|
The Holga camera.
 What can be said about this popular workhorse of toy camera's, that hasn't already been said in a thousand web pages devoted to this camera?
But to summarize-
When Volkswagen stopped making the Beetle all those years ago, those little rusty bugs slowly became cult collectable cars. Oh joy, when in recent times the Beetle was re-released. So what that it suddenly came with cruise control, air-bags, CD player, air-con and a luxury price tag. It still looked like a Beetle- alright!
Well the Holga is like the modern day, current release Diana. Except that it doesn't have any luxury features, er and the lens is still bad, it still leaks, er and it's still pretty cheap. Hmmm. So what was the point of my story? Never mind. All those faults are GOOD things, right? If you wanted photographic perfection you would be using a real camera and not sitting here reading this pile of twaddle.
Holga is one of the few genuine toy cameras that can be bought new and is especially common in the USA. It's an all-plastic 120 camera that shoots 6x6 format. You get the super precise little icons like people or mountains to focus with and a little slidey switch to swap between cloudy or sunny exposures. (don't be fooled by this apparently sophisticated device- it's totally useless and seems only to be there for decoration!)
Holga's have long been tortured, melted down, pulled apart, pin-holed and modified in the name of art. There are many pages devoted to fun things to do to your Holga- look them up at your leisure.
Oh, and in fact they also do make luxury versions that come with built in flash and/or a glass lens, sometimes known as the Woca. An even more recent release is the Polaroid shooting version, for those that just can't wait. Ha, so maybe they are like the new Beetle after all.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form