I feel that this concept misses most of the true charm of a Holga. The linked article says "there are some change in functionalities in order to make it useful." Which seems practical, but also kind of misses the point. I still think it's a beautiful homage to 70s & 80s camera design.
Holgas have random imperfections and a total lack of quality control. Every Holga has slightly different level of light leaks, chromatic distortion, vignetting, etc.
Holgas are hackable. People flock them, make light seals, replace the lens with a pinhole, make Holgaroids, etc, etc. It's essentially a plastic box with two moving parts.
Holgas give you no technological photographic control inside the box. You have one (varying) shutter speed or Bulb, two (largely unknown) apertures, and whatever speed film you dumped in it. If you need to adjust exposure then you need to do it when you develop your film, or not at all. This is, in my opinion, both limiting and freeing.
All that said, I would love to see this camera made with a glass lens. A traditionally styled, intentionally restricted, digital camera with a retro look. Provided it didn't cost $2000. :D.
The sad truth is that, I bet, if it was ever commercially produced then it would be forced to have an LCD screen on the back. I can picture the hipsters crowding around in a bar to chimp the screen, right now...
Can't you do that with an otherwise complete digital camera? I don't see why one can't introduce kitschy design flaws in the LCD... and furthermore putting an LCD with standard inputs creates even more opportunities for hacking.
Holgas have random imperfections and a total lack of quality control. Every Holga has slightly different level of light leaks, chromatic distortion, vignetting, etc.
Holgas are hackable. People flock them, make light seals, replace the lens with a pinhole, make Holgaroids, etc, etc. It's essentially a plastic box with two moving parts.
Holgas give you no technological photographic control inside the box. You have one (varying) shutter speed or Bulb, two (largely unknown) apertures, and whatever speed film you dumped in it. If you need to adjust exposure then you need to do it when you develop your film, or not at all. This is, in my opinion, both limiting and freeing.
All that said, I would love to see this camera made with a glass lens. A traditionally styled, intentionally restricted, digital camera with a retro look. Provided it didn't cost $2000. :D.
The sad truth is that, I bet, if it was ever commercially produced then it would be forced to have an LCD screen on the back. I can picture the hipsters crowding around in a bar to chimp the screen, right now...