Shanghai 120 GP3 Films & More Holga Mods

I got my first roll of Shanghai 120 GP3 films developed and scanned. These films are rated at ISO 100 so you need bright sunlight to shoot.

This is also the first time I am testing out the Fisheye Lens attachment as well as the Holga 120N.

The results were disappointing, to say the least. Greatly underexposed! The cloudy weather definitely played a part and I am not sure if the film quality had anything to do with it. Many of the shots were taken indoors as well, which probably made the shots even worse. I have since sent in a second roll which I am collecting on Monday. We'll see how that goes.

Here're some of the images.






First time I am using the Fisheye Lens, or any fisheye lens for that matter. Takes a lot of getting used to and experimenting I guess.




Once these 5 rolls of 120 film are used up, I'll stick to Kodak Tri-X 400 films for B/W and Kodak Ektachrome E100 for slide films. I must say it's been a long while since I have shot anything on slides, so chances are that the first roll or two would be exercises in understanding the Holga in relation to slide film.

My take on the Shanghai GP3 film was that packaging was poor, being placed inside an extremely flimsy cardboard box and the films themselves wrapped in firecracker looking red paper. On top of that, the film does not seem to spool well, being rather loose when wound. I've had to use rubber bands to tighten up the spools and that's not something I enjoy doing.

Then again this could be caused by the lack of film tensioning sponges in my 120N, as I removed them the moment I got the camera, not wanting to risk having chunks of sponge chewed up by a roll of film midway through a shooting session.

Other modifications I've so far done are:
- Flocking the interior with flat black (not shown)
- Sealing off two holes found at the top of the Holga, which causes light leaks when using the 6 X 6 mask. I've decided that I will stick to the 6 X 6 format for this camera.
- The dreaded Aperture mod.

The Aperture Mod was done as I felt since this was a relatively cheap camera, I would try to do a mod to it to improve the quality of my pictures. I first started by going to a number of sites to find information on the mod, and finally settled on using Squarefrog's Aperture Mod.

I started by removing the shutter assembly and lens from the Holga, and then the washer that determined the Holga's sunny setting aperture.

The darn washer that was the original aperture was so bloody flimsy it got deformed by my ballpoint pen, so I fashioned a new aperture out of a sheet of styrene, which I normally use for my scale modelling.

After supergluing the styrene tab onto the aperture arm, I clamped the 2 surfaces with plastic pegs to let the glue set (super glue dries quite fast) then I am ready to make the aperture.

I've only got a 3mm drill bit, so I used it to create a 3mm in diameter, then used a diamond file to sand it to approximately 5mm, which gives me an aperture of f/12

The original washer gives about f/10 so right now i have two useable apertures, f/10 & f/12, not much I know, but still beats the single aperture I had to deal with previously.

Finally, I airbrushed the new part flat black after filing down the edges and scraping off any excess with a scalpel blade and testing the swing arm movement to ensure the arm swung smoothly when everything else was put together.

Here's the result:


I've started shooting a roll of Fuji slide film using the now flocked interior and modified aperture. I intend to process it normally if possible, just to see the results of my effort.

Coupled with sealing up the two holes above the Holga when using the 6 X 6 mask, gaffering the front area, using the velcro tabs to secure the back plate to the Holga's body, I am hoping that at least I can control the light leaks to some degree and not have them too random.

Other mods that I am planning on would be the film spool tension mod since I have already discarded the two sponges and the Close Focus Mod.

Random thought of the day - It's an exercise in futility trying to score a 6 X 6 pressure plate from an old disused medium format camera.

Holga 120N's New Clothes

As in the previous post, I've done a little bit more for my 120N. I've given it new clothes, rather than the tattered look of gaffer tape, it's now got army camouflage clothes!

Went to Beach Road to clothe my Holga. Beach Road has loads of army-related stuff and camouflage name tags are one of them. I thought, since there're shops doing camouflage name tags, surely they would be able to sew two small pieces of 2" X 3" & 2" X 3.5" pieces of cloth for me. WRONG!

Man, most of the shops there, they've got major attitude! One shop at the block of flats next to Beach Road Hawker Centre, quoted me $10 to sew two pieces of 2" X 3" cloth onto velcro, using OLD camouflage cloth she got from some used & discarded pair of pants. Another shopowner, at unit 02-133, claims she does not have unwanted pieces of camouflage cloth, only one big piece, and wanted to sell it for $12!!!! WTF! BRING OUT THE CARVING KNIVES AND MATCHES!

