a Presidential Photographer. Click on the "military" and the "2004 Politics - New Work" section to see some of his Holga stuff..
And make sure you post your stuff here!
Good Luck!
Brian

Slightly off topic, but I think Burnett did a lot recently with Speed Graphics, at the Olympics and on the 2004 Presidential campaign. I didn't know he did any Holga. It doesn't surprise me though. He is a bold and insightful photographer.

Dzerzhinski

My youngest and I are making a trip into the big city today, and I am going to pick up some film. We have to go to the Outpost, and there's a store right near there.

I don't have the one with the flash, although if it hadn't been a gift, I would for sure have gone with one of those colored ones! How cool is that? A purple camera!

Going to try it this weekend, and see what I get. I do want to make it square, so that's first....

adina

Slightly off topic, but I think Burnett did a lot recently with Speed Graphics, at the Olympics and on the 2004 Presidential campaign. I didn't know he did any Holga. It doesn't surprise me though. He is a bold and insightful photographer.

Dzerzhinski

Yes Dzerzhinski,
You are right Burnett did some Speed Graphic stuff.
But I think it was just for those two projects, I think..
He uses a Holga a lot though.
Brian