Holga 120 SF: The Original Holga Love
written by vicuna
on November 23rd, 2008
, 3 comments
(3 votes)
Well, the Holga 120 SF is the original Holga model, in reality, the first Holga with built in flash, released in the year 2000 (the camera of the XXI° century??? ;) and now out of production.
The very first Holga was the 120 S, born 1982 in China to make a popular 120mm Camera. Did you know that the name “Holga” came from the cantonese Chinese words “ho gwong” meaning “very bright” as the camera needed very bright light to take pictures….(source: the Holgapolis web site, see link below). And it was only in the year 2000 that the Holga factory released the first Holga camera with built-in flash to bring a bit more possibilities to shoot with this camera in dark light conditions: that’s the Holga 120 SF.
Like the original Holga 120 S, the 120 SF has no tripod mount and no “bulb” setting, thus only the basics of the Holga camera: the fixed aperture (at f/11) and the approximative 1/100s shutter speed. That’s enough to produce the magical Holga pictures who fascinates me (and a lot of other lomographers too…) and even if I can’t play with a color flash and the “B” setting, I simply love my old Holga 120 SF….. The flash is strong enough to bring you the light you need in the dark (try to shoot in complete darkness with flash to have a great circular vignetting effect) and you can – of course – make multiple exposures on one single frame. And I found out a “trick” to reproduce (almost) a “B” setting effect: if you can hold your cam in the same position (on a table, on the ground or elsewhere, as there’s no tripod mount) just click a few times (4-5 times or more…) to have a multiple expo that is close to a bulb mode…. not so great as a real “bulb”, but close effect (see the shot of a river in the gallery…)
When I travel anywhere, the Holga is the camera I take automatically, because I know that the pictures will be great and magic. I know also that this big chunky plastic cam is perfect to shoot people very close, because they don’t take it too seriously, thinking that it is only a big plastic toy that can’t “harm” them, even if they’re wondering if that “thing” can take real pictures. Approach people with a huge modern digital monster, and all the people will be afraid, but with the Holga you immediately have a great contact with them!
I could verify this in my last big travel to Africa, in Burkina Faso. I had always my Holga 120 SF around the neck and people always agreed that I take pictures of them with my big plastic toy. Just a little click, and it’s done! The results seemed really magic to me, the mood of what I saw was perfectly shown on these shots! :)) Have a look at the gallery, all of them where taken during my travel in Burkina Faso.
Holga I LOVE YOU!!! :))))
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