Holga 135BC - Fujifilm 200 ISO

I finally decided that I wont sell my Russian Zenit E camera. I had a friend of mine come home from being deployed (Yet again, and again...) and he had caught me at work the other day and asked me if I still had it. Kindly I explained to him that it was not a casual 35mm shooter and it would need to be babied. He then turned down his offer. Which I was kind of happy about. That being my first real camera.

On another note, I got a message from the stubborn chinese man behind the ebay account between me and a plastic camera. He said that "The holiday time was crazy, and that the item was shipped." Only took me what, two weeks of messages everyday to get a reply. Nonetheless it is on its way here to my abode.

The Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim came. New and still in the gift wrapping. Total cost was about $22 dollars and well worth it. I have not loaded it. But Will post some pictures soon with it.

Also been following some ebay auctions recently but I am becoming more fond of the buy it now function. A user posted an ad for a buy it now, Vivitar panoramic camera new, for $2.99 buy it now. I couldnt wait. I watched the numbers of available cameras he had and said, "Screw it, I dont have a panoramic yet..." If it was anymore I probably would have waited, but what can I say?

Testing out the Special Moments 35mm plastic camera still. I hope this thing works long enough for me to get the pictures in the roll developed. I feel really unsafe and uneasy with it. Super light and totally plastic. Does not feel "Solid" in the least bit. Gave a few to friends and family members and will be glad to see if ANY of them actually used it. I even gave film away with it... sigh.

Currently I just got started on flickr. Pretty cool. When I feel like I have established myself on there more I will post links on here to it.

And before I forget the biggest news. Operation "Plastic Ninja." If you do not know what I am referring to I am talking about my recently broken Holga. I am sure I mentioned it on my last blog. The take up spool on my Holga broke, so I went and got a new one, for the fantastic low price of $53.66.

I actually didnt pay that. I take that back. I NEVER would pay that much for a Holga. Operation "Plastic Ninja" was to return the broken one inside the box of the new one. I saved you enough suspense, it worked. And I have to say the new Holga feels beefier and more mechanically sound than that of the broken one I magically swapped. The new one has metal inside of it. METAL! Its like a whole new camera. Well. It is a whole new camera. We will see if it makes a difference and if it lasts through 4 or more rolls. I would put my money that the new one will.

Im $53.66 cents richer, with a new camera, and a feeling of satisfaction. Screw that getting jipped on a camera. No I dont feel bad. Thats what happens when your products are shit and your quality control guys are sleeping on the job.

The picture posted was the last roll to go through the broken Holga.

Christmas

I have lots of new things to blog about, just have not made an attempt to get it on here as of late.

First off. Been ebaying way to damn much. There are 12 step groups and Im bound to search them out at this point. I was really doing good until lately. But ill get to that.

My Holga 135BC take up spool is friggen broken, after only 3 rolls. Im plotting to exchange that this week sometime since Christmas is the time for returns. By the way, Im pissed about it. I was planning on using the thing.

I splurged (Ebay) and went ahead and ordered a Lomo camera really really cheap. It was the actionsampler chrome. Its the one with 4 lenses. Pretty cool got it for $8 bucks. And it came with a lomo book too.

Also searching for trashcams online found a Dollar store camera that is fairly sought after. I went to 3 local place and found one that had some. I bought all of them. All 40 of them. Want one? Email me and ill give you a price.

Ebay again, has found a way to let me know cheap Asian companies make cameras, and I being a collector of sorts think I should buy them. Specifically a 3 lens lomo style camera. I went ahead and got one of those too. Cheap. $4.25 cents to be exact. Problem here is that the seller doesnt speak a lick of english to my knowledge and fails to let me know if the thing is shipped. And hes pissing me off now to the point where I feel like I should have just paid the extra $75 cents for an english speaking ebayer.

And finally. While Christmas shopping I found another camera. The pop cam, its like the 4 lensed actionsampler but its in Andy Warhol-esque color filters. Like a pop painting every shot.

I have lots and lots of new things to do with photography. I also managed to get my kit for my main camera, which is now the Cannon Rebel G. Bought a puffer diffuser for it and a couple of cheap lens filters as insurance. It works awesome. Also been trying to sell my ZENIT E but to no avail. Turns out no one wants Russian cameras! Not even the biggest local camera store in our area.

Things worth about $165 bucks refurbished if you got it from lomos website. I would have sold it for $30 bucks probably two weeks ago. Now I decided im keeping it for better or for worse.

Lastly. I been really really good about finding info wether it be on Flickr or on Google in general. Since I stay away from wikipedia I usually get good info on cameras. The trashcams thing took alot of my time up. So I can learn from modding the lot of 40 cameras I took up. But at the same time I was hounding ebay (I notice how much I say it because spell check hates ebay) for a rare rare rare plastic cam. The Vivtar Ultra Wide camera is the more expensive of the finished non production plastic cams. Quit making them some time ago. But its the brother of the oh, Lomo LCA. 22mm lens takes insane wide shots, blurs, dark corner, everything. Well I got one.

