Holga Blog

What do you get when you leave a Holga and a pack Polaroid peel-apart film alone the night before PolaroidWeek? That’s right, a Holgaroid! Because awesome and awesome make for more awesome, just in time for the awesomest week of the year. Even Polaroid Japan realized that when Holga fans started building their own Holga backs, and at some point (rumor has it that was in 2002) started producing their own, the Polaroid CB80, its manual can still be found online.

I was kind of mind-blown when I first realised that Polaroid itself once had a good interest in the Holga, back in the day when it was just the Holga 120S and 120SF. Don’t believe me? Have a look at their short but concise Holga manual. While I’m telling you about the awesomeness that is the Holgaroid (also lovingly called Polga), let me give you a little tour of my city, Berlin.

The idea is pretty simple. Put pack film in your Polaroid holder, take out the darkslide (yes, the Holga back is such a professional tool, it even comes with a darkslide, Hasselblad shooters beware!), and go for it. Expose once, twice, or more, all good, it’s a Holga after all. The original Holgaroid back only took Type 80 pack film, which unfortunately was amongst the first Polaroid films to be phased out in 2006, the last packs of Viva 80 film having been available only on The Impossible Project’s shop.

A couple of years ago another company stepped and produced one that allows using Type 80 and 100 pack film, which is still widely available, thanks to Fuji. Though while both covered the full frame of the square Type 80 film, the new version left part of the shot taken with Type 100 films black. I love square, but I still had mixed feelings when I got my original Polaroid back off ebay and realized I had to stock up on some Type 80 film fast to get some mileage out of it. At least it’s an original, right? The ones still available at e.g. Freestyle Photo only support Type 100 film, but really, who can blame them?

All three attach to the back of your Holga, making it look pretty ridiculous and making it a bit harder to handle. They come with a weird pop-up viewfinder (just like good old TLR cameras used to have) that attaches to the left top corner of your Holga, because the back will render your existing viewfinder useless. Mine didn’t come with any, so I basically just point and shoot. If you thought the viewfinder in your Holga is useless, I think the so called “sport” viewfinder will be a whole new level to you.

Even as a fan of the Holga, I still have to admit that I miss the viewfinder. However, thanks to the fact that you can e.g. get an external viewfinder from say, the Ricoh GR-D on top (a revelation I just had earlier today), it’s all good. There’s also a correcting lens that goes on the Holga lens to make up for the added distance to the photo. It also makes the vignette even more noticable, some even say it reduces the light coming in by at least 1/3 of a stop, which, comparing the shots to 100 speed slide film, doesn’t seem to be too unrealistic.

The Viva 80 is a 125 speed film, and therefore needs lots of light. The Polaroid back will definitely thrive when you have a modified Holga with two fully working aperture modes. Either way, you can still resort to your trusty bulb mode when in doubt.

If you’re like me, and leave your lens cap on (I know, what’s wrong with me?), you’ll not only have to think of taking that off, but also to pull out the darkslide before shooting. Trust me, there’ll be huge disappointments, but at least you’ll realize your mistake almost immediately. I usually just take the darkslide out when I start shooting and only put it back in when I’m done for the day.

I’m a big fan of shooting normal slide film in my Holga, but if it’s matched by anything it’s the brilliance and color saturation I get from shooting the Viva 80. If you like Fuji’s FP100, the Viva 80 will be right up your alley. Too bad it’s completely sold out. I have some 20 shots left of it, and I will enjoy every last one of them. The Holgaroid is an excellent accessroy, if you love both Holga and instant photography, there’s really no way around it. It’s simply the perfect marriage.