Finally found one where the lady was nice enough to help me sew on camo material onto 2" thick velcro strips and even added a little extra by helping me sew on one more piece of 1.5" X 1.5" velcro.


Frontal shot with the 2 pieces of 2" X 3.5" & 2" X 3" velcro, to help pad up the sides, prevent the camera back from accidently popping open and gives me something fatter to grip the camera body with. The right side uses the 2" X 3" strip, to give greater clearance for the shutter release lever on the right side.


The rear, with the extra 1.5" X 1.5" piece, which effectively blocks the frame counter window since that one's a major culprit of light leaks.


With the square tab removed when I need to advance the film and see if I have advanced enough. Also serves as intentional light leakage if I choose to have it removed on a hot sunny day.

Total damage from this nice lady's shop? $5!!!!! HALF THE PRICE of the other rip off, disgustingly rude and overpriced shops. Yea so she does not sew letters onto the cloth, big deal.

I should not expect shopkeepers to have any manners in these places, though I would like to add, those that DO, they certainly will get repeat business or recommendations to others about them from me.

Random thought of the day - Singapore's shopkeepers are in need of some serious customer service training.

New Holga 120N

I sold my previous glass lens Holga, the 120GCFN. It gave me loads of interesting shots but I wanted something more, so I got me the basic N model, which uses a plastic lens, no flash but has a hot shoe.



Some of my friends asked me why I gave up the GCFN which comes with glass lens, built-in flash and colour filters for red, blue & yellow flash. It is so I can use an external flash, which I've owned since my Nikon FM2 days and need not buy a new flash. The Nissin 5200 GTE flash has to be attached via an adaptor, which I also use for my DSLR since that does not come with a PC sync attachment.


YAY!!!! Guide Number 52 power!!!!! Comes damn close to my DSLR's Metz!!!

As for what those strips of velcro at the side of the camera body are for, they're so I can seal up any extreme light leaks and also acts as a protective padding against accidental bumps and knocks or the film back from popping open and destroying the whole roll of 120 film. The padding also gives me a nice grip on the camera body, which is rather plasticky and thin. I also gaffered the front area to cut back on any light leaks though I suspect that's probably not necessary.





Besides the 120N, I also got 5 rolls of Shanghai BW GP3 film and a fisheye attachment for the Holga 120 series of cameras.

I just shot off my first roll of black and white film. I will get the results back on Wednesday. I am so looking forward to seeing the results of the Fisheye Lens attachment.

Lomo Shots Part 3

This time around, I used mostly the 6cm X 4.5cm mask instead of the usual 6cm X 6cm mask so the images are rectangular in shape. Great for portraiture but not for what I normally take, still life, urban landscapes and the like. Only the first pic is from the 6 X 6 mask.



This is my first time using the 6 X 4.5 mask and I don't really like it on the whole. I'll stick to 6 X 6 even though it gives me less shots (12 as compared to 16). I also find the vignetting a little weak, bordering on non-existent, on the 6 X 4.5. If I had wanted no vignetting, I would've stuck to my DSLR and post processed the hell outta my images in Photoshop. Having said that, the light leaks on a 6 X 4.5 are certainly more prominent.











On a sidenote, I have since sold off this Holga 120GCFN to a good friend and will be getting a Holga 120N with plastic lens. I am also considering a Seagull TLR if the price is right.

Random thought of the day - Richard Avedon once said, " I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable."

Stock Market Prices - For Paper!

Ok, this is a rant, lemme start off by saying that. If you're not comfortable reading it or do not have the patience to read long passages of text then I suggest you stop and move on to the next post or go to another blog.

As you can see from my profile, I am a graphic designer who works on a few freelance accounts. One of my clients had a request for a project which although not unique per se, was not going to be as easily done as let's say, a poster. She needed 200 specific sized cards to be printed, cut to size & laminated with a hard plastic laminate. Seeing as how these days, many of the identification cards, driving licenses etc are no longer pieces of laminated card or paper but printed plastic, there aren't many places doing such things, or so I thought. I turned to my regular offset printer and was told they don't do that, but they did point out that most photocopying shops still offer that service.

