Holga Tweak: Fix for loose film spool and uptake.

On some Holga models there is a black foam pad that sits between the film and uptake spools and the camera. The pad is rectangular in shape and serves to provide tension to keep the 120 film firmly against the mask. These pads are sometimes affixed rather lamely, and, in the case of my first outing with my Holga GFN 120, will come loose and wind up in your film uptake spool the first time you use it. (I took mine in for processing anyway, but warned the photo techs at the lab that there was little square sponge like pieces of foam that will be falling out of the film roll.)

What happens when you don't have anything to create a little tension and your film roll is just loose inside the camera? Fuzzy pictures happen. When the film doesn't stretch somewhat snuggly against the mask, the focus will be ultra bad and vignetting will be skewed. We know that Holgas do not always have awesome focus, but if it is over the top fuzzy, you will know something isn't right. We are going to permanently fix this problem so you don't need to be continually messing with folded cardboard, match books or whatever pain in the ass solution some of us have messed with. If this were an infomercial, this is the part where the voice over would say something like, "And who has time to fold cardboard? Throw all those messy boxes out forever!" Point is, if something you have come up with is working out for you, then far out. But if you are wondering why you may not be getting the results of others, give this a shot. Its easy.

Step 1: You will need....

Hot Glue Gun - (the kind used for general crafting, some consider this a cool gun)
Hot glue stick
Scissors
Fun Foam (Black 2mm thickness, comes in 12 by 18 inch sheets for .99 cents. www.westrimcraftswww.westrimcrafts.com , although I picked mine up at Ben Franklin's on the West Coast.)
Your Holga

Comments

[skybones]

thanks so much for this tutorial - i have glue gun but no fun foam. that's sad. i have 2 processed rolls to pick up today - both ate the sponge. i'm going to do some shooting today and will try the cardboard jammy maneuver for now, but while i'm out i'll find some foam. i think my holga was punishing me for buying a nikon d40 and a macro lens and falling in love with another camera... silly holga, don't you know my heart is always yours??? thanks again!!!

[Nyanman]

ummm... maybe a little piece of foam weather stripping could solve that if the pads fall out? i wouldn't know, mine still works perfectly. my TLR broke at the focus knob though. can't focus to below a meter.