What is a PinHolga?

I'll let you into a little secret my friend. A PinHolga is a great starter hack for you to do. It involves taking your lens off and replacing it with a tiny hole drilled into a piece of metal. This means your aperture suddenly becomes ultra tiny, producing images with a huge depth of field. Another interesting feature is that it increases your exposure time, making long exposures in daytime possible.


pinholga 5 by demetri just thinking out loud	Friends by [ CK ]	Ferris Wheel by tearoom

What do I need?

Spare Holga. I used a 120N as it was the cheapest!
Phillips '0' screwdriver
Thin sewing needle
Piece of thin metal - drinks cans work great
Obligatory black tape
Empty plastic 35mm film holder to put your screws in.
Scanner (for measuring your pin hole)
Patience

How do I do it?

The method I'm going to show you is the least destructive method. There is an alternative at the bottom of the page if you wish to turn a broken Holga into a functioning PinHolga, albeit with basic shutter control.

I'll explain the basic steps first then provide a picture explanation to make my description clearer.

Making a pinhole

Carefully cut out a square slice out of a used drinks can. When I say carefully, I mean carefully - thin aluminium is like a paper cut, only worse. You will need to flatten your can now, by either carefully rolling it the other way, or leaving it under a stack of books over night. I'm impatient so I did the former. Now draw a cross neatly with a thin marker pen. This serves no real purpose other than helping you easily work out where you are drilling! Now take your sewing needle and start drilling through the metal. Do not poke it through as it'll bend your metal and make your hole un-even.

Once the tip of your needle is just poking through the metal, get some fine (600 grit) sandpaper, or wet and dry and lightly sand the hole on each edge. You'll probably need to poke the hole through slightly again. Now you are ready to measure your hole using your scanner.

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Step 2

Step 3

Let's Rock 'n' Roll!

Start by removing the back from your Holga, then take out whichever mask you are currently using.
Grab your Phillips '0' screwdriver and unscrew the two screws connecting the lens/shutter mechanism to your camera.
Carefully remove the lens assembly, make sure you don't break the yellow flash sync wire. This needs to stay intact if you are bothered about turning your camera back to normal at a later date.
Now remove the two screws from the shutter mechanism. These screws are tiny, so don't lose them! Lift the shutter off carefully and remark on how simple it is.
Remove the useless sunny/cloudy plastic arm thingy (shown in green). Now is a good time to pop off the aperture washer if you so wish.
Unscrew the screw located here, then you should be able to just unscrew your lens off the front of your camera.
Now is a great time to flock the inside of your Holga.
Now you can put your shutter shizzle back on. Just reverse what I've told you to put it back together. Its easy really!
If you haven't already, make a pinhole, or buy one if you are lazy and have too much cash.
Attach the lens to the front of your camera using black tape, making sure not to cover the hole! You need to hold the shutter open with your bulb mode to check the hole is dead centre.
Tape up the inside of the camera front to avoid light leaks. Trust me light leaks are bad with pinholes.
Punch the air with delight, for you have completed the project young grasshopper.

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Step 6

Awesome. But how the frick do I expose?

Using a couple of secret ninja tricks: first you need to work out the f/stop of your new pin-holy beast. To start, measure the diameter of your pinhole using your scanner. Next go to Mr. Pinhole and put your diameter in the box. Switch to inches for this one so you can get a more precise result. Your focal length is 46.5mm (1.83 inches). Armed with the knowledge of your f/stop, head on over to Mr. Pinhole's Exposure Guide and rejoice. Yeah that's right you'll need a light meter. Either that or the Ultimate Exposure Computer. I use a light-meter 'cos I ain't got time for no messin'. If you want your pictures to be sharper than a paper cut, you'll need to use a tripod and a cable release. Check out the cable release hack to see how to use a release with your Holga. Of course you don't have to use a tripod if you want abstract fluffy blurry ethereal loveliness.

Because of the lengthy exposures needed, you'll need to adjust the time for reciprocity failure. You can find details on this in your films data sheets, or add 10% extra time for exposures over 2 minutes, or 25% extra time for exposures over 30 minutes.

So what's the alternative?

Completely remove the lens/shutter mechanism and cut the yellow flash wire. Now tape your pinhole to the gaping hole in the front of your wounded Holga. This gives you a focal length of about 33mm, which makes your f/stop number smaller (thus making your exposure times shorter). This might be your only option if your shutter mechanism is broken or doesn't have bulb mode.