Tag: holga

Win a Holga from Squarefrog!

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Squarefrog, who over the last year has put together what is far and away the most comprehensive Holga information site going, is having a one year anniversary contest. All you have to do to enter is fill out a very short questionnaire. The contest is open to everyone world-wide.

Prizes and stuff:

First prize – Lomography Holga 120CFN package
Second prize – Holgon Strobe Flash
Third prize – 5 rolls of Agfa RSX II 200 ISO slide film

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to fill in the following form and click submit. The competition closes on Sunday October 7th 2007. Winners will be notified by email the following week. The information you submit is purely for my own interest, I would never pass on any of it to anyone!

I know Squarefrog online, and when he says he won’t give out your information, I believe him.

Enter here!

Holga focus test

Nicolai Grossman 3 Comments

Holga focal distance test by Squarefrog

Squarefrog, who has put together what I believe to now be the definitive Holga resource site, has done a focus test to see if the generally cites distances for each focussing icon are correct.

He writes:

I decided to dispell some Holga focus myths and actually test the focus distance for the 3 people, and 7 people (group) settings. My camera was put on a tripod and the focus fixed in the middle of each setting. Then I moved the tripod back 2 ft after each picture. All pictures were taken using the cloudy setting with the aperture mod, so the aperture was about f/10…

See the results in a photo set on Flickr.

Holga exposure mystery not solved

Nicolai Grossman 19 Comments

The exposure math of the Holga has always been a mystery to me, because it seems to violate the reliable Sunny 16 Rule. The rule basically states that if you set your shutter speed to the ISO of your film and the aperture to f/16, you’ll get a solid exposure in direct sunlight. (For example, if you had ISO 50 film, you’d set your shutter speed to the nearest number, likely 1/60.)

Admittedly, every Holga is a bit different, but I did have one of my Holgas tested with a shutter speed tester, and it came in at a fairly reliable 1/100 sec, which is what it’s supposed to be. As I found out while I measured for The facts about Holga apertures, a stock Holga has an aperture of f/13.3, regardless of the position of the sunny/cloudy switch. So with aperture of roughly f/13 and a shutter speed of 1/100, you should be able to shoot ISO 100 film in bright sunlight and have a proper exposure. (Technically about a half stop over as we’re at f/13.3 instead of 16, but that’s well within the exposure latitude of modern print films, so you should just get a little extra shadow detail).

So why the hell do I have to shoot ISO 200 or 400 film in bright sunlight to get a decent exposure, while I get underexposed mud with ISO 100, which should work perfectly? After thinking about it for a while, I strongly suspected that the plastic "Optical Lens" must have a good deal of transmission loss and was blocking two stops of light, so I set up a test: I pointed a Canon 580EX flash fitted with a Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce diffuser straight into a Holga with a Sekonic L-558R meter (which is extremely accurate and consistent) stuck in the back. I metered the flash through the camera five times with and five times without the lens in place and was fucking shocked by what I discovered: there was effectively no transmission loss. The readings averaged out to differ by only about 1/6 of a stop.

WTF??!? It’s not the lens. It’s not the aperture. It’s probably not the shutter: while I can allow for the possibility that the speed changes over time—it was over a year ago I had it tested—I consistently have the same exposure requirements with all of the 8-ish Holgas I have. What’s left? Light-eating gnomes?

Call for entries: group show of Ireland-based Holga photography

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

Johnny McMillan is curating a group show of Holga work by Ireland-based photographers. It will open 22 February, 2007, at Monster Truck Studio and Gallery in Dublin.

Email submissions (max. 5 JPGs) to info@johnnymcmillan.com no later than Tuesday, 30 January, 2007. (Direct all enquiries to the same address.) Photos made with modified Holgas, including PinHolgas, are acceptable. Show Dublin what the Holga’s about!

No entry fee.