Has anybody here had any experience with the Holga camera (or similar)? It's one of the cheap, crapy, plastic made toycameras used mainly by artists to get interesting pictures. Is it worth to try? Is there any way of getting similar results like burned edges and distortions with SLR cameras?

-- Herbet Camerino (hbrasileiro@cihi.ca), May 09, 2000

Answers

I have a few of them and use them every once in a while. Junk or toy cameras can give very interesting results but its very hit and miss. Most holgas leak light somewhere and you need to find the leaks and plug them unless you like that effect. I have taken other junk cameras and messed up the lens in various ways and made some frankencameras to fool with with results similar to the Holga. The Holga is worth the little amount of money you pay but don't expect consistancy. Check out the Junk Camera site and I believe there's a few Holga web sites too.

-- bill zelinski (willy226@yahoo.com), May 09, 2000.

Go here for a bunch of links to toy camera sites: http://www.photoresource.com/resourcetoy.html.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), May 09, 2000.

Check out Ted Orland's studio website for hand colored images using a Holga, books and posters. He is conducting a workshop this summer in Yosemite through the Ansel Adams Gallery on the use of these cameras and participants will receive one as a part of the class. He is happy to talk with persons interested in this.

http://members.cruzio.com/~tno/

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), May 10, 2000.

Herbet, A couple of possibilities for plastic fantastic photos from your SLR are: 1. Use a red filter and apply vaseline to it in the areas you want blurry or burned out. This works well in Black and White. For color, use a UV filter. 2. I recently popped the lens out of my plastic Diana, taped it to a hole in the center of a black plastic bag and taped that to the lens hole on my Contax 645. That made for instant wierdness. A $3000 camera with a $3 lens. Check out my photos at:

http://www.amherst.edu/~fmward/plungercam.html

Frank

-- frank Ward (frank@culturalvisions.com), May 12, 2000.

Any magnifying glass will serve as a lens, you only need to find out how to attach... A piece of plastic or cardboard tube and some tape or elastic string will do the trick. A body cap is useful, too.

Sakari

-- Sakari Makela (sakari.makela@koulut.vantaa.fi), May 17, 2000.