The world of 35mm Panorama photography is about to be turned on its head! The Hasselblad XPAN has long been the ultimate camera for shooting panoramics on 35mm film. And although it is a dream of camera it remains just that due to its hefty price tag in the second hand market. Well now Holga have introduced the Holga 135 PAN or what we like to call the ‘Holgablad HPAN’! Taking regular 35mm film this awesome little beast shoots 24x72mm size images using a 55mm f/8 lens. What’s more is that this is Holga’s first ‘Interchangeable’ lens camera so included in this package is also a 0.25mm diameter f/236 Pinhole lens! Switch between the lenses to suit your own style or situation!

Get it HERE!

Maybe someone will send us one to do a review on…..HINT!!!!

Late last year, a few of us in the local film-lovers group wanted to be a bit sociable and go on a photowalk together. Not just any old photowalk though – something a little different, more interesting.

So on a sunny Sunday morning in November, Mike, Simon and myself went on our first pinhole-camera photowalk. Sporting a couple of Holga 120 WPCs, a modified box-camera, a Holga 120CFN/ice-cube-tray hybrid, and a recently-hacked-together bi-directional oddity, we set off to the local park to go on a lensless wander.

 
Trees mostly caught our attention at first – leaves, twisting branches and winding paths make good starter subjects to settle into the idea of wielding a Massive Depth of-Field. The low-lying winter Sun meant we “had” to stop every few paces to take it all in.

In fact, we spent so long stopping to admire the light – and to set shots up, and take shots – that we managed to walk all of 100 yards in our first hour! Given we’d only set ourselves a two-how time-frame altogether, we decided to skip most of the route, and head straight to some old walled gardens.

l love photowalks. Not only for the chance to totally submerge yourself into a photo-taking mindset, but also to see how other photographers work. Everyone looks at the same place, the same scene, but with a different perspective – copying/borrowing/suggesting ideas really makes the day enjoyable and educational.

The challenge of a pinhole-specific walk is also great – often, the whole group is forced to show down (especially if you want to avoid wandering into the 120 WPC’s extensive field of view…). This can really push you to seek out of new ways to shot what you can see, rather than just keeping on wandering until you find something you obviously like the look of.

Here are some tips if you’re thinking of organising your own pinhole walk:

• Aim for one tripod per person – swapping them between cameras (including quiet-release mechanisms) can take up a lot of time.
• Plan a route in advance, but also plan some “shortcuts” in case time starts running out. A circular route can be handy.
• Bring a range of film if you’re not sure what the weather will be like.
• Start with a smaller group than a larger one – it’s easier to meet/change the route/swap ideas, etc. if you’re all trying to work out what’s going on at the same time.
• Just remember – the main point is to have fun! Better to cover less ground than to rush around and get dressed or last. (Although mobile/cell phones are a must – as is swapping numbers before you set off).

Finally, tag all your photos with something handy so everyone can see what you’ve been up to.

Been on your own pinhole-walk? Let us know!

As always, if you like a picture please do click through and fave/leave a comment. And keep uploading pictures – we’ll do a full best of December at the start of the year.

Etsy is still one of my favourites for browsing, and with the number of open tabs threatening to suck in my local street like a black hole, I decided to unleash the best of what I’d found, right here on Holgablog.

There are, of course, quite a few camera-related items on Etsy. There are earrings, necklaces, shirts, straps – even cameras too. So I’ve tried to pick out the things that caught my eye for some reason, though. Things with a bit of je ne sais quoi about them… Be quick, as some of these might have sold out by the time you look at them – try clicking through to the shop if so, to see what else you can find.

You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to jewellery, but this small Seagull camera necklace from MBLifeAccessories was the first to stand out.

For Diana F+ fans, yolandachiu has a tiny version set with a moonstone, but also complete with detachable flash – nice!

I also found some really sweet little wooden camera pendants – for example this one on the left by bRainbowshop, and the small Rollei on the right from iluxo, which even opens up (good luck finding film for it though…)

If you’re after something a little more retro, DesignsByAnnette may have just the thing – some daguerrotype earrings in the shape of a good old-fashioned bellows camera, and a resulting freaky plate photo. Guaranteed to get people looking closely at your ears…

I have to admit that LolasRoom has been one of my favourite shops for a while, so I had to include this retro-camera calendar here, portraying all manner of cameras – Dianas, folding ones, Polaroids, and yes, Holgas! – in a lovely faded light.

If your walls are still a bit bare though, don’t despair. wedoart turns old cameras into clocks for the discerning chronologist, including the Baby Brownie and the front of a Kodak folding camera you can see here.

(Hint: The old lenses turned into jewellery are worth a look too…)

And to continue in a vaguely steampunk fashion, why not go the whole hog with this steampunk sculpture from alexbergland?

Phew, it’s thirsty work putting this list together! Just as well vital sell some TLR pint glasses.

And what better to plonk yourself down and relax with than some comfy cushions? intheseam has an amazing collection of ones depicting classic cameras, although my favourite might be these wideangle stereoscopic pillows. Or go for the cute angle with mymimi‘s ultra-cute, ultra-smiley creation.

So there you go. With all the shopping done, it’s time to sit back, and relax with a camera squid and a Holga zine.

Happy browsing! And don’t forget to leave us a comment if you’ve seen anything else the camera lover in your life might like…

Holga Direct have released info and pictures of the Holga 120 PAN – a double-width, panoramic beast in the same vein as the pinhole-based 120 WPC, but with a 90mm lens propped proudly on the front.

