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If you use a full frame sensor, you get the full effect of vignetting from the plastic lens. ... Essentially, the lens is right-sized for 35MM or a crop sensor

by angusgr 16y ago

If you use a full frame sensor, you get the full effect of vignetting from the plastic lens. ... Essentially, the lens is right-sized for 35MM or a crop sensor while it's generally used with 6cm medium format negatives. I'm not sure I follow. As you say, a normal Holga lens is used on 6x6 which is almost four times the surface area of 35mm film. So you're not going to get the same lens vignetting as you get on a 6x6 frame without shrinking the lens proportionally. There's also detail. Large film area is one of the reasons why you still get some clarity in your picture, even though the lens distorts the light. So if you drop to 35mm equivalent or smaller then your lens has to become proportionally less crummy as well as smaller, in order to get the same result. If that's your goal, anyhow.

jnovek 16y ago
I'm not entirely certain that Holga is a 35mm lens on a 6x6 film transport, but it is plausible. I have never looked to closely at a Holga -- it's not my preferred tool. I suspect that the chromatic and anastigmatic aberration that are characteristic of a Holga are a result of a single element meniscus lens, which is well known for having these problems. I've heard that the lens is also made out of plastic, which transmits lights differently from glass. All that combined with poor quality control at the Holga plant means that every Holga is special. Meniscus lenses are simple enough to manufacture, which means that they can probably be made to vignette on a full-frame or crop sensor.
- angusgr 16y ago
  Meniscus lenses are simple enough to manufacture, which means that they can probably be made to vignette on a full-frame or crop sensor. The problem I see is that you still need a -better- meniscus lens in order to get the same quality photo on a smaller film plane. Maybe this isn't really a factor, but it's certainly one of the reasons why I prefer my Holga over 35mm toy cameras - you can see a bit more in your crummy quality photo. :).
  - jnovek 16y ago
    I don't think "better" is really a consideration at the Holga or LOMO factories. :-) A guy that knew who was very serious about doing sharpness testing on lenses pointed out that lens resolution doesn't really matter that much. He claimed that most lenses had resolution far beyond the capacity of any media that we could record images to... and things like flare and aberrations were far more important. I have no idea how true this is, but it certainly sounds plausible.

by angusgr 16y ago

jnovek 16y ago

I'm not entirely certain that Holga is a 35mm lens on a 6x6 film transport, but it is plausible. I have never looked to closely at a Holga -- it's not my preferred tool. I suspect that the chromatic and anastigmatic aberration that are characteristic of a Holga are a result of a single element meniscus lens, which is well known for having these problems. I've heard that the lens is also made out of plastic, which transmits lights differently from glass. All that combined with poor quality control at the Holga plant means that every Holga is special. Meniscus lenses are simple enough to manufacture, which means that they can probably be made to vignette on a full-frame or crop sensor.

angusgr 16y ago
Meniscus lenses are simple enough to manufacture, which means that they can probably be made to vignette on a full-frame or crop sensor. The problem I see is that you still need a -better- meniscus lens in order to get the same quality photo on a smaller film plane. Maybe this isn't really a factor, but it's certainly one of the reasons why I prefer my Holga over 35mm toy cameras - you can see a bit more in your crummy quality photo. :).
- jnovek 16y ago
  I don't think "better" is really a consideration at the Holga or LOMO factories. :-) A guy that knew who was very serious about doing sharpness testing on lenses pointed out that lens resolution doesn't really matter that much. He claimed that most lenses had resolution far beyond the capacity of any media that we could record images to... and things like flare and aberrations were far more important. I have no idea how true this is, but it certainly sounds plausible.