So, living in the east, I thought I'd check out those at Katong Shopping Centre. Most only did A4 or A3 sized lamination but there was this one shop that surprisingly, said they could do it, and better yet, at the price my client was willing to pay for! Wow! Perfect, I thought. They quoted me S$1.60 per printout if I did 25 A4s (which came up nicely to 200 pieces, the quantity my client wanted), double sided full colour, on 250gsm art card, to be laminated using 6.5cm X 9.5cm laminate pouches.

After confirmation of prices, written on a scrap of paper supplied by them, I went ahead to get final confirmation from my client, which did take approximately a week. When I went back today, the lady I spoke to was not around but her colleague took a look at my file, did a test print on 250 gsm art card and then told me, she's surprised that her colleague quoted me $1.60 for 250 gsm artcard. I replied that that was the price quoted to me, and she said usually that's for 100gsm art PAPER. I told her, I know my clients well enough to know their needs as far as materials go, and this client certainly wanted something thicker than 100gsm PAPER.

After some discussion on the phone with her colleague (the colleague is probably the owner or a senior staff there, doesn't matter), they mentioned that they do have 250gsm art card, 128gsm art paper and finally 100gsm art paper. I asked what the $1.60 quoted price per double sided A4 was for and she mentioned it was for 100gsm art paper. Further probing revealed that to print on 128gsm art paper, it would cost me $2.50!!!!! WTF! Suddenly the quote has grown by 90 cents PER A4 paper, and it STILL didn't reach the "agreed" material specification from last week.

I told them that there is no way my client, nor even I, would pay such a ridiculous amount for this material and took my CD back, telling them that I do not indulge in stock market printing prices and took my business elsewhere. The colleague there was obviously feeling really bad about this as it's definitely not her fault her boss is clueless/unethical/ignorant of her own prices (you choose) and gave me the test print as a sample.

The shop, located at Katong Shopping Centre level 3 is truly "unique". This is the first time I've had a shop bump prices up on a whim, and at ridiculous levels. You have truly lived up to your shop name! Not only that, you do not even have the courtesy to talk directly to your customer, expecting your colleague, who has no clue what the agreement was, to handle the issue. Granted, your colleague shared that you were busy with some personal issues, which I can fully understand but what is amazing is how you are prepared to lose a customer for life than to just stick to the verbal agreement, something many small shops, and even some large ones do!

I went to Sunshine Plaza after that and guess what? This particular shop, Color Vizio, located at the side facing the bus stop for Bus 56, could do the whole thing the blacklisted shop above did, using 250 gsm art card at the initially agreed price! The best part, they did an ON THE SPOT sample for me using an existing printed art card. That definitely made up for the minor inconvenience earlier on and you, Color Vizio, will certainly get repeat business from me. I cannot say the same for the other shop at Katong Shopping Centre level 3 though. In fact, I was so pleased with Color Vizio's service, I gave them the entire project to output for me, A1 posters, banners and the small cards!

I will most certainly NOT be recommending my friends to the shop at Katong Shopping Centre level 3, which is so "unique" in their price plans!

Random thought for the day - I've never come across printing shops that go back on their agreed prices.

More Holga Shots

This time, I finally got my B+W films scanned. These were actually my first roll of Holga shots since getting the camera but the developing process at the shop at Peninsular took longer than the guys who did the colour shots. Plus, scanning was done at the latter shop so that delayed the uploading by another day or two. All shots done on Ilford Delta 3200 Pro

Here are some of the pictures. I am really loving the painterly and old school quality of these shots, so much so that I'll probably choose some to print onto canvas and mount them up like paintings.











Random thought of the day - Managing creatives is like herding cats

First Two Rolls Of Holga Film Developed & Scanned!

Yes, it's finally here! It's been so long since I felt this kind of excitement. The age of digital SLRs has seen to it that I have not felt such anticipation, waiting for my film to be developed and printed. Well, this time around, I am feeling it again!

I sent in three rolls of film to develop, the first, B/W to one shop at a popular camera purchasing part of Singapore, which took them approximately four days and were really expensive, and another two colour rolls to a shop nearer to where I worked, and that took them 24 hours, inclusive of scanning. The total cost for the colour film development + scanning costs less than double that of the development of the B/W film but then again, it could well be that with colour, there's just the simple process of machine development.

In any case, I think I'll use the shop that did my two colour rolls since they do offer B/W at the same price too.

Here're some of the pictures. I could get used to this. Some are post-processed in Photoshop. Nothing fancy, just some cross processing such as converting it from C41 processed (used in colour negative films) to something akin to E6 processing (used in positive or slide films).

