Holga Mods Made Easy!

One of the best things about the Holga is that it is the perfect camera from the novice camera hacker. There's lots of room for improvement and it's all held together with only five screws.

This section will show how I converted my boring standard Holga 120-S into the fabulous Super Purple Holga 120S Deluxe you see above. As you will see, the modifications are more than cosmetic. Besides the nifty purple exterior and white-wall lens, you will learn about four practical improvements I made to the camera. They were:

1. Removing the lens stop screw so the lens can be quickly and easily removed,
2. Adding a smaller aperture for bright light conditions,
3. Flocking the interior, and,
4. Adding a permanent velcro light-proof cover for the red exposure window.

GETTING STARTED

In order to make the first two modifications listed above, the shutter and lens assembly must be separated from the camera body. This was also useful for painting the front of the camera as well as flocking the interior.

The shutter and lens assembly can be separated from the camera body by removing the 2 Phillips head screws shown in the diagram.

The photo below depicts the Holga's simple rotary shutter. The shutter itself is easily removed from its housing by removing the 2 Phillips head screws indicated.

These screws are shorter than the two removed above, but can still be removed with a No. 0 Phillips head screwdriver.

After removing the screws, lift the shutter out of the housing. You will need to lift out the plastic shutter release lever first.

With the shutter removed, you can then use your No. 0 Phillips screwdriver to remove the lens stop screw found in the four o'clock position in the next photo below.

With the screw removed, it's possible to completely unscrew the lens from the camera which would be useful for inserting an inch of paper towel tubing for a cheap extension tube for close up work, or to attempt pin-Holga photography.

The biggest Holga lie of all is that the camera comes with two apertures, which are changed by way of sliding the sunny/cloudy-flash switch on the top of the lens housing.

Well look at the photo above and notice that the cut-out for the sunny lens aperture is larger than the opening in the back of the lens. So no matter whether you select the sunny aperture or the cloudy-flash setting you're going to get the same f/stop.

I modified the sunny aperture per the photo to the right. I taped a piece of cardboard over the opening and then drilled a 1/8" hole in the cardboard.

Now when I select "Sunny" I actually get a smaller lens opening than before. Another popular modifications for this lever is to cement either yellow or red filter material over the opening. Then when selecting the sunny setting, you'd have a built in cloud filter for black and white photography.

While I had the lens assembly apart, I took the opportunity to flock my Holga. That is, I painted the interior and the inside of the back door with flat black spray enamel.

As you most likely know, Holgas are notorious for light leakage. The matte black finish will reflect less of the leaked light inside the camera.

Be careful to mask the exterior camera housing, especially the viewfinder window and the inside of the red exposure window before spraying paint.

Before reassembling the camera, I painted the exterior with Purple Pearl enamel. I was able to get around the camera housing area by painting while the camera was still disassembled. The white wall ring on the lens was easily accomplished with a white enamel paint marker found in hobby shops everywhere. Reassembling the camera was simply to reverse the steps used for disassembly.

The final modification I made was to surround the red exposure window with trimmed Velcro tape (loop side).

I then applied the hook side tape to the back of a small square of cardboard I covered in black electrical tape.

Now I have a permanent cover for the red window that will not only limit light leaks, but will also be easily removed and replaced when advancing film.

These easy steps to Holga surgery should give you the courage to begin modifying your own Holga. There are several other web sites that describe other practical changes as well.

GOOD LUCK!