A Digital Holga?

Image © Saikat Biswas

In the late 80’s my wife (then girlfriend) and many other of our art school friends started using “toy” and “novelty” cameras. I believe the attraction to these cameras was the purest form of wonder that photography can create. The images from these devices was unpredictable with odd erratic depth of field, inconsistently exposed, and spontaneous.

Now through the wonder of the internet a designer, Saikat Biswas, has posted a detailed plan for what appears to be a digital version of the Holga. The Holga is currently in production in China and uses 120 film. Biswas’s version, the Holga D, if produced, would be a digital version or the original Holga.

I admit that I am intrigued by the possibility of the Holga D. Biswas has created an elegant and beautifully simple design. He has even posted “simulated images.” In some ways the proposed Holga D is too slick. There is too much control afforded the photographer. Perhaps the controls should be as minimal as the original film version?

I think that given the popularity of such digital camera accessories as the Lens Baby there certainly is a market for this camera, but you be the judge.

Link to site:

http://www.saikatbiswas.com/web/Projects/Holga_D.htm