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Holga D

Posted by Scott





This has to be the best concept rendering I’ve ever seen. Saikat Biswas designed these mock-ups to illustrate his concept for an open-source camera platform based on the original Holga camera. But unlike the original, Saikat has applied some tried and true Rams/Braun-esque styling to the exterior that’s sure to inspire lust in the hearts of design geeks everywhere.
Check his full post and you’ll see he’s really thought the whole thing out. Apparently he’s received quite a bit of interest so hopefully this thing makes it to production someday. I’m not sure, but didn’t Lomography buy the rights to the Holga a while back? Saikat might have an easier time if he gave it a different name.

Via Minimalissimo

24 Comments Leave A Comment

1

frank says:

July 22, 2010 at 2:09 pm

It’s a really nice design but the thinking behind it seems like madness to me. Why intentionally create a bad digital camera? Why not just stick a cheap plastic lens on a good DSLR? I would hate to have a camera that was that physically beautiful and then know that I was stuck with bad aliasing or some other annoying digital related problem.

2

Design Police says:

July 22, 2010 at 2:31 pm

Clearly, someone doesn’t get the concept behind the holga. (not going to mention any names – frank)

3

Robert says:

July 22, 2010 at 3:07 pm

Really well thought concept indeed!
Just saw it in the morning at Gizmodo. I like the omission of LCD.
I would really like to have one!

I didn’t know that Lomography bought the rights to the Holga?
Their website does not say it. Where did you find it Scott?

If I am right no one has the rights to Holga, had Lomo bought the rights, it wouldn’t have been still so cheap!

4

J. Woodward says:

July 22, 2010 at 3:39 pm

Ooooh, interesting.

I like the idea of not being able to see the photos before you upload them. It would make for a great old school experience. The trepidation of wondering if your shots turned out ok, etc.

Plus it just looks GORGEOUS.

5

Evan says:

July 22, 2010 at 3:48 pm

neat concept, beautiful execution, and kudos to the designer. However I think it definitely defeats the purpose of lomograpahy. If you want to enjoy the suspense of shooting film well then, idk, maybe… shoot film.

Its also missing a viewfinder for composition.

6

RA_OUL says:

July 22, 2010 at 5:36 pm

WOW WOW WOW an WOW! This is a very sexy concept for sure! I can’t wait for your post on the blog telling us that it is for sale.

7

Ian says:

July 22, 2010 at 7:01 pm

OMG! I posted this a week and a half ago. I never thought I’d find something cool before ISO50! Thank you for confirming for me though that it was indeed a good find. The ISO50 blog is my culture bible. =P

11

frank says:

July 23, 2010 at 10:28 am

“Clearly, someone doesn’t get the concept behind the holga.”

The holga is film though. And since film is the “sensor” of the camera, a holga has the same sensor as any other 120 roll film camera. What makes it unique is the plastic lens.

It’s particularly nonsensical to give it a crappy underspec’d sensor considering that the original is a medium format camera!

12

Chris Fussner says:

July 24, 2010 at 3:39 am

Love the body design but can’t help to taste Lomo’s excellent marketing platform. Reminds me of a zumi or a vistaquest concept except a lot better executed.

Anyways glad there isn’t any hipster bashing comments going around, lomo love it or hate it has been a factor in keeping analog photography alive and well.

Rather save my bucks for a 35mm ricoh GR or something of the sort

13

Cliff says:

July 26, 2010 at 5:17 pm

It seems to me the problem with this idea is that the flaws would become to predictable witch would become undesirable. Shooting film on my holga, I have no idea whats going on, and then there is always the chance of light getting into the roll once its wound and out of the camera. The flaws (light leaks, double exposers, ect…) can range from nonexistent, to completely out of control. Which is part of the fun. But doing this digitally, with one constant sensor, seems would really limit those possibilities.

I don’t get into the digital vs. film politics. They both have there place. If you want the look of film, shoot film. If you want the ease of digital, shoot digital. If you want the look of film with the ease of digital, well it may not be the best marriage, but do what you can.

14

Anonymous says:

July 27, 2010 at 2:28 am

What we all want is a digital camera with the lo-fi qualities and uniquness of a lomo etc.. I own a lomo clourflash, and it was my main camera for about a year, over my old Olympus OM-1 and a Yashica-D medium format or my Yashica-J rangefinder, purely because it had just 2 settings, night or day, with a manual exposure for night, which thru up all kinds of interesting results, it also had a decent wide angle-ish lens.
I now own a Panasonic LX3, (which is basically a Lieca in desguise) which has some manual controls and a 24mm lens in a compact size, it does take fantastic pictures, but I also have an iphone 3GS using the hipstamatic app, which gives me instant lo-fi qualities and randomness I love, they may not be good enough to print large, but as smallish print size they are great.