Holga Blog

Intro

I love film photography. I love toy cameras that are made entirely out of plastic. I love comparisons of cameras. I love the unexpected results I get. I also love when the expected results come out great. I do art photography. I love accessories. I love to critique, I accept critique. I happen to have both Holga and Diana+. Both of them were produced in 2008. Both have been used for the last six months, totaling an average of 1 to 2 negatives each week. I always have negatives awaiting developing and scanning. Once scanned, I never re-touch them. When I do prints, I like them as raw and as original as it gets. I print everything on the negative : the negative, the film borders, the sprockets etc.

The time has come to put these two plastic cameras both side by side and to do the review I was once looking for myself, but never found on the net. I will try to be technical and I will comment on flaws or features that I have noted in my personal experience. Feel free to Twitter on this subject including @holgablog and #holgavsdiana in the tweets.

The Packaging and Price

The Holga, from China or Hongkong, arrives in a cheap and simple cardboard package, while Diana+ ships in nice and sleek full 4-colour specially-printed and designed bulky box that is partly transparent vacuformed plastic revealing the camera itself. The expensiveness of the Diana+ packaging and and the Lomographic Society branding also affects its price. I’ll not advertise anyone here but rather include the price of what it cost me bidding and offering both deals in ebay, January 2009. Both cameras were new and unused items in their original packaging.

Holga 120GN 34$, Diana+ Edelweiss white edition 50$. Both with shipping to the EU. The trend is that the Diana+ is always a little more expensive. Bidding and buying gets you into a rush (eBay fever!), but wisely following what’s available made me choose the Holga 120GN (glass lens) instead of regular 120N (plastic lens), because it was around 2$ cheaper from the seller I bought it. No other reason. Diana+ Edelweiss white edition just happened to be bought from a seller that accepted my price proposal. Colour choice played no role in my preference. Together they pair and look good together – and I call them my black and white cameras.

What’s in the box: Holga 120GN

Camera, lens cap, two film masks (for 12 6 x 6 square or 16 6 x 4.5 rectangular shots), super simplistic manual, strap, take-up spool.

My observations and advice on usage:

1)The 6 x 6 mask gives you actual negative coverage of 55 x 55 mm. I do not use masks anymore, I’ve thrown them both away and I shoot without any – allowing full maximum exposure of the negative from available light. The masks that came with my Holga were sharp in some parts – slide your finger over to find these places, polish or scrape them off with a cutter knife. The inside edges without the mask are even sharper – put on some tiny tubes which are cut open and form a section, looking like the letter “C”, check also that they won’t slip off once applied. Also without the mask, there are some openings for clicking masks in, simply cover them easily with black tape. The interior is reflective black plastic – you may experience light reflections here and there. You can spray paint the interior matte black, I haven’t done that and I’m fine with the original effect. These mask issues depends on your own taste.

2) Beware of using straps as they attach to latches that keep the back cover on place. My latches are quite loose and you may happen to pop the back cover open, ruining the whole film that’s inside. I use a thick rubber band always whenever camera is loaded.

3) According to many users online – throw out the take-up spool that comes with the kit. It is namely just a millimeter bit longer than 120 format film spools, meaning you’ll have guaranteed light leak in the very first roll. Go to a lab that sell/process 120 format film and ask for an empty spool instead.

What’s in the box: Diana+

Camera, lens cap, two film masks (Diana+ by default can be used with no mask for full frame 12 6 x 6 square exposures, so the masks are for 16 4.2 x 4.2 and 16 4.6 x 4.6 endless panorama exposures), manual in 8 languages, strap that’s already installed and can’t be eliminated, correct take-up spool, book “Vignettes” (not shown in the photo), guarantee slip.

My observations and advice on usage:

1) Shooting with no mask gives you actual negative coverage of 52 x 52 mm. I mostly shoot this or the 16 frame mode with the 4.2 x 4.2 mask – which actually eliminates part of the vignetting in the corners, if used with the standard 75mm lens.

Front view, Technical specifications

Build and ergonomics

The Holga is built slightly harder, and will survive in strong hands. The Diana+ is smaller, lighter, and has small parts that need more delicate usage and respect not to break them. Note that the robust design for Holga dates back to 1982 and Diana+ to the beginning of 1960’s, nobody thought much about ergonomics back then.

Lens and F settings

Holga: 60mm F/8 fixed lens (according to user manual has also F/11 but for this and most of the Holga models ,the F-setting switch does nothing, butcan be modified or “fixed” by small technical intervention – see here for it). Diana+: 75mm interchangeable lens and variable F stop settings (F/11 for cloudy, F/16 for partial sun, F/22 for sunny, F/150 for pinhole setting – can be used when the lens is taken off).

