Choosing Film
The Holga was built for 120 roll film. This is a medium format film which usually results in 6cm x 6cm negatives (with the 6x6 mask in your Holga). As the Holga has a fixed shutter speed and fairly useless aperture switch, film choice is the only exposure variable available to you.
What speed film?
When starting out a film speed of 400 (or 400 ISO) is recommended, as this allows you to use your Holga in various lighting situations, such as indoors. Once you have shot a few rolls and know how your Holga behaves you can feel free to experiment with different speed films. As a rule of thumb, 100 ISO can be used in bright daylight, 200 ISO can be used in bright cloudy situations, 400 ISO is for very overcast days and indoors with artificial lighting. 800, 1600 and 3200 ISO films are usually reserved for low light situations like museums, concert venues and sports stadiums.
Each increase in film speed gives you an extra stop of light, but also increases the amount of film grain on your negatives. Having said that, if you are using 120 roll film, the grain is usually finer than the equivalent 35mm film. Check out the exposure section for more advice on which speed film to choose.
What type of film?
There are two basic types of film; negative or slide film. Negative film is more flexible than slide film in terms of exposure so it would be recommended for Holga users. Again, once you are more experienced, you could use slide film and have your film cross-processed. You may notice that film has an expiry date printed on the box. This is usually a very conservative figure, so a great source of cheap film is your local labs bargain bin. These are usually full of rolls which are close to expiring, at less than half price. I've used rolls that are a year or two out of date and the results have been perfectly fine. If film is stored well (see below), it can last a long time. Most of the time 120 roll film is stored well as professionals use it often.
Favourite films
Every Holga user has their own favourite films; my current favourites are Ilford HP5+ B&W film and Fuji Pro 400H colour film.
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| Fuji Pro 400H | Fuji Pro 400H | Ilford HP5+ |
How should I store my film?
You'll want to put it in a cool dark place. Most film boxes tell you to store it at a temperature of 24° Celsius or lower. If you want to keep your film in good condition for a few months, put it in your fridge. If you want to keep it longer, then you'll need to put it in your freezer. I have a whole fridge compartment full of film!
My fridge.
