depressed noob Holga 135's 1st roll

[Scudman]

Hi one and all,

I have recently processed and scanned my 1st roll of 35mm (from my Holga 135) and found that I only have about 1 quarter of the photos taken! According to the person at Fotohub, all the rest were under-exposed.

Sad as I can be, I would like to find out what I could have done to prevent this from happening. Can anyone enlighten me?

Should I turn to Bulb mode and expose the film longer? I am afraid that might affect the clarity as my hands will move.

OR

Should I make changes to the sunny/cloudy switch?

PS: I stick black tape to the back panel to prevent light lead. Could this also be the cause of underexposure? Cos I have removed it after what the person told me.

[starvingjack]

underexposure happens when u are using a fast shutter speed while shooting a rather dark scene.

for holga's case, just remember to shoot when its sunny to achieve the best results. For ur next roll i suggest you shoot everything thats bathed in sunlight, once you got the hang of it, then proceed to learn how to achieve good low light shots.

and the black tape aint got anything to do with the underexposed shots. i would suggest that you retape it back, or you'll have a risk of leaking.

[ndroo]

Yeah shoot in bright daylight and if you need to shoot indoor or low light situation, try using faster film (eg ISO 400/800/1600)

[Scudman]

I shot the 1st roll in outdoor, using ISO 400 Kodak Gold film. ISO should be high enough I supposed? Furthermore, it was pretty sunny.

In terms of shutter speed, I think there is only one standard speed for Holga, correct me if I am wrong. So how should I change it to a slower speed? Bulb?

The uncle at Ruby told me to use ISO 400 or else I am not going to get any shots at all (because I choose ISO 100 at first)... Looks like 400 might not be enough too.

I also bought the cable release from Perly. Have yet to use it, looks like I still have lots to discover before I start taking great shots like you guys do.



PS: 1 roll wasted........

[Rangefinder_fan]

Yo, Bulb mode is strictly for tripod use or owners who have turned to stone.
Bascially, your shutter is opened when you press the button, and it only closes when you release the button. Camera shake will happen for sure.
Best to team B mode with a cable release when the camera is placed onto a table or something solid.

And about wasting film, it happens to all of us. I've paid processing charges for a roll of agfa slide that did not engage the sprockets before..

[Scudman]

Ouchhhh~ That hurts!

Ok, I shall only shoot using my Holga when it's sunny like crazy.

Have been taking using a roll of Kodak Tmax (B&W), halfway through it already. Hopefully this time round will be better.

After I processed the 1st roll of Kodak Gold (with only a few shots being "abled" for processing), I have been using bulb more often, but releasing the shutter after like 1 to 2 seconds. I guess it should be better than underexposed. Keeping my fingers crossed for not over-exposed though.

[narcx]

Why your shots are underexposed:


the holga has an fstop of what f8 or f11? no one really knows for sure exactly. For that aperture it requires quite a lot of light, iso 400 is fine for indoors if its bright enough (in the holga's case it has to be very bright). So if you want to shoot indoors you need atleast iso800. outdoors 400 is good but there must be bright sunlight. if you want all your shots to be exposed use iso800 all the time, you'll have a better chance

[Scudman]

That was some great advice. Very straight forward and easy to understand.

I will get my next roll of film as 800. But darn! I just got a roll of Fuji Sensia 100 from Ruby!!! Looks like I really need that tripod and fix on my cable release. How long should I expose the (ISO 100) film to if it's outdoor and indoor respectively? (both situations with tripod and cable release)

PS: I know there is no hard and fast rule, but roughly how long should I AT LEAST expose to get a decent enough picture for developing?

[xylestesins]

Is Sensia slide? Sorry i forgot.
So anyways, i shoot on a Pentacon Six with (most of the time) Provia100 or E100,

In bright (but not harsh) sunlight you could go for something about 1/60 or 1/125,
in late-afternoon gentle sunlight with foliage or shading, go for something about 1/15.
For indoors lighting, you'll have to read your light well and decide if the light coming down from above is enough to light your subject well. Actually, in order to get a really good shot indoor you'll need a strong spotlight on your subject to make a great shot assuming you want color.

I normally handhold all my shots to a limit of 1/15 on 80mm CZJ lens, so far so good. But any lower than that you'll have to be really confident or risk getting a noticeably shaken shot even without magnification.
But for a holga, it is a very light camera that trembles with your hands so i doubt you'll be able to handhold at these speeds accurately, if at all. Look for something to prop up against or get a monopod! Shorter monopods are thin and compact enough that you can put it into any of your regular non-camera bags without even taking up space like a compact-able umbrella does.