Focusing

The Holga focuses using a rotating lens in four steps – 1m, 2m, 6m and infinite. When focusing the distance between 2 and 6 meters is always a guessed setting.The Diana+ is harder to focus due to the rotating adjusting barrel location between the lens frontal chrome front ring and the lens itself, featuring three setting steps: 1-2m, 2-4m, 4m-infinite.

Shutter

Holga: 1/100 second and Bulb mode for long exposures, Diana+ 1/60 second and Bulb mode. For long exposures with the Holga you’ll need a special cable release add-on (around 20$), while the Diana+ has a small plastic plug that fits into a slot next to where the shutter knob moves down (in the photo it’s located to the left of the camera, tied up with a tiny strap not to loose it).

Back view

Frame number pointer

Both on the Holga and Diana+, the switch is in the middle of the back cover and it looks the same. Slide the switch arrow upwards to shoot 16 photos or down for 12 photos.

Viewfinder

Holga – positioned on one side, meaning you’ll have to correct the difference between the viewfinder and the lens in shooting close distance objects. Diana+ positioned viewfinder above, meaning it’s closer to the lens and leaving people’s heads cut from top. You’ll get to see and will get used to fixing the viewfinder errors after first rolls of wasted film

Top view

Film advance knob

Holga – knob is bigger and therefore is easier to advance film. Diana+ knob is smaller and is sometimes especially harder to advance for people with small or weak hands. Please note that the Holga and Diana+ shutter and advance knobs are not linked, meaning you have all the control over getting double, triple etc. exposures in one photo. This is the fun part while, if forgotten, causes unexpected results. You can also pre-plan your double exposures to great affect. Check out first holgablog.com double exposure event here and here.

Flash

Place for flash: the Holga has standart hot-shoe that allows to use any used old, new, and sophisticated flash available for this mainstream standard. Diana+ has it’s own two-pin plug for a flash – a drawback because only the original Lomography flash fits there (expect to spend around some 50$). For the Holga I’ve tested using a high-end flash from my pro kit – Nikon Speedlight SB-800, which actually fires twice – once shutter is pressed and once it’s released (due to the simplistic wiring in the Holga). For 1/100 seconds exposure it does no harm, while in B mode it may theoretically produce twice flashed image. The double firing can be explained because the pro flashes reload very very fast.

Bottom view

Tripod mount

Holga locates the tripod mount too close to the exposure switch between N (1/100 sec.) and B (bulb) settings. Sometimes after mounting and setting up camera on tripod I’ve remembered that this switch has not been moved accordingly. Diana+ tripod mount location does not disturb any feature settings.

Exposure switch

Holga – read above. Diana+ exposure switch is located below the lens, it’s easy to reach and may be just little bit sharp and scratch you accidentally (it’s made of thin metal). Read more on Diana+ settings above at Front view, Technical specifications.

Open/Lock switch of the back cover

located at the bottom only in the Diana+ camera (It keeps the camera back very well closed, with no accidental openings so far), in the Holga it’s two cover latches in both sides of the camera – see in next photo. These latches can be bent easily, or can make their way loose, leading to the camera back completely falling off! Velcro or elastic bands are recommended.

Side view

Nothing particular here, except the location for the back cover latches in both sides of the Holga camera.

Usage notes

Loading of the film

The Holga can be loaded very easily, because the back cover opens up fully. The Diana+ loading is bit trickier due to the small plastic fixing adjusters at the bottom. These keep the film straight in place, but due to the back cover, which does not open the back totally, you’ll have to slip part of the film at the top in between narrow upper part of the camera. Be careful not to break the fragile small plastic fixing adjuster at the bottom!!! A typical problem for the Diana+ is that the beginning of the film is not rolled securely enough onto the take-up spool. Film may stop advancing and may slip off, adding hassle and causing the need for reloading the camera. Load and unload only in shadow or dim places where direct sun light can not spoil your film.

Light leaks

Apparent on both cameras, light leaks may appear unexpectedly if the camera has been in direct sunlight or due to plastic expansion or contraction in extreme hot or cold conditions. The small edge gaps that should fit together at the back cover and camera connection may be treated with camera light seal replacement kits (search this in ebay). I’ve done this on both Holga and Diana+ and have not experienced any serious leaks afterwards. You may also use black gaffer tape to seal your camera every time you load a film, but this may leave stains and really does look quite awful to me. Every single camera may behave differently due to their plastic body build.

