How to Use 35mm Film In Your Holga
March 21st, 2008 by DurkinPosted in Hack
Being able to use 35mm film in your Holga camera is easier than you think. Here is a step by step guide of how to hack your Holga so that it works correctly.
Admittedly, I was going to make a video tutorial for this but my video camera kept breaking my balls!
1. These are all the Ingredients that you will need.
Scissors, Spool, 2x elastic bands, holga camera, old/new sponge, electrical tape, 35mm film and box
2. Cut out two squares of sponge with your very sharp scissors.
3. Check that it fits in the LEFT HAND compartment ok
4. Attach two elastic bands to your plastic spool. One at the top and one at the bottom.
5. Check that your film will fit through nicely. (REMEMBER its the thickest part of the film that needs to fit. not just the tail!)
6. Next, tape the tail of the film to the spool. This is because its slightly stiffer than 120 roll and could slip off.
7. When this is done, slowly pull out the film and position it in the camera correctly, making sure that the spool is locked in place under the advance pin. You don’t need your mask inside by the way.
8. Now place the two foam pieces you prepared earlier, above and below the 35mm canister. This holds it in place.
9. Cut another thin piece of foam to place over the 35mm canister.
10. Tape this over the canister to secure…
11. Next rip a piece off your film packet.
12. Fold and place under the spool on the right. This adds tension and prevents movement.
13. Place the back on, and then cut a small piece of foam out and tape it over the window. Unlike the 120 film 35mm doesn’t have a paper back, so having a window will ruin all your pictures! 
14.Tape it all up so its nice and lightproof (Use black tape if possible. White is all i had!). OH NO HOW DO I KNOW WHERE TO ADVANCE?? see bottom of tutorial!
15. Mask everything else up and thats it! Your ready to shoot 
**One problem is that you don’t know which frame you are at with this Holga hack! Advance the film for 34 clicks on the advance wheel for every frame. If you lose count start again, because its better to have a big space rather than an overlap.
If you have any questions please ask, and use black tape instead of white! I didn’t have any.
Who needs the Holga 135? not me… 
>>
10 Responses so far
By gentleman-sweetheart on Mar 30, 2008
Hi,
If your Holga is one of the ‘F’ models with an internal flash, make sure you tape in those batteries real good or they will probably fall out may obscure lens/film. This happened to me recently.
Good clear article (and I love those scissors!) Would be good to have some examples of sprocket hole pics and a word on scanning, since most places scanning 35mm will miss out the edges of frame going over the holes. IMO this is why you would shoot 35mm through a medium format camera.
By Durkin on Mar 30, 2008
gentleman-sweetheart, firstly thanks a lot for the comment and the compliments. Those scissors are bad ass! I do apologise for only showing the tutorial with the 120N, and as for processing, and scanning, this is something that I will add now. Thanks for the advice.
In terms of processing, the best bet is to ask for a contact sheet if your getting them developed in a lab. That way you can choose your best parts of the film.
I’m not too hot with scanning to be honest as i’ve never owned a decent scanner.
By Sean on Apr 13, 2008
im sure if you were to ask your lab to make sure they scanned and printed these 35mm strips complete with the holes showing and everything they would. the lab i go is very cooperative with me
By Durkin on Apr 15, 2008
thanks a lot for taking the time to leave a comment.
I heard the best thing to do is to ask for a contact sheet. I’ve not actually asked a lab to print from a film like this yet so i’m not completely sure, but yeah its always worth asking right?
Might as well get your moneys worth
By Jonathan on Jun 2, 2008
I’m pretty new to the Holga scene and I saw this idea and thought this would be a fun idea to give a go. Unfortunately the outcome was a little disappointing. I did get the odd picture to turn out reasonable but not as well as I’d expected. However I will be trying this again as it another fun way of adapting my Holga. I guess you learn from any mistakes you make.
Please can anyone suggest somewhere where I might be able to find a lab where I can get the film processed showing the sprockets. I only know of places like Wilkinsons and Jessops that are unable to do this.
By Durkin on Jun 2, 2008
Hi there thanks for the comment. I also tried it out for the first time recently and was a little disappointed, but that was because i hadn’t masked the advance window out enough! It definitely worked but all the pictures were covered with square leaks! I will be trying it again soon for sure.
in terms of development, I don’t really know what to suggest if you don’t have a lab near you, but I think that is really unlikely. Avoid big chains and try and go for something independent, get talking to the staff and get friendly with them so you can ask them questions!
hope this helps, good luck!
By Jonathan on Jun 10, 2008
Hi Durkin, thankyou for your response. I’m gonna try find a lab near me that’ll hopefully be of better use. I’m trying another new project at the moment in which i’ve taped an old wide angle video camera lens to the front of my Holga’s lens. I’m hoping this will produce some good photo’s which i’ll be able to post online.
By Durkin on Jun 10, 2008
that sounds like a really cool idea. I need to try some stuff like that and post it up here. Yeah you should be able to find a lab near you, but if not i strongly advise that you learn to develop yourself, Its not that difficult once you get to grips with it