Toy Camera Workshop

Sven and Kristin and I are taking a three-Mondays, two-Saturdays Toy Camera Workshop over at UC extension.  The Holga 120 CFN is the recommended camera for the course .. pretty kewl so far, and it has an option to tint the flash red, yellow or blue.  It takes 120 format film.  The Mini Diana is something I picked up a year ago.  It takes normal 35 mm film.

Our story so far:  

• The teacher recommends films that use a C41 processing technique.  Dunno why yet.
• When you advance a new roll of 120 film in the Holga, you'll see "11" as the first number -- it's just "1" twice.
• These viewfinders are notoriously inaccurate .. take a picture of something square filling the viewfinder, and when you process the photo you'll see how far off it is.
• Use 400 speed or faster .. even if shooting in daylight.
• The switch that says B and N is the shutter style: N just snaps the shutter normally, while B opens the shutter for as long as you have the trigger pushed down.
• The Holga's two internal masks are optional, and not using them gives some interesting affects.
• The Holga's nearest focus setting is about 3 feet away from the lens.

I haven't had anything developed yet.  George's apparently develops your film, does a contact sheet, and scans the output onto a DVD.  There's a field trip tomorrow at a nearby Swap Meet to take a couple snapshots.  So far, so fun!