Author Topic: Holga Modification (Read 2767 times)

overflow · « **on:** June 02, 2011, 08:59:02 AM »

In the spirit of the Holga.... spirit... I thought I'd start modifying my Holga lens for the PEN to try and get some fun effects. I had some success today, and will update this thread as I try more things.

One of the first things I noticed was that the back of the lens has a small hole surrounded by a ring of smaller holes:

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At first I thought this was the aperture. But, after taking the lens apart, I found the real aperture further inside. This pattern on the outside is actually there to give the lens it's vignetting. However, since it's kind of a weird shape, the vignetting is not circular, it kind of in blobs around the edges, like the pattern. Not terribly noticeable in still images, but visible in live view and movies.

So, to take apart the lens, there's a small screw hole in the back. Unscrew this. It doesn't have to come all the way out, just most of the way. The screw is what stops the lens at the 'mountain' and 'person' icons from going any farther. Once its out of the way, you can unscrew the lens completely. (Or be able to focus on really close things if you wish)

Before removing the lens completely, note where the lens is in relation to the mount. You'll need to know where to start screwing the lens in when you re-assemble it so that the marking on the mount lines up with the icons on the lens. Otherwise you'll have to keep screwing and unscrewing the lens until you get it in the right spot like I did...

Once apart, be careful not to touch the threads on the lens or mount as they are well greased and quite sticky.

At this point I decided to open up the aperture and remove the vignette filter. So I took my handy cordless drill to each of them. The vignette filter is easy to remove, as it's attached to the mount, not the lens. The aperture, on the other hand, is quite close to the lens. I tried to be slow and careful, but ended up barely touching the lens when the drill broke through the plastic aperture. Oh well, its a cheap plastic lens, it'll just add to the 'softness' of it... I forget what drill size I used, but I believe I opened it up enough that a bigger hole wouldn't actually let any more light through.

I would advise being more careful than me with the aperture drilling, maybe putting a very small piece of cloth inside the lens to try and prevent scratching?

Before:

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After:

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The aperture size increase seems to have gotten me about 1-2 stops more light, making it around f/5 or so I'd say. It's probably increased the softness and effects of various aberrations too, but I haven't exactly done a very thorough comparison. Here's a quick picture I took with the lens after the modifications:

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I decided to stop at this point though. My ideas for next time... Creating fun aperture inserts for weird bokeh effects, and vignette inserts to hopefully get something less 'blob-y' around the edges than stock.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2011, 11:00:05 AM »

WOW, still has the Holga look, can't wait to see the effect apertures you make.
A good Tutorial, and seems fairly non techy for others to give it a try.

javarob75 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 03, 2011, 02:56:50 AM »

I'll have to order another to try this!

voyager · « **Reply #3 on:** June 03, 2011, 05:14:54 AM »

This is really cool!

You know we're giving away a Holga Ultimate Digital Kit for Micro Four Thirds cameras though, right?

javarob75 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 03, 2011, 06:36:05 AM »

Quote from: voyager on June 03, 2011, 05:14:54 AM

This is really cool!

You know we're giving away a Holga Ultimate Digital Kit for Micro Four Thirds cameras though, right?

Yes... I hope I win!

overflow · « **Reply #5 on:** June 03, 2011, 08:56:35 AM »

Quote from: voyager on June 03, 2011, 05:14:54 AM

This is really cool!

You know we're giving away a Holga Ultimate Digital Kit for Micro Four Thirds cameras though, right?

Yeah, I saw that. I already have most the stuff in the kit, so I think I'll let someone else play with it, hehe.

I woke up this morning with the urge to modify some more, so I sat down at my desk and tried to think of what I'd like to do... hm. First off, I had mentioned earlier that you can loosen the screw on the back which allows you to unscrew the lens from its mount, but that also lets you to focus closer than previously allowed, so I thought I ought to try it out at least...

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(contrast/brightness adjusted in post processing)

Well good, that works.