At the time of this post, some of the cameras I won, I am still waiting for replies (from english speaking friends of Hong Kongs ebay sellers) or waiting to just receive them in the mail. I will post pics of the new additions soon.

And Happy Holidays. Get ready to make resolutions. New Years will be here soon.

I know what mine is. "Shoot more 400 ISO and higher film, and only buy black and white."

Purgatory.

As stated before in my previous blog, I had said that eventually I would like to enter the world of Digital Photography. But really not in the sense that most people do.

For the most part, the casual photographer will pick up a rather cheap box digital camera to tinker with. On the other end a serious "Money making" photographer will go out and dish the amount of a pretty nice used car for the next money making camera. I stand right in the middle somewhere.

I want a digital SLR camera that I can adjust the settings on it to take the holga-esque dark edges pictures I like. This is proving harder than originally planned. I did find out that I can adjust the settings enough to start getting this effect on my own with the Canon I do own now. Have I achieved that? Not really.

After a half roll of expired Kodak 400, I did get a few good shots. Along with the other 14 or so that were not mine but the original owners. Strange. Pictures of people I dont know.

Turns out also, that there is no filter made as of this moment that I or anyone at the local camera shops know that just do the masking I want for dark corners. Seems easy enough. I guess its because on that "money maker" end of the spectrum, they pay to just use photoshop. Which is so lame.

Im using a decent 35mm Canon SLR and basically totally relearning how to do these things. On my own may I add. This is why I waited so long to even touch this camera. Its so in depth, so far over my head, that its scary. But not so much now.

Figure that by the time I spend about 20 bucks on film and developing, I should have a firm grip on what I need to do to get the dark corner effects with a Mid Ranged priced SLR camera.

I did order some really cheap lens filters from ebay to screw around with. Got two UV filters for around $4 with free shipping. And Im bidding on a vintage soft filter to take portraits with. Get on ebay or craigslist and save some money. Now, you can modify with custom things to make a cheap UV filter into a artsy point and shoot auto-focusing powerhouse. To an extent.

Looking to get a puffer too so I can get better pictures up close with this built in flash. I wish I could turn it off sometimes.

Moving to more digital is daunting. Its kinda scary at times. But now, I feel like I have no excuses to capture the best pictures I possibly can. The holga being a loose firing cannon is a mulligan machine. You either make great shots or well, you know. They come out burnt.

Awesome still in my book.

By the way. The auto focus is great. My manual focus shots came out good as well. This is all new to me. They recommend using AF, because the brain inside is smart enough to figure all the bugs out on its own. However, to capture what I am looking for which is essentially the problems most people despise in professional photography. Seems I can use either AF or MF to achieve beautiful imperfections.

Dont get me wrong about the huge jump to wanting DSLR. I still like 35mm and always will. Its so warm and analog-y. Its inviting and pleasing to the eye. I dont think I can love digital nearly as much as 35mm. Its kinda just feeling like I need to make the switch because the market is getting better.

"I was thinking Pentax, Kx. Stormtrooper white? Yes. Thank you."

Come to the dark side, we have memory sticks.

Recently. I have not spent a whole lot of time shooting 35mm film. And for that matter, I have not been shooting 120 either. I was kind of stunned after having a person at Walgreens tell me that they can develop 120 medium format film. Only to find out from person #2 at Walgreens, they indeed do not.

Speaking of which. I have a roll of 120 half way shot.

After some surfing on ebay (as usual) I found out that I can get some filters that can emulate the mask in the Holgas. The soft dark edges I am oh so fond of, could easily just be a filter thats slipped on the barrel of a SLR camera.

And with it being now December. I guess I shouldn't torture myself with looking at Digital SLR cameras. The better idea about such a matter would be to search for lightly used camera stuffs and save some money. But then again, this wouldn't even be close to possible until after the holidays.

In turn. Ill be getting out my Cannon Rebel G, the kind of the 35mm flavor to play with until I can figure out some sort of plan to get a Digital SLR. Maybe start a fund? Put some coffee cans with a picture of me on them at the local gas stations? I can see it now.

Regardless, I couldn't afford one now at any rate. With holiday time here you got tons of items and things to buy for family and loved ones. This merchants holiday is specially horrible mainly because every one is guilt tripped into this sort of annual period. I personally hate this time of year. The only good thing that comes out of it is seeing family, watching children open presents, and the skyrocketing suicide rates.

Its just another day of the year. And a good day to take pictures I have to remind myself. Its not all bad.

Filters - first impressions.

