Holga 135BC 35mm Bent Corners Film Camera

Product Information

I was going gangbusters on my old storefront project, and I was planning on continuing with it in my native Buenos Aires, where the same phenomenon of old, distinctive, non-chain commerce being razed to the ground and replaced by stores and buildings that look like any place in the world is also taking place. But here I ran into a problem: in Buenos Aires oldest and narrowest streets (likeliest to have the oldest stores in the land), the Holga 135BC put me too close to the storefronts themselves, and I had to literally stand on the street (putting my life at certain risk!) to get the shot. I realized this project might require two or three different cameras to complete, allowing for the different distances permissible for shooting depending on the place. And this is how I came to incorporate the Superheadz Slim & Wide camera into my project, but that will be the subject of a next article. Before this camera, I’d never used a TLR before. Over the last year or so I’ve found that every time I use this camera my entire image making process slows down. Composing through a small-ish waist level finder is not particularly easy, so I take a lot more time to compose. This slowing down has helped me to be a lot more deliberate and thoughtful with my image making

Wan’s “107 No Man Islands” exhibition, made up of a 30-metre scroll of Holga images, at City Hall in February. Picture: Simon Wan Chi-chung That seems like a lot of negativity, but it’s important to be aware of how shooting your Holga can go wrong. You’re not going to get lost in a mountain of features and options like you might with other cameras. This is more about getting good shots by avoiding the pitfalls. It’s also recommended that you tape up anywhere that may allow light to leak in. This could be pretty much anywhere, although the red film window is often said to be particularly vulnerable.While these films must take much of the credit, the Holga didn’t let them down when it came to contrast with the Shanghai GP3 and colours with the Lomography.

It was when I saw the image below that I knew I had found my perfect camera for the old storefronts project. Finally! This was the style of image I wanted for these disappearing places full of character and individuality. Holga 135BC, Lomography Color Negative 400 film. The old photostore in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Holga may be bereft of even the most basic features most normal cameras have, but it’s still good to know what it does have, and where it all is. It all began in Hong Kong in the early 1980s when the first Holgas were designed by a man named Lee Ting-mo. The idea was to have things be as inexpensive as possible, which would help make these all-plastic Holgas the go-to everyday camera for working-class Chinese families at the time.

Holga 135BC Specifications

It didn’t take long for the rapidly-growing middle-class to be able to start buying the newly imported 35mm cameras instead, which meant both 120 format and Holga were left out in the cold. The unpredictable light leaks along with the softness and vignettes in the corners became desired rather than shunned, and the signature retro, surreal, and dreamlike Holga look they produce has endured ever since. Holga is for those who want to create truly unique images - for those who appreciate light leaks, enjoy slight soft focus and welcome retro vignetting. Due to its simple and inexpensive design, Holga is categorized as a toy camera. The very features that personify the Holga would be considered defects in any other camera. Holga's lo-fi attributes create distinctive images not created with any other conventional camera. These are the reasons the Holga camera has gained a huge following. Below are a few shots that show what can go wrong when shooting with a Holga. The first is an example of that parallax throwing your composition off. I thought I’d gotten the whole of her wedding dress in there, and the buildings should have been nearer the top of the frame. Someone once said to me that each camera I use is like a different side of my personality and I think they were right. I use different cameras when I'm in different moods, when I want to share different things and despite being very similar cameras, the results are where these two cameras differ the most.

Still, with 120 film by far the most popular format in the country at the time and a huge population of unwealthy people to sell cheap and easy-to-use cameras to, what could possibly go wrong? Meanwhile, the 120CFN has a colour flash, while the most alphabet-heavy Holga of them all – the 120GCFN – has a glass lens and a colour flash. Imagine that. The Holga 135BC camera is compatible with 35mm film. There are many different types and brands of film available for the Holga 135BC, each with its own characteristics and qualities. Here are some popular options: Color Negative Film I photowalk almost every day. The last few days I’ve been shooting a couple of plastic Holga cameras. I’ve had these cameras for a while and I rarely shoot them. I normally shoot on a 35mm film camera, sometimes I take a digital camera out. I have been reinvigorated by using those silly little plastic toy cameras. The Holga 120SF and Holga 135BC What is a Holga?Unfortunately for Holga, China’s opening up and economic reform of the late 70s and early 80s is what. When you’re confident it’s in, wind the wheel on top of the camera to pull it on further, ensuring it’s rolling on tightly to avoid, or minimise at least, light leaks. The shutter speed of a Holga is approximately 1/100 of a second. There is the added option to put the camera in "B"; bulb setting. The bulb setting allows the shutter to stay open for as long as necessary for long exposures. This makes it possible to do night photography, getting images without a flash in low light situations or even painting with light. Both a tripod and cable release are recommended when using the Holga in the bulb setting. The Holga 135BC shoots 35mm film. Hotshoe adaptor accepts standard flash units.

The Holga 135BC has a fixed shutter speed of 1/100th of a second. No further adjustment is needed for the shutter speed. Frame and ShootInitially, news magazine editors had a “psychological barrier” when it came to Holga images, says Kuwayama, a New York-based photojournalist who uses Holgas to shoot in war zones and during humanitarian crises. But, over time, they began to ask for them, he says. So the Holga 135BC became the main camera for my old storefronts project. The 47mm lens (which to me feels more like a 60mm, but that’s my subjective impression!) even allows me to shoot from the car window in places where it feels like the area might be a little dicey to go walking around, or when I literally don’t have time to park and then take the shot.