Holga 35mm

[jessicaa]

I recently purchased a beautiful 35mm film holga, and I sent in a roll of film that I needed to have processed from it. I received a letter from the processing place saying that they couldnt find any images on the film! The letter stated that the film itself was in good condition and that it was capable to produce photos, however, there were none...

I swear I rolled the film in there the correct way, I have a lomo fisheye camera that I have been tinkering with for years and not once have I had a problem with the film...

I really want to use my holga, and I am super excited to actually get photos from it...

But I have no clue why my camera didn't copy any images, and the instructions that came with the camera itself were pretty bleak.

Any help would be great!!

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

I don't know much about Holgas, but the first thing I'd check would to make sure the shutter opens properly.

 

[Joves]

Well could be like Mike said or the film slipped off the take up reel. I have had that happen a few times in the good old film days. But I would check the shutter first which is very simple. Just leave the back open and look through the body and activate the shutter release.

 

[Dao]

But I read that a lot of them have light leak issue so some part of the film may exposed to light. If the film developer said nothing was capture ..... would it be film loading issue?

BTW, I do not own a Holga or Diana .. but love to play with one in the future. I really like the way the photos look from them.

 

[Dwig]

I recently purchased a beautiful 35mm film holga, and I sent in a roll of film that I needed to have processed from it. I received a letter from the processing place saying that they couldnt find any images on the film! The letter stated that the film itself was in good condition and that it was capable to produce photos, however, there were none...
...

Loading problems are a very common cause of blank rolls.

The first thing to check is whether the frame numbers and other edge print are present on the otherwise blank film. If they are present, the film was processed properly. If absent, the lab made a serious mistake and that mistake is likely the sole reason for the blank roll.

After checking the film, check that the shutter is actually opening. If there are frame numbers and the shutter is working then it is all but certain that the problem was mis-loading the film.

BTW, light leaks will NEVER cause blank film. The leaks with the small or large streaks or black areas (assuming negatives).

 

[a.rodgers]

I own a holga and i've had similar problems. Most likely it was blank because of loading problems, but maybe you left the lens cap on? I always seem to forget to take the lens cap off

 

[Dao]

BTW, light leaks will NEVER cause blank film. The leaks with the small or large streaks or black areas (assuming negatives).

Actually, that is what I referring to. Because the film developer said it was blank. If light leak occur, it should not be blank. It should have something on it. That's why I think loading issue maybe the cause.

 

[jessicaa]

I thought it might just be a loading problem. When I first got the camera I played around with the shutter to make sure that it worked properly.
Hopefully I can load this bad boy the right way next time.

Tricky little thing.

 

[Dao]

There are videos on youtube regarding loading film in Holga. Maybe you can see some examples over there. Search "holga film loading" in youtube.

 

[kaiy]

A completely blank roll of film with frame numbers showing on the edge indicate that the film was never exposed. Probably from the film slipping from the takeup spool after it was loaded.

One way to check to see if the film is loaded and going thru the camera, is to watch the rewind crank. When the film is loaded, as you advance the film, it should turn. It may not turn all the time, as there may be some slack in the film, but as you go through the roll, you should observe some movement.

You probably don't need to see this, since you've loaded a film camera before, but I have a video on loading a Holga 135 on my youtube channel:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VafRkn72mTA[/ame]