Shooting 35mm film with sprockets

This can be done with a special back cover kit (For Holga approximately 20$, Diana+ 40$), or may be easily done by yourself. Using some foam to center 35mm film in place, some rubber bands to distance the film in the take-up spool, taping up the red plastic transparent frame counter (a light leak in 35mm that has no backing paper), and taking the film out in total darkness. The only thing is that you’ll need to count clicks on advance knob when advancing the film. The brief guide and video tutorial how to do it in the Holga can be seen here. I’ve chosen a different strategy – gluing a round guide on top of my Holga film advance knob. Check this link to my Flickr account to see how I did it, here. I have not shot 35mm so far on Diana+, but the approach is very similar, I believe. Please note that photo laboratiories don’t normally print or scan negatives with all sprocket holes as it’s extra manual work for them. They may do it for extra charge or you’ll have to scan your negatives yourself.

Accessories

Holga accessories available: release cable for long exposures, attachable fisheye lens, flash (cheapest around 10$ or get a Holga with built in flash for just few dollars more than non-flash Holga), 35mm back cover kit, various filters.

Diana+ accessories available: various wide spectrum of lenses – 20mm fisheye, 38mm super-wide lens, 55mm wide angle lens (has almost no vignetting at all, is very sharp if focused accordingly and will produce very similar photos to Holga, in terms of image coverage) 55mm lens comes with secondary attachable close-up lens for macro-like images, 110mm telephoto lens, flash, 35mm back cover kit, various filters and image splitzer. Lomographic Society keeps inventing new accessories all the time, making you to become a returning client. I won’t comment much on their philosophy of photography here, but if you’re fan of accessories, you’ll probaly save half of money by buying straight away the Diana+ Deluxe kit, which includes everything out there (around 200$). The price tag for everything in a kit is still less than any low-end DSLR pro lens.

Shootout

Both images are shot at distance of 2 metres, same time, same place, same person, except that first image is shot with Holga (original lens 60mm) and second image is shot with Diana+ (original lens 75mm, meaning less image coverage). This is intended to be just an overall look to see the “main” difference at a glimpse. More sophisticated shootout of Holga vs. Diana+ was very recently covered here at holgablog.com

Image shot with Holga. The red colour light leak came due to taking out film in bright sunlight (wh-ooo-ps ).

Image shot with Diana+ has much more aberration and vignetting to the edges.

My Holga

In daily use I have accessorized my Holga with an own home- made index guide glued on film advance knob for 35mm sprocket photography and I use the cheapest Holga 120 flash (10$) that I found.

The Holga 120 mini Starblitz.

My Diana+

The only accessory that I have obtained for my Diana+ is the 55mm lens with secondary close-up lens (40$) for shooting some macro like photos. Note that it comes with additional attachable viewfinder. Overally, if you’re fan of beautiful things, Lomographic Society branded accessories are experts on adding value. It’s just marketing and is most probably made on reasoned research findings.

Diana+ 55mm lens and all what it comes with. From the left: close-up add on lens, 55mm lens, additional viewfinder, small bag to store these accessories.

Conclusion

Both the Holga and Diana+ are good cameras. Best is to try these cameras out before you buy any of these. Find a Lomography shop and see if they have a workshop where they allow you to test cameras, or just borrow a plastic fantastic camera from your friends, if they have any. I won’t advise you any in particular because I use both. Each produces different images, and mostly it’s not about what camera you use (neverending Nikon vs. Canon discussions and comparisons), but what you shoot, how you shoot etc. Please also note that you can’t delete an image and that developing the film itself and scanning will cost you some money and precious time. Depending on your needs it will pay back with beautiful photos and outstanding memories (read my poem at the end ).

End notes and strobist info

(c) Images are made exclusively for this review issue at holgablog.com. Copyright: images are the original courtesy of author, and they may be reused or republished only with written agreement of author. Same applies also for the review text in whole or in parts (copyright).

All camera review images shot with Nikon D200, Carl Zeizz Planar 1,4/50 ZF lens at F2.8. Flash: built-in and radio controlled Nikon Speedlight SB-800 from left side, around 1,5m away and under an angle of approximately 45 degrees.

Feel free to comment if I’ve forgotten something very essential and what you find necessary to be included in this review.

Seconds of pointing.

Minutes of shooting.

Hours of scanning.

Days of laughing.

Months of negatives.

Years of memories.

Yours,

Arneee