Finally. I received my long awaited package from overseas. My lens kit for my Holga came today from Hong Kong. Reminding you that anything from China takes forever to get here to the states. Specially if its free shipping. It took nearly a month to reach my door step. 

As stated before, the kit included 11 filters and a lens filter holder. Out of the 11, one was not in good shape from my ebay seller. I quickly emailed him and stated one was defective. He politely asked me to send a picture and I did within minutes. To make sure it was defective of course. The one that was dead upon shipping was a red soft surround filter. It had two major scratches on it where if I was focused correctly could mess with some exposures. This is what it looked like. Given I had to get the angle right to see it.

I don't think that if I was shooting in a certain distance it would effect my shots much, but given the length of time I had to wait and the hiatus in being excited about getting my cameras out, I felt that saying something to the seller was in order. He quickly emailed me back and gave me a partial refund on my purchase, knocking my cost of the kit down from the original $25 to about $22 dollars. 

Without hesitation. I checked if it had gone into my account and got two lens cap leashes for my other cameras. Which in total were $3 dollars. Instead of $4 dollars a piece. 

This is why when I purchase anything online its good to get something from a seller that has a 99% user rating or higher. The guy was quick to refund me as soon as I gave him proof of the product being screwed up. I also rated him the highest after the transaction as I could. Always always always give positive feedback for people who treat you good. You might have to order things from them again. And they will remember you too by the way.

Enough about the ebay junk right. I was excited about the soft surround filters the most. Not so much the color ones though. Used in the right setting they can make a shot. And I have done the research. I was quick to use the gray soft surround thinking it could do justice to the mask inside my 135BC. 

I was not let down. I used it for a majority of my shots done on this roll. The colors ones I used were eh. The gray was nice though. Very subtle at varied distances. Dramatic in some others. Blurring out everything but the main object in the focal point. I was not too particularly hot on the color ones for the situation I was in. I love low light level shots, only using the sun. I have yet to venture into hotshoe territory. And I was doing shots around dusk. To experiment with the mask and filters.  So the color ones shouldn't really been employed at the setting I was shooting in. I was just anxious to use some of them and to mix it up. 

135 BC with blue soft surround. The distance I was shooting and had it set to made the clear area and the rim of color super dominate. Not like what I was looking to do. 

135BC with gray soft surround. This was what I was aiming for. The rim of the filter is almost non existent. 

135BC with gray soft surround. Same thing. The gray one is easy to see that it doesn't make the edge of the color/clear iris noticeable. This one was more forgiving so to say. But then again I cant really be judgmental about the color ones yet given I didn't give it a proper chance in the right environment. 

Although. All of the shots I took today made the mask inside my camera seem more worthy. The lens filters tend to restrict the amount of light going into the corners and makes the mask in the 135BC stand out. All of them were darker more intense and more artsy. Which is really what anyone would be going for anyways if they decided to get a Holga. Right?

You can view all of the pictures on my personal site at: www.myspace.com/meierphoto

Very excited about this new addition to the simple point and shoot way of taking pictures. Now I got a while before I can say I even know what I'm doing (Other than experimenting) with these filters.

China loves Holga.

As I sit here wondering when and where some items I bought on Ebay recently, I figured Id blog about what it is I am waiting for. 

(Insert disclaimer here)

Look I support local camera shops, but face it. Either they do what they do and they are the best, or, they suffer the consequences and go away. And heres what spurs the reaction to fall to the low level of ebay user. 

I asked if they had a soft surround kit for my holga, easy right. No. After a week after having asked them to order me the kit, which mind you was $14.99 for a set of 4 filters, I was notified by cell phone that it was in. Now I was led to believe that the kit included a mount for it. When I got there, they said that it did not include the mount. And that the mount to hold the plastic lens filter was $9.99. So altogether it was around the area of $27 dollars for 4 lenses, and a plastic mount. 

It doesn't stop there. I found out after a brief haggling session, they didn't even have them in?! They called to ask me some questions about it. I told them that I searched online after this to see what the company, Holga, the lomography website charged. I was like, "Hey dude. Your supplier charges like $35 bucks for all of it. Can you match it?" His answer was, "I would have to find out from the supplier directly..."

You have got to be shitting me. I can get the whole set directly from Holga for less than that. And why wouldn't you reward me the price that the actual site that they order it from? Pointless. Point being. That after two weeks of dealing with crap from them. I get on ebay and looked to see what I could find. And I should have known.

The entire lens kit made for the Holga 120 and the 135 camera series includes 11 lens filters. And the fucking mount like it should in the first place. How much is it? Try $24.99. And the real kicker, what about shipping? Free bitch. 

Free shipping and its $10 dollars cheaper than the Holga site. 

What sucks about this? Ill tell you. Contact with Chinese online stores. Not that I can say I have had a bad experience really so far, but its hard to communicate with them sometimes. And waiting sucks too. 

