Holga & Parallax correction

[walter23]

Has anyone written a 'thing' about what to do about parallax problems with the Holga?

You've got bigger problems than parallax to worry about with the Holga.

Just leave a bit of cropping room, or estimate the shift.

[Wishy]

You've got bigger problems than parallax to worry about with the Holga.

Just leave a bit of cropping room, or estimate the shift.

Totally agree with all thats been said. My holga is a toy, but I'd never expect it to produce "good" images, nor would I worry about parallax correction. For all you know the backs going to fall off mid-roll anyway...
Fun to use though, and I've had some great happy accidents with it:


Cropping room is actually quite difficult on a Holga, you can't just cut out a corner because you'll get uneven vignetting that way. I'd have to be a square out the centre you crop for it to look right.

[mooseontheloose]

Hi Kelly,

I've recently started shooting seriously with my Holga and I do know that Michelle Bates discusses this issue in her Plastic Cameras book. At least, I'm assuming what you mean is framing/cropping, not parallax, since Holga's aren't really meant for close up photography where that becomes an issue. If I recall correctly, she recommends composing your shot and then taking 2 or 3 steps closer to what you want to capture in order to deal with the fact that the viewfinder is only showing about 70% of what will be captured in the frame. I've used that advice and have been quite happy with the results, since I don't want to crop when printing (in order to get that Holga look).

[Silverhead]

If I recall correctly, she recommends composing your shot and then taking 2 or 3 steps closer to what you want to capture in order to deal with the fact that the viewfinder is only showing about 70% of what will be captured in the frame.

I have spoken many times with Michelle and that is exactly the advice she gives--and with good reason, as the technique really does work most of the time. It becomes more difficult when you have subjects that are far away (like a building or something), as you have to sometimes take a lot more steps to compensate for the distance, and then basically give it your best guess.

I have found--in my own experience, anyway--that the Holga's parallax issues are most pronounced when you have a subject that's close-up. Of course, as has been pointed out, that's the area that's at the limit of the Holga's focusing capabilities, or even beyond it. There really is no formula out there (none that I've found, anyway) for compensating for the parallax problem with this particular camera...it really is a trial-and-error thing that one has to slog through. The Diana has a similar issue, except that it's a vertical parallax in it's case.

[okto]

The Holga's lens is the most interesting part of it. Light leaks are rarely interesting, and bad composition is never interesting. If the latter two were what made Holga images interesting, you wouldn't need a camera, you could just selectively light-strike your film.
I've been thinking about mounting a finder on top of a Holga, directly above the lens, to minimize parallax error.

If you never expect good images out of your Holga, you probably shouldn't expect good images out of any camera you hold. The photographer makes an image good, the camera—no matter how good or bad—just captures what you see.

[ronobvious]

The Holga's lens is the most interesting part of it. Light leaks are rarely interesting, and bad composition is never interesting. If the latter two were what made Holga images interesting, you wouldn't need a camera, you could just selectively light-strike your film.

This is exactly my point, thanks. Crappy lens - yes. Composition problems - no.