Macro Holga Lens
Six months ago I had no idea I could purchase a plastic toy camera lens and attach it to my Canon digital SLR. As with most technology the more and more it is refined the cleaner and crisper it gets … and the less personal it gets. Ever since moving from film to digital I’ve missed the warmth of film, the texture and grain of film … and I’ve missed the unknowns of film that turn into happy accidents.
As I’ve explored my creative expression through photography I discovered the Holga. This is a toy camera made in China that uses 120 film. The images I saw from this camera, as I explored other’s galleries, where rich with personality – mainly due to the fact that the images weren’t clean and pristine. Thus started the desire to own a Holga.
I learned that I could purchase a modified Holga lens. Now that I have it and have done a little playing with it I found that the small sensor on my DSLR doesn’t give me the full effect of the Holga. But, when I remove the lens from is focus ring-mount I can use it as a macro lens and the results are fun and relatively difficult to control – thus more fun.
This is a full-frame image with the Holga in “macro” mode … if you can call it that. Stay tuned for more tests and experiments.
- Kyle Dreier