They say 7-14 working days for delivery to anywhere in the United States. Which is forever. 

Mind you. Before I started to use a camera shop. I ordered my first Holga from a Chinese man on ebay. I convinced the CSR's at the shop that Holga was needed for schools and colleges this being a college town. So up until recently I have had no use to go into a camera shop unless I had questions about my equipment. 

They are burning bridges with their take on customer service. You price match whatever if you have the power to. Don't make a customer wait. Because what happens? Your store gets fucked losing a customer. And they end up buying it online for 20% cheaper than the actual supplier gives it to the store selling it.

I will never buy anything from a shop unless its necessary for instant gratification. And even then... its not worth it. Lens cap leashes are $4 dollars after tax.  I got one shipped from North USA for $1.50 with free shipping and had it in 3 business days. 

Now. By all means if your like me, give the shop a chance. I had a few weeks where I was frustrated and needed the equipment for some shots I was wanting to take. Therefore after waiting and playing phone tag, I was fed up. And now I buy my stuff cheaper from a Chinese man that loves the INTERNET. And ebay for that matter since its buying his family all the Raman they can handle. 

So far. The experience from ebay has been a pleasant one. No problems so far. Just language barriers. And that isn't even that bad. 

Lesson learned:

1. You always check online for what the company your buying from sells for. 
2. Check in store if they have a price thats close to it, if not ask for a price match.
3. If they refuse to match, or are lazy with ordering, check online.
4. Fill out ebay account information, learn Chinese, and get to ordering. 

Its funny that the Asian person who I don't even know has better customer service skills than an English speaking native to the Midwest does. Get good at doing this in this order. You will save a lot of money and a lot of time. I wasted two weeks waiting for the damn things to come in and instead they gave me the run around with silly Q and A sessions.

So after everything, I end up with this as an order. 

• 4 color filters
• 4 soft-surround color filters
• 3 multi-image filters
• The f'in mount.

For $25 bucks. I didn't need per say all of them. The multi image ones are prism lens filters, not much of a use to me but its was basically free. When you figure I would have spent that money on the soft surround ones alone. Do your research. 

There you have it. The first real filter kit you would need for your Holga's for less than $30 bucks. If you find a nice china man, you get free shipping. Ill post some shots I get with it after I get a roll processed. I have a feeling the plain gray one will be the one I use for every shot in black and white. Makes the corners dark and eerie. Finally the mask inside my 135BC will be more noticeable.  

I guess I should end with be patient. But I cant really take my own advice, as I just get on here to rant about it. Cause my cat is  le tired of hearing about it... 

Sorry Pants.

Click *grind grind grind*

I went to use that time camera in the aforementioned blog, the one that had slightly resembled the TIME camera. (This is the camera my dad gifted me I had mentioned) Of course I puttied a couple of different washers onto the barrel of the lens to try and get a weird black corner effect. How did my results turn out?

Walgreens always develops my pictures. Well. Not develops but processes my 35mm on to a disc so I have it for a collection. She asked me my last name and then told me... "Blank roll." I was like, "theres nothing on that roll?" She replied "Uh-huh."

What bothers me about this specific time, since this has happened now a total of like 5 times in the last few months, is that firstly it was my last roll of expired Kodak 200 film. And secondly, I wanted to see how the washers effected the exposures. 

Now mind you I would have still been flaming if it was a black and white Kodak 400 roll now that a three pack is like $9.99 even at Walmart. But it was some really really cool, imperfection covered one of four expired rolls my girlfriends mother gave me.  

And it leaves me to believe that the crunching sound and force I was getting when I started to shoot and advance, was probably the camera malfunctioning and not actually "Taking up" the film.

Speaking of taking up. My main camera the Holga 135BC was giving me trouble. And I had debated getting another one. It was not advancing my film I had brought to a family get together. After some finesse it started to work. And after I got the blasted thing to work I tried to get my cousins to take two of their kids to the park so I could take some good pictures and they without hesitation denied it in the same manner they would have denied a stranger asking to take pictures. I made way with camera bag and girlfriend in hand and skipped out of our little family rendezvous that I made such the effort to go to. Which sucked. I got a really rare steak out of it though.

All of this will probably put me on a hiatus to wanting to use the cheap TIME camera anytime soon. And the Holga is just pissing me off. I expect that damn thing to work all the time without a hitch. I am understanding with the first few rolls of film a camera eats on my behalf. But when I feel like my work horse camera is slouching and not working due to a camera defect, it will probably be a bit before I go out of my way to take pictures with it.

Maybe the cameras I have been using are too low tech? Or maybe its me expecting too much out of toy cameras anymore? 

These cameras are so simple, the results are so random, and the film makes all the difference. That and the lighting which im starting to figure out. 

*Picture provided by blogger, Holga 135BC expired Kodak 200 Expired 2005*