Like the WPC, the PAN takes “double” negatives – 6x12cm – on 120 film, although there’s no mention of a smaller mask as per the WPC. You also get a cable-release connection, a spirit-level levelness indicator, a handy viewfinder and – get this – two hotshoe mounts for double the flash fun. Not bad, eh?

Sadly Holga Direct have got sales on hold until they’ve clarified some of the details, but it looks like it’ll be on at the $90 mark when the gates are lifted, There’s more discussion and information over at this Flickr thread if you want to keep up.

Definitely going to need a bigger stocking this year.

To fit maximum footage time onto a roll of film (a max of 144 frames), the size of each frame is fairly squeezed – like a postbox – as you can see in one of Lomography’s showreels here:

Lomography LomoKino Teaser No.2 from Lomography on Vimeo.

While it’s never going to be the easiest process in the world, The Lomography lot have some good tips for using flash, scanning, and converting your results into digital files. There’s also a handy tripod mount on the camera for some steadier results, and it does look like you can do some kind of stop-motion style advancing for animated fun.

In Lomography terms, the LomoKino is fairly affordable, weighing in at a decent £65 (or $79). There’s also a package which comes with a “playback” device with similar handcrank, which you can pick up for £89 (or $99).

Have you ever heard the famous words of Dr Johnson “When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.”? 
Maybe you have or maybe you haven’t, or maybe you have never worried about stereotypes. Well, whatever the case may be, on one splendid day in June at Burghley House, Lincolnshire, UK there were plenty of conversations going on, and not just about the weather, however wet it was – and wet is was indeed.

It was the Midget 50 celebrations and the event showcased a display and line-up of every model of MG Midget’s and Austin Healey Sprite’s from 1961 onwards– stunning little cars from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK.
Armed with numerous rolls of expired film and my SLR I set off to capture classic cars, happy faces and the odd rain drop here and there.

The weather wasn’t really on our side as we were greeted by rain on our arrival, but the day called for a celebration and so we soldiered on through the wet grass and had a blast. Kudos to the live band as they helped a great deal with keeping the visitors in sunny moods and high spirits, especially when they played ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round’ – now that was entertaining and got me smiling the whole afternoon. Good job I wasn’t the only one laughing on such a showery day, hooray for classic car enthusiasts and their obsessions. 

I’m not a car person I have to say. I like all things vintage, cameras especially, but I need technical details like a hole in the head or lead in my knee. To me, cars have names and faces and get me from A to B – wherever the mysterious location A or indeed B may be… But that lack of understanding and technical ability has never stopped me, or indeed a lot of other visitors, from enjoying car events. You can find car geeks next to people who like the car because it is pink and ‘smiles’, racing drivers next to Sunday drivers, Marmite lovers next to Marmite haters and older generations next to the very young ones. I’ve actually started to appreciate transport-related rallies, fairs and meetings of all sorts and now tend to spend my summers traveling from one to the other.
And this one was one mighty event, with all those little colourful cars, more or less, lined up on the field in front of Burghley House. Even today I am unaware of why the cars were parked up like they had just been washed up there, but guess there was some artistic thinking involved?! Or an oversight, but hey, I am a designer and just saying.

As the hours passed and the rain settled in properly I started to move my focus from cars to people. I haven’t really tried my hands on field photography and candid images, but one has to start somewhere, and I actually like my results. The multi-coloured umbrellas, cagoules and cars worked rather well against the grey sky and the happy faces one could spot here and there added just that little bit of magic you are searching for on a rainy day.

When it comes to photography, there are uncountable possibilities and techniques you can try out. I’ve always been drawn to landscapes and close-ups, even the odd abstract image, but never even thought about taking people’s portraits. An object holds an identity and has its own memories, similar to a person, and for me those object-interactions have fantastic potential. However, it was about time to photograph the owners and users of those objects. The expressions on some of the faces tell stories in their own right and in combination with the objects they were there to celebrate; you have a whole new page in the book of Midget history. It’s a long way away from portraiture photography on one hand, but also closely related on the other.

Car-person or not, it was a spiffing day filled with tonnes of car-related enthusiasm, excited conversations and interesting snapshots. And one thing that is certain, I will most definitely start to experiment with street photography further. Daily life holds immense possibilities for a photographer no matter what the weather gods have planned. Get out there and enjoy them while the summer lasts!

And so an excellent day ends and one truth has proven itself right once again, if there is the word “celebration” on the invite, a party we shall have no matter what the weather! Cheerio old chaps!

The whole experiment was bringing up more questions than answers, but that’s the fun part of the photographic experiment, isn’t it? I sifted through forums, articles and people to collect the information that I needed and wanted to even start. After a few weeks, I decided to give it a try.  Here’s a list of what I tried:

The Chemistry:

Ilford Ilfosol 3 developer

Ilford Rapid Fix

The Time:

Water pre-soak for 5 minutes at  80 degrees F

All other steps below at 67.9 F

Developer for 7 minutes, let sit for the first 2 minutes, agitate for 30 sec. every minute

Water rinse for 5 minutes

Fix for 8 minutes

Hypo for 1 minute

Final wash for 5 minutes

If your film comes out looking grainy and the black goo is still coming off, rinse it off under running water. Use your fingers to gently rub off the remaining emulsion and you will find your image!  Know I now what Charlie Sheen feels like…I am winning.

*Note that no changes to contrast or brightness were made to the scans*

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