My next plan, to shoot using slide films and get them developed in C41.




No post-processing done for the above two shots, straight from the CD of scans




Added post-processing effect in Photoshop, using the TLR X-processing Action Script


Added a little fancy border using Illustrator to create the brushed edges then pasting the image in.

Random thought of the day - Peter Adams once said, "Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field."

The Current State Of Designers In Singapore

Today I went for a meeting with a client. I had sent some work to them for approval.

Everything seemed fine, or so I thought. Well the meeting started off well enough but soon, it became a case of just do a layout my way, without any changes, because my way is better.

I dunno, it really puzzles me. Do some clients look for designers to make their work better, or are they looking for designers to just do their bidding blindly? A designer is often engaged to improve the look, ergonomics or function of something. Instead, over here, it seems, designers are engaged to merely turn into reality, someone's vision (which in the first place, is something we do). Designers here have little to no say in how things should be done. Our "expertise", as some clients see it, is to just follow.

I dunno, maybe I am saddened by the way the words are put across, the "just follow" remark seems to hint at a society that merely seeks to do as told, with little acceptance of alternative or even improved viewpoints. I am not saying my ideas are a definite improvement, but I think subtlety is more successful than in-your-face highlights at times.

Then again, to be fair, most clients just want something that's useable, not one that takes into consideration ergonomics or subtlety or even wit.

Perhaps I am currently too idealistic, perhaps I should consider each job on its merits, that most are bread & butter projects, while there are a select few that allow us to go to town with our ideas. It is, as they would say, time to mature as a designer and take the good with the bad.

Random thought of the day - Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

Food Glorious Food!

I went to Abu Bakar Satay at Eunos Hawker Centre, next to Eunos MRT!

The sauce is superb and so is the meat. Grilled to perfection. At the standard price of 50 cents per stick and a minimum of 10 sticks per order, one can never have enough of the best chicken satay ever tasted!







Random thought of the day - There are more than 20 variants of satay in Indonesia

Holga! At last!

I have often toyed with the idea of getting into Lomography but never quite got round to it for several reasons. Then, prices of an entry level camera were quite high, and not many places were stocking Lomography cameras.

Lately, two of my students got me interested again when they showed me some pics they took using their Holga cameras. I was hooked and decided there and then I would get one.

They recommended me a Holga 120 series, which in layman terms, takes medium format film. Some research revealed that being a popular brand for Lomography, Holgas had a wide range of accessories available, including 35mm adaptors and filters for their 120 series cameras and there are even several mods available for the base level Holga 120!

I was in two minds whether to get the cheaper plastic lens version or the glass lens version but in the end, one of them suggested the glass lens version, since it was afterall, going at a cheaper price of $75 at InQ Box Suntec. Thanks for the headsup guys! So off to InQ Box at Suntec I went, to put my money down for the Holga 120GCFN which stands for G(glass lens), CF(Color Flash - built in flash with four different color filters for the flash, red, green and yellow as well as the standard white), N(night mode or Bulb mode where the shutter remains open as long as the shutter release is pressed down)

I got a roll of B/W film from a colleague at a throwaway price and the moment I got my Holga, I loaded the film. It's been a long time since I've used film and this is the first time I am using a medium format.

Further reading revealed some minor home modifications one can do to seal up the Holga from light leaks. I am however, going to take my first roll au naturel before sealing it up with gaffer tape or black velcro.

Here it is, straight from the box in its all plastic glory.



I can't wait to develop my first roll of B/W but I am also prepared for the quirkiness of a Holga in that every shot is an experiment!

Random thought of the day - Ansel Adams once said, a good photograph is knowing where to stand.

A rebirth

So I decided to start blogging and put my thoughts on virtual paper. This is a personal blog, where I share my thoughts. It's a place for me to speak up.

How did Atomik Kandy come about? The name is based on a project I did at college, when I was a year three BA student at the then London College of Printing & Distributive Trades (now known as London College of Communication). I opted for a minor elective subject for my cultural studies on the internet when it was in its infancy and the tutor, Teal Triggs, came up with the name Atomic Candy. Somehow the name stuck so here I am, more than 10 years after graduation, reliving that name.

As an only child with not many friends on the whole, I've always found it hard to bare my soul. I guess some may say I'm a little old at 37 to be blogging now but yea well, it's probably one of the many ways I can put some thoughts in writing.