Plastic or Glass, Plastic or Glass, it’s that age-old question. In fact, since we started holgablog I’ve been emailed 4 times about it(wow! a whole 4 times!), we got twittered about it last night, and there must have been at least 20 discussions about it on Flickr. It’s a burning question no doubt (although maybe not up there with “how do they make Maltesers?”. Really now…how do they make them?).
This test was carried out between two new Holga TLR model cameras: The Holga TLR and the Holga GTLR, with the ‘G’ being the glass lensed model. All but one were taken on the beautiful Isle of Skye, in Scotland. I used a Ilford HP5+ (ISO 400) due to the changeable conditions, even in the height of summer (this is Scotland afterall!). I didn’t take my tripod, so the TLR’s were the Holgas-of-choice due to their viewfinder, enabling me to pretty much line of the same shot. This means the shots aren’t completely the same (fair test=FAIL), but it might give you a rough idea. I will re-do the test with a tripod at some point.
The results were developed and then scanned at 1200DPI into TIFF format (if anyone cares!).
Opinions
Now, before revealing the results, we thought it would be interesting to get the views of our Twitter followers. We asked them if they preferred plastic or glass, and why. The results were interesting with some users liking the plastic for it’s extra ‘effects’, others preferring the glass due to it’s perceived sharpness benefit. We’ll be doing at small twitter follow up to see what @roidrage, @photobird, @fukklebimjerry, @jakemessenger, @HolgaJen, @polaroidgirl,@GuessHowMany and @cgMoyer think to the test, and whether they are surprised by the results.
The Results
In each of the below photos, plastic is the first photo, glass is the second. To view on black in a lightbox, click on the image.
Analysis
Now we aren’t going to answer the question ‘which is best’ as that’s entirely subjective and depends on what features of the holga you are looking for. What we can say is that, looking at the photos, the plastic lens creates an incredibly large amount of vignetting compared to the glass lens. So much so, in some of the photos, it almost creates an entire ‘fisheye-style’ circle! The vignetting is some of the thickest I’ve seen on any holga, and compared to my usual 120N, it’s massive.
Another interesting difference is the exposures. The photos were taken within 10 seconds of each other, as to eliminate any difference in exposure, yet the exposures were very different. We put this down to the variance in manufacturing leading to different shutter speeds, or it could just be that the glass lens lets slightly more light in. Either way, the glass lens photos were slightly over-exposed in comparison.
Many people say the glass lens is sharper in the centre than the plastic lens. Looking at these photos, even at 2000px wide, I honestly cannot see much difference in the sharpness of the lens. The focus seems slightly different too, with the focus being slightly ‘off’ between the two cameras, even when they focus dial was in the exact same place, this led to a few of the photos having different levels of sharpness. This may be simply down to manufacturing difference (i.e the lens is screwed into a slightly different positions on each camera).
The trademark ‘bluriness’ around the edges of the photos is still there, and in abundance! The plastic lens seems to have a ‘smoother’ blur from the edge of the lens, with surprisingly less distortion. Speaking of distortion, it’s clear to see in the final photos, where if the horizon is not completely in the centre of the image, it curves away with the lens.
I have to say, I may do another set of photos, as there is something a bit peculiar with the amount of vignetting from the plastic lens, it’s so thick on some of the photos.
Verdict
Every Holga is different due to the way they are manufactured. From the way the lens is screwed, affecting focus, through to the way the shutter spring is put in, affecting shutter speed, no two holgas are exactly alike. But that doesn’t really answer the question, plastic or glass? Well, it’s completely personal thing. Do you prefer lots of vignetting, or very little? Do you prefer smooth-gradual blur, or distorted blur? These photos might not be the best ‘scientific’ way to show the difference. I might re-take 12 photos of the same thing with colour film(something mundane and at a certain focus-distance) to see any other differences with sharpness, as there is not much difference between the two lenses.
To be honest, I was hoping for much larger differences between the two cameras, vignetting is the largest difference, with blur/sharpness being very minor. Personally, I’d go with plastic, it’s cheaper, it’s the original, and there’s just not much difference to justify the cost difference. You can still can super-sharp holga photos with any of the plastic lens models too (I was suprised by the sharpness of this!).
What’s your views? Prefer plastic? Glass? See any other differences between the photos? Has this changed your mind?
Comments
Plastic: It’s like Dr. Pepper – the original is best. The plastic is a true Holga image. The Glass looks almost normal – like a cheap regular camera – not bad, not good. In a kind of Holga Limbo.
Sometimes I want the Plastic lens, sometimes I want the Glass.
It depends on what I’m photographing, the light and what film.
But when it came to sticking a Holga lens on my Nikon D700, I preferred the Plastic for everything…
For me, the vignette is just killer on the plastic lens. Good enough reason for me to prefer it most of the time, but really, I love all the Holgas
I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. Maybe color will show more variance between the two. I think I would vote for cheap as well…
still a fan of plastic!
what I can see from these shots is that the soft corners have a more distorted feel on the plastic while the glass is more just blurred. glass seem to generally give less sharpness. (or is it just less differense? sharp to blur..hm) that and the glass seems to let more light in. makes sense though.
if I buy another one I’ll definetly get a glass though!
I don’t really understand why people find so outrageous an Holga fitted with a glass lens, unless you use your Holga without ANY modification it seems pretty normal to me, it’s just another mod in my opinion.
I have a gtlr and I love it. It seems to depend on the photo as to whether I get a lot of vignetting or not. I can always ad more in the darkroom if I want. How close I am to the subject seems to effect the blur at the edges which can be quite extreme. I bought glass because I use it for weddings and wanted a little more sharpness but mostly to remind my clients that photography is fun. Which it does and thats what it’s all about really. I’m having a ball. I just about cried the first time I saw a holga picture come up in the developer, it’s not just photography its a revelation!
[...] is simply the lens; one is plastic and one is glass. We’ve covered the difference before in a test shoot showing the plastic lens vignetted significantly more, but they both had similar amounts of [...]
from these shots, to me it seems like the glass makes the center of the shot sharper and the sides more unfocused/blurred, whereas the plastic maintains the same quality throughout.
Try unscrewing the lenses and putting them onto the opposite cameras. I think you’ll find that the extra vignetting is from the camera, not the lens. Fantastic article. I’ll be referring it.
Big user of the plastic lens and the vignetting is what attracts me to the Holga. I wonder how they would compare with colour film
Just Don’t leave either in a hot car.