Holga (And 120 Film) Question

[sillyphaunt]

Okay, so step further in my project. Our darkroom here in the college really is only set up for 35mm film. I took in some 120 film that my grandfather had shot (50 years ago!), and was able to develop it, but the lens on the enlarger wasn't the right size, so I had to burn quite a bit around the edges to get the photo to look right.

The Holga shoots 120 film, right? For the Holga users, where do you get your film developed? Can I drop that off at a Walmart or not? Do you develop your own? Is there any way to modify it to use 35mm film?

 

[Bob_McBob]

In medium format, I've only ever used black and white film. It's easy enough to develop at home, and pretty cheap. The machines they use at Wal-Mart can usually handle medium format, but good luck getting anyone to do it for you . If you don't want to develop your own colour film, I suggest you find a local 'pro' lab that will do it for you. Do black and white yourself, it will be much cheaper.

You can modify the Holga to shoot 35mm with some rubber bands, tape, etc. The 35mm cassette needs to be fixed with foam or whatever you can find so it doesn't move around. On the take-up side, wrap rubber bands around the spool to create a channel for the film to follow, and tape the leader to it. The red viewing window needs to be taped shut or the film will be fogged to death. You'll need to count how many turns it takes to advance a frame.

Regular Holga tape-up procedure is a good idea. You can create a mask for the viewfinder to show you the crop you'll end up with, but I find it much easier to just estimate (it's not exactly the most accurate viewfinder to begin with). When you're finished shooting a roll, open the camera in a changing bag or darkroom and manually rewind the film back into the cassette. Drop it off at your regular lab, it won't be a problem. You'll end up with panoramic photos that extend over the sprocket holes on the film. You can crop this or leave it on for effect. You probably won't be able to find a lab that will print them for you uncropped, but you can try.

There are more serious modifications like creating a 35mm pressure plate, permanently modifying a Holga for 35mm, etc. I have a feeling 35mm would work better with the 645 mask in place, but I've never tried.

 

[Canon Fan]

Actually the 35mm idea is one that I stumbled across over the weekend and am seriously thinking about starting my Holga collection specifically for trying this method.

Here is one interesting link I found in my research

http://www.holgamods.com/mods/order/tips1/tips1.html#35mm