Second. As useful as the Holga slip-on filters and lenses are, its nice to have a regular filter thread on a lens for standard filters. The inside ring of Holga lenses are a tiny bit smaller than 46mm, so you can thread in an adapter ring really hard and cut into the plastic. I happen to have a spare 46mm-49mm step up ring sitting around, how convenient...

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I couldn't get it threaded on all the way, it got a little too hard, so I super glued it on there as well, hopefully it will stay mounted fairly well. This does, however, make it so the Holga filters and accessories will NOT fit onto the lens, since they can't be moved back far enough onto the lens to stay on tight.

Third. I had some more time before work, so I thought I'd start on a more 'proper' vignette. I couldn't find where I put the black card paper, so I just used regular white printer paper. This is not ideal, as the white causes light to bounce around inside the lens and washes everything out... but as a proof of concept it'll do.

I drilled out a big hole in the rear lens cap, cut out a doughnut ring of double-sided thick foam tape, and stuck it to the rear lens cap (with the tape backing still on the other side). This way the foam would hold my vignette filter in place against the lens. Then I cut out another doughnut out of white paper with a smaller hole, about 1/8" diameter and assembled it all together.

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Even with the rear lens cap on, the lens will fit on to my E-P1. Though it kind of feels like it might be pushing a bit on the area in front of and around the sensor... (not touching the actual sensor or shutter area)

With the vignette filter in place, the vignetting is much more round and 'natural' looking to me. Why they didn't just use a single hole in the first place, I'm not sure. Maybe if used with black paper, the edge of the vignette would have been too sharp?

As I mentioned before, I believe because of the white paper used, the images I took with this setup are very washed out. So I did some post processing to add some contrast. Here's a couple examples:

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That's all for today, I'll probably take the weekend off and come back with more on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks!

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #6 on:** June 03, 2011, 10:26:18 AM »

That is very cool.
Maybe some colored vellum from an art supply store. Since that is translucent and it may work without too hard of a edge.. Plus, all the colors that are available will make for an interesting effect.

cosinaphile · « **Reply #7 on:** June 03, 2011, 12:00:19 PM »

i love this thread , keep the info and mods coming

ive had alot of fun adapting various 110 film camera lenses
cheapo and good ones like the canon 23mm f2 110 fixed lens etc
minolta 110 slr german rollei 110 with body cap " adapters"

enjoying your exploits

Aron · « **Reply #8 on:** June 03, 2011, 12:21:59 PM »

Now I'm jealous! I totally have to get one of those lenses! I finally got my PL-1 back today so I simply must get one of these!

overflow · « **Reply #9 on:** June 03, 2011, 01:27:24 PM »

Quote from: M5-User on June 03, 2011, 10:26:18 AM

Maybe some colored vellum from an art supply store. Since that is translucent and it may work without too hard of a edge.. Plus, all the colors that are available will make for an interesting effect.

Ohh, I like that. Will put it on my list of things to try.

Aron · « **Reply #10 on:** June 03, 2011, 01:55:39 PM »

I couldn't take it anymore! I finally broke down and just ordered one. Soon, I too shall enjoy digital Holga goodness. I wonder what it looks like when used with the pinhole art setting? Double vignetting?

overflow · « **Reply #11 on:** June 03, 2011, 02:43:26 PM »

Quote from: Aron on June 03, 2011, 01:55:39 PM

I couldn't take it anymore! I finally broke down and just ordered one. Soon, I too shall enjoy digital Holga goodness. I wonder what it looks like when used with the pinhole art setting? Double vignetting?

Congrats! Unfortunately it can take some time to come over from Hong Kong, but my last lens only took 6 business days, which is quite good, I've had things take a month and a half before... I ordered another lens yesterday that I'm planning on keeping stock, hopefully I don't break the one I'm modifying before I get the new one, hehe.

