Question by aslan: How do I convince my Dad to let me buy a Holga camera?
So lately I’ve become really interested in “experimental photography” and in pursuing this I was hoping to purchase a Holga 120CFN, which is a vintage plastic toy camera, featuring extreme vignetting, light leaks, very vibrant colours and quite often has oversaturated results, all part of the character of these photos. My Dad disagrees with my choice, to which his argument is always “You have a digital SLR, make the most of it, it’s very uneconomical when you think of developing costs, you can do these crazy effects on photoshop etc etc” He does not understand the whole concept of the toy camera and the ‘unpredictability’ that comes along with it, or even just owning such a cute camera. Any suggestions for comebacks that might win him over?
Best answer:
Answer by Diverging Point
Actually, some of the effects you described aren’t solely because of the camera. Some of the pictures you described, which have very vibrant, over saturated colors could be because the film was “cross processed” when it was developed. Cross processing is when you deliberately develop film in the wrong chemicals – such as developing color print (C-41) film in chemicals normally used for slide film…or vice versa. This can cause the pictures to have really weird colors with a lot of contrast.
There are a lot of other interesting experiments you can do with film, like “Bleach Bypass.” This is when the lab skips a bleach step that is normally done when developing color film. It gives the pictures a really weird, surreal look with muted colors. They actually use it in movies a lot to create a certain mood. I know they used it in “Terminator: Salvation” and “Minority Report” and I think it was also used in “Saving Private Ryan.” (And YES, most movies are still shot on film!)
If you want to try things like Cross Processing or Bleach Bypass, you’d have to find a lab that can do it. Most 1-hour photo labs won’t do any custom processes like that. You’d have to send your film to a professional lab. There are a lot of professional photo labs though, just do a search on Google and find a lab that develops 120 film and see if they have custom developing.
I will say one thing though…Holgas really are just crappy, overpriced plastic toy cameras. Yeah you can get some interesting and creative pictures with them sometimes, but they’re mostly just a fad right now. They’re a rip-off. If you really want to get into film photography, there are MUCH better film cameras you can get.
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