[Scudman]

Hi xylestesins, thanks for your enlightening. It is not slides, just normal negative film.

Anyway, I was just wondering on the numbers which you quoted me (eg. 1/125, 1/16 etc), do you mean I should release the Holga shutter for ROUGHLY that amount of time or you are refering to a non-Holga film camera (whereby the shutter speed can be adjusted). This is asked because my question is related to Holga 135.

Nonetheless, I can make good use of the shutter speed knowledge which you gave with my DSLR.

Thanks xylestesins.

[xylestesins]

If it's a negative, you won't need to be extremely precise about things . And overexpose is safer than underexposure in a negative's case

My sister owns a Diana but i'm not sure if a Holga is different. What does your manual say for the shutter speed? (Assuming there's only one).

Anyhow, i prefer to give about about 25%-50% more exposure time than i would normally rate a shot to be on my 35mm's when using my sister's diana, because i noticed her shots came out to be quite or a little dark even when shooting at the so called "advised settings" as told by the diana manual.

[spaceship]

sensia 100 is slides fyi

[Scudman]

Oh ya! Spaceship, thanks for informing me! Like I said, i am a noob. I saw people using that and think it's very nice an effect so I get it to try too.

Nonetheless, since it's slide film, can I still use it for my Holga 135? Any precautionary measures I should be taking?

[pfurr]

actually from personal experience, i experienced more overexposure with a 400 film than anything else! i always and only use iso 100 or 200 max for shooting in bright daylight situations and sometimes that has even led to overexposure.

i've had at least 4 rolls of 100 come out nice with my holga 135 and 100 film. can see some of my stuff here http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfurr/page3/ and i would be happy to share on my lighting experiences taking those shots.

[Scudman]

Nice collection! I am particularly interested in finding out how you achieve that "added" purpl-ish or green-ish effect in some of your photos. Allow me to guess, expired films?

Or could it be the coloured flashes? I doubt so as the flash will not be powerful enough to reach the entire building etc.

Correct me if I am wrong in anyway.

Can I also ask whether you use a tripod for the shots? They look pretty steadily-handed to me.

A general question to all experienced photographers: How do you guys take pictures of people in public? Especially strangers. I used to be able to do this with my tele-photo lens with my DSLR, but now Holga.... I can't zoom you know what I mean? Thus, I have to go VERY near to get a good shot of the person's facial expression. Some people might not like it. I don't want to get into trouble because of my hobby.

[Rangefinder_fan]

Depends on whether you want a natural or somewhat posed picture. I normally shoot with a 50mm, so I do have to get close. Most times I indicate that I want to snap off a shot, and 70% of subjects would say to go ahead. Of those, 50% would stop what they are doing and pose, the rest will just carry on their activities. If someone tells me that they dont want their picture taken, I move on.
The alternative would be to take a shot without them being aware, but you'll need to scale focus and set everything up before you get too close.

[ndroo]

Originally Posted by Scudman How do you guys take pictures of people in public? Especially strangers.

Shoot when they are not looking

[Rangefinder_fan]

Originally Posted by ndroo Shoot when they are not looking

Hahahah. Thats a hilarious shot lah

[Scudman]

HAHAHAHAHAH! That was so funny!

Anyway I got back my 2nd roll and result is better. It's Tmax 400 (B&W). I will try to figure out how to post the photos.

[pfurr]

Originally Posted by Scudman Nice collection! I am particularly interested in finding out how you achieve that "added" purpl-ish or green-ish effect in some of your photos. Allow me to guess, expired films? Or could it be the coloured flashes? I doubt so as the flash will not be powerful enough to reach the entire building etc. Correct me if I am wrong in anyway. Can I also ask whether you use a tripod for the shots? They look pretty steadily-handed to me. A general question to all experienced photographers: How do you guys take pictures of people in public? Especially strangers. I used to be able to do this with my tele-photo lens with my DSLR, but now Holga.... I can't zoom you know what I mean? Thus, I have to go VERY near to get a good shot of the person's facial expression. Some people might not like it. I don't want to get into trouble because of my hobby.

not expired films. cross processed slide films. different films when cross processed produces different hues. some examples: agfa ct precisa and lomo xpro produces the bluey hue, greeny hue is produced by kodak elitechrome and reddish is sensia.

i had SOME photos that were coloursplashed and some taken with filters. so yeah. different things produces different effects. if you want to know for a certain one, you can always point out the exact one and ill share.

and no tripod needed at all. never used one for a holga ever.

have to think different with a lomo camera compared to a dslr.