As far as the pinhole setting, I would imagine you'd get a bit more vignetting, but that it would mostly take the shape of whichever one was more extreme, but the falloff should be quicker. Does the effect do anything else other than the vignette? I haven't played with the art settings much.

overflow · « **Reply #12 on:** June 07, 2011, 10:04:25 AM »

Whoops, haven't done much in a while. I did decide to make my custom apertures using transparency paper and a printer since the opening is only 1/4" in diameter and I didn't feel like doing a lot of fine detail work with an exacto knife. It also allows for gradients, which is pretty nice.

I took measurements and made a number of fun apertures:

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1. Gradient to black, hard edge
2. Gradient to black soft edge
3. Slit
4. Blobby
5. Plus sign
6. Exclamation point
7. Question mark
8. Cat eye
9. Music notes
10. Happy face
11. Heart
12. Club
13. Spade
14. Inverted gradient, hard edge
15. Zone plate

There are also two vignette filter there:
v1. Gradient hard edge
v2. Gradient soft edge

Now, I just have to print them out, stick them in and see what happens!

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #13 on:** June 07, 2011, 11:14:55 AM »

Cool, If it works, you should sell them for $5.00 a set, with the instructions for the lens modifaction

overflow · « **Reply #14 on:** June 08, 2011, 10:15:14 AM »

Had some issues with my printer at home and apparently the scaling went out of whack somewhere along the line, so everything turned out too big! So the new apertures are larger than the max aperture of the lens and things didn't work as expected... but I will print it out again at work later, and hopefully will have better success. Here's a preview of what you can get though...

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overflow · « **Reply #15 on:** June 09, 2011, 08:53:27 AM »

Oh decisions decisions...

I finally got my filters ready and put them in place. Without thinking too much I've created some trade-offs and I'm not sure which way I want to go...

Firstly, with a small aperture, even when opened up all the way to what I'm now calling f/4, this lens won't have much out of focus unless you're doing real close up work. So the use of a 'creative' aperture is somewhat limited, but still valid. On the other hand, transparency paper is decidedly NOT 'optical quality' and makes an already soft lens into a downy soft feather bed wash of things, which may or may not be what you're going after.

Well, enough talk, time for pictures:

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This is my modified wide open lens. As we can see from the first picture, it is veeery prone to flaring, and the bokeh is harsh and somewhat doughnut-like. This is usually considered 'not pleasant,' but to each his own...

Next up...

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This is the same lens with the 'soft gradient' aperture. This approximately returns the lens to its original f/8 aperture. Because of this, the lens flare is gone. Also notice that the harsh bokeh has become silky smooth, something you don't see even on a lot of (or even any?) high quality glass, simply because they can't have a smooth transition on their moving iris blades. Also notice, especially on the second picture, the washed out softness of it. Whoops.

So there is a definite trade-off, something to consider and something I'm not sure which way I prefer, since out of focus areas are hardly much concern for this lens.

The same goes with my vignette filters, so when you combine the two...

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It's even softer!

This might be enough to make me reconsider the transparency paper approach. However, gradients can be closely approximated with a series of small holes, much like the original vignette filter on the back of the lens. The difference I can make versus the original lens though, is that I have the time a patience to use smaller holes and more of them, producing a more natural look.

Also up on the docket this morning: Light leaks. You'd think drilling a bunch of holes in your lens to let extra, unfocused light in would be easy-peasy. The problem is that in film the sensor is always collecting light, and in digital our sensor is only on for our exposure time, so the leak needs to be much... much larger in order to make any impact. So far I've drilled one 1/8" hole in the mount, and two 1/8" holes in the lens (making sure they line up) and have yet to see any noticeable affect on the image... hrm.... Maybe I need to put a small flashlight inside my lens...

Until next time...

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Em5 Pete · « **Reply #16 on:** June 09, 2011, 10:12:57 AM »

I think with the right subjects, the effects will work just fine., If anything, you are learning how tweak the process to get closer to what you want.

Holga Modification