lo-fi – Dave's Place

Way back in the mists of time … OK 2025… John decided to create handheld multiple exposures with his Holga GN. Partly to liven up a Challenge he was growing weary of and partly to get enough light on the film. A fixed shutter speed of 1/100th (ish!) isn’t that viable when the light meter is saying 1/20th. However, opening the shutter five or six times should give the film sufficient light without resorting to Bulb mode and a tripod.

Even with the steadiest of hands a perfectly registered image is unlikely so what you get is a number of slightly overlapping images on one negative; the more you wobble the greater the distortion. To be fair, some of John’s results were very interesting. With a free hour I recently loaded up two Holgas and headed out to try my hand at it.

At the end of our 2025 Holga Challenge John presented his Holga 120GN to me inscribed “Juan Special Edition” in “real silver” pen. It seemed appropriate to take this as one of my brace of Holgas.

I ended up with two rolls of film, both reasonably well exposed and both developed using my regular semi-stand process and PyrocatHD in homeopathic quantities (to quote John). But would I like the images?

In truth, I’m not sure. Some I like some I really dislike and some I’m fairly neutral on. To my eye none have reached the heights that John achieved but I’m still glad I tried. However, in keeping with my philosophy of sharing the good, the bad and the downright ugly on my blog I’m presenting a small selection here.

I had to mess with the “straight” version (left) because it was rather under-exposed but it provides a comparison with the “shivers” version on the right.

Normal service will resume shortly; I think there will be more pinhole very soon. I’m just hoping that Phil will still be speaking to me if he happens to read this post!

A few years back a friend of mine was having a clear out; down-sizing his kit and de-cluttering his office was the official reason. He sent me a box of various filters and odds-and-ends with instructions to take what might be useful and either pass on the remainder to another lucky recipient or bin them. In truth I think he was simply unable to bin them himself and was delegating the task to me. I did as he bid and before consigning a large proportion of the contents to the bin I put aside some filters and adapter rings that I thought might be useful at some point.

Some have been.

But not many.

With a few honourable exceptions most of what I kept has lain unused and even unthought of ever since. Until this week when I was browsing on a well-known auction site (a dangerous pastime) and spotted a Holga lens in a Canon EF mount. A plastic fantastic to stick on the front of my high-tech Canon 6DII 24mp full-frame digital camera! My finger hovered but then, just in time, sanity returned and I scrolled on, feeling smug at being so grown-up and mature.

But, as so often happens, my brain kept working sub-consciously and later the same day reminded me that there was something Holga in that box of odds n ends. Here’s where I should ramp up the tension and detail the search, both high and low, that I then embarked upon. Except the truth is I knew where the box was and sure enough amidst the clutter was a Holga lens for Canon EF mount with both front and back caps.

The context box: I’m currently in the middle of a lo-fi film interlude where I’ve challenged myself to only use my Holga or Diana cameras between now and my upcoming trip to Scotland. Three, almost four, weeks of leaving the Mamiya and Chroma cameras at home and forsaking the technical aspects of film photography. I must’ve been mad to dream this one up but a challenge is a challenge even one where I’m both the challenger and challenged.

You’re ahead of me I’m sure. Of course I had to have a play. The novelty of a “new” bit of kit is always difficult to resist plus I’m having a lo-fi moment.

For my first attempt (above) I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to use the combination when it was still dark, looking out through rain splashed double glazed windows into the street below. I do like to make life difficult for myself at times but nothing ventured nothing gained to use the well worn cliché.

After that it was out into the backyard to try it out in daylight.

So what did I learn? Well, firstly don’t use this lens unless you’re already a fan of the lo-fi aesthetic. Secondly if you are a lo-fi enthusiast you’ll probably enjoy the instant feedback. But then again you might prefer the anticipation of waiting to develop a roll of film.

In terms of the technical bit. I set the camera into AV (aperture priority) mode, set ISO to Auto (topping out at 6400) and that’s it. I found that using Live View (LV) gave a better representation of what was going on compositionally as the viewfinder, being stuck at f8, was very dim. I also used LV as a guide to how much exposure compensation to set and whilst not an habitual user of LV, especially handheld, it came very naturally and easily.

So, the big question. Will I use it again? Of course. Whilst I find the true lo-fi experience of using film in a plastic toy camera more enjoyable, including the gratification-wait , I will keep this in my kit bag for Justin Case.

Tag: lo-fi

The Holga Shivers

Digital goes lo-fi