10 Reasons To Buy a Holga Camera Right Now

All of you may know that Holga is causing quite a stir in the photography world at the moment, and has been for some time. Hey, thats probably why you are here right now.

For those of you who are just getting on to the Holga buzz, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well hopefully this will help you on your way.

1. The Price of a Holga

The price of a Holga is one of the main reasons why it is getting so big. At just £20/ $40, its probably one of the cheapest ways to start experimental, artistic photography.

The price also means that its ideal for hacking and modifying yourself, because you won’t spend that much money replacing it if you break it. Be warned though, development can be a little on the steep side. I seriously suggest learning to develop your negatives your self because its cheaper and also not that difficult.

Lomography have now also brought out a 35mm Holga so you may want to consider that if 120 is too expensive for you.

2. Characteristic Light Leaks

The Holga is famous for its light leaks. The light leaks occur because the Holga is so cheaply made, and believe it or not, no quality testing is done. Each Holga is therefore unique, letting in light though certain areas of the camera, and on to the film. Here is a great example of the leaking light:

3. More Detail On Film

The larger 120 format film can store more fine information on it because of its size. Its much thicker than 35mm. This means powerful and bold images that just can’t be found anywhere else for this price!

4. Light-weight and easy to carry around

Forget your heavy Digital SLR or film SLR, the Holga is fully plastic and therefore very light. So light in fact that many place a black weight inside to help with compositional stability.

5. The Dreamy Vignetting Holga Lens

The Holga lens is probably the most famous part of the Holga and its what a lot of digital photographers have been steeling to hack onto their DSLR bodies. It produces a dreamy like focus and often creates a huge amount of vignetting, like in the picture below:

6. The Square format

When used with the only mask that the Holga should be used with, the 12 mask. The Holga will produce square images, which make a refreshing change from the rectangular images you get with 35mm.

7. The Holga is easy to Hack

The holga is such a simple camera that hacking the thing is relitively easy, and has become very popular. (Some have even made websites out of it ;)). You can browse through the archives here and see some of the things that I have done. All are step-by-step tutorials so you can follow them easily.

Like I mentioned earlier, its also not that bad if it goes wrong because its so cheap to replace!

8. The Unpredictably Of The Holga Camera

There really is no predicting what your Holga camera has captured, and for most that is the joy. I personally believe it puts a whole new perspective on photography.

9. Compositional Benefits

The Holga strips down all technical aspects of photography leaving you with only one other thing, the creative side! You start to think about photography and composition in a whole different way once you get your hands on a Holga.

10. Above all, its Fun

The Holga camera is so fun. You can take it anywhere, get crazy photographs and impress your freinds nad fellow photography contacts. All from a £20 camera. Whats more, its making people use film again. Bravo!

As usual, if you have anything that you think could be added here, then leave a comment!

Go Buy!