Loading Film into a Holga

[fryerock]

Where did you get the film? and is it expensive?

[xODIDDYx]

thanks, but i got another question... i saw a video were a guy put 135 film in a Holga 120N and he said it worked fine.. you think it will work?

[squarefrog]

@xODIDDYx yep its possible. I have a loading video on here, but check my website for more details.

[xODIDDYx]

what is the film called? 120mm.... what? color negative or what?

[squarefrog]

@xODIDDYx it's just called 120 film. it's usually available in colour negative or slide film, or black and white negative. There are other types of film but those are the most common.

[00watermelon]

Yay!! I think I loaded my Holga!! Thank you so much!!

[BandGeekBarclay]

Sweet tattoo!



[alexisarabia]

Gosh, I didn't see the number 1, and I've seen number 2. Do I lost 1 photo ?

[mirathefreak]

Hi there..mine is a 120GCFN and i have a 35 mm adaptor to put in 35mm films. However, using the 35mm adaptor, i cant see any number on the frame counter. How do i solve this?

[ouiali]

do you know many vvideos i've tried to find that solve the problem of the film coming out of the spool and not winding on?!

you're a freakin star man!

[sbu003]

well thanks kodak. for making the 1 look like a line.

besides thanksss

[OmarAbdulJabbar]

man i love the sound of opening a roll of film

btw is that kodak ektar 100? or what

[OmarAbdulJabbar]

man i love the sound of opening a roll of film

[fidelefedora]

thanks !!!!!!!

[dicotyledon83]

Awesome video, thanks so much! About to use 120 film for the first time :)

[YXAznXY]

if you've bought the starter kit, you get a free 120 mm film. but how do you know if it's a 12 or 16 120 mm film?

[AndreaVuova]

@YXAznXY :

if you want bigger images, it's 12 and if you want smaller ones, you choose 16 and have to insert the frame mask you got with your camera :) sorry for my english, i hope you got what i tried to say :D :D

[purehousestaff]

Hello, thank you for all your precious tutorials! I still have a question: I'm loading my second film into my Holga 120N, and for the second time, the pose number in the little red window is reversed.. I mean, you can read it if you reverse upside down the camera..Am I doing something wrong?

[squarefrog]

@purehousestaff No that's completely normal. You've done nothing wrong.

[zoedeadvl]

woops, accidentally left the counter set to 12 when i wanted it on 16... you said stop at 1, and i realized i went all the way to two... hope nothing happened... well whatever, i'll experiment :)

[ako09jsi]

do u guys know what's the best film for a holga 120n?

[MorganHillChristine]

what a frickin' ordeal to load this dang camera!!!! my first time took 1/2 hour! am i THAT dumb? don't answer that.....

[rominawhite]

i followed the procedure but somehow i messed up. i advanced the complete roll of film. how i have the roll as if i have used it but i did not. is there a way to revert this?

[katzenblut]

that music sounds cool

[ALARMINGadaora]

okay my camera for some freakin reason doesnt have a spool ):

how can i get one for itt?. ..

[squarefrog]

Best thing you can do is ask at a local decent photo lab. They usually have a load left from developing 120 rolls. 1 hour photo places wont tho, as they don't develop 120.

[ALARMINGadaora]

everyone has been telling me old film rolls.

but i dont get that..

i have tons of old film rolls o:

[hyper770]

cheers mate had a rough idea of how do do it but wasn't to sure TANK YOU! :)

[HanAndWhittington]

Thank you so, so much! That was super helpful, ha. :)

[robinheil]

Thank you for the great help!

[sepia673]

Thank you for this! I'm about to use my Holga for the first time, I've never loaded this kind of film before, this video is a great help - thanks!!

[twistedstarrs]

just got my Holga CFN, I've taken a few pictures when i realized that i've used the 6 x 4.5 mask but left the film counter on 12.. Are my pictures messed up already?? help! thanks. :)

[squarefrog]

Nah you've just have overlapping pictures. No big deal!

[hossrex]

Noooo...

Using the 6x6 mask with the counter set to 16 would yield overlapping pictures.

Using the 6x4.5 mask with the counter set the 12 would simply leave wasted/unexposed film.

It's actually BETTER to do it the way twistedstarrs did it than the way squarefrog misread it.

It's just wasteful... but it's not like 120 film is THAT expensive.

[squarefrog]

Good spot - I completely misread that.

[ltjfan6]

I KNOW YOU SAID THE LAST PART IS OPTIONAL.....but I just dont understand why everyone tries to get rid of the light leaks!! That is what makes the HOLGA get its unique looking images!!! hehe i dont know, maybe im just a purist. :p

[rigaude]

The light leaks are fine as long as the whole image isn't completely washed out. This happened with my first roll years ago. I haven't used it ever since, but I will use it again soon!

[ChristianAnhalt]

@ltjfan6 I completely agree! I'm always like "THROW THAT TAPE AWAY!!!"

[xokaylee123]

i didn't see the number 1!

[jjkaf2]

I broke a part where is says INSert film the film can be still taken up but will i ruin my film??

[SNOWradd]

thanks ....shot nice too

[RJN0607]

this is a medium format camera right

[tiffanygf88]

yes

[djjoseph]

hi!! should i always turn on the flash when taking pictures using holga 120 cfn?im noob

[alishechka29]

use flash only when no sun

[ltjfan6]

you can use the flash whenever you want!!! if you were shooting with the sun in front of you, or possibly in the shot, you dont want to lose texture by silhouetteing!!! you dont have to use it all the time. experiment with it make it your own!! and above all have fun.

[kinuhsia]

thanks!! its agreable to find this type of help-videos.

Now, I will try to put the film on my new holga(I'm new hehe :)

nice greetings

[MILEYROX18]

Thank you! This was super helpful!

[Deitz39]

I would also recommend placing black masking tape over the frame counter screen, that red screen may not be enough to block out extreme sunlight especially for prolonged periods. Just a suggestion.

[squarefrog]

You can do, but I've never experienced this. I know it can happen, but i've never seen it. However I live in Britain and we dont get a lot of extreme sun here :)

[Fantastck]

amen to that bruv

[persiancl]

crap. so the film counter was set to 16 and i think there's a 6x6 mask in the camera. shouldn't it be 12? and i already took 3 pics. So do I just keep it at 16 but stop taking pics at 12?

[yellowduckie223]

Is it necessary to put the square mask in...? because i forgot until after i already put the film in...

Is it possible for me to take the film out and put it in?

[squarefrog]

Have a look at the masks article on my website.

[acidmaniac]

hi, I (think) I have a problem. the left spool seems to be uneven/bouncy/ wont stay flat unlike the top end of the film, is this ok? why is this happening? it seems to be bouncing off the sponge underneath (already bought in place).

[squarefrog]

Yeah it's probably ok. If you get worried put a little piece of folded card underneath to keep the tension there.

[rowdytanner]

when there is no slack

[ilovethepeppers93]

Is that pi tattoo on your wrist??

[squarefrog]

Yes it is

[ilovethepeppers93]

That's awesome!!!

[mantronixtube]

nicely done how-to. thank you....!

[Tim8tei]

Great movie, I'm getting my holga pretty soon.

Could you tell me how to remove the roll after I'm done shooting, I have no idea what to do. Just open it, but what about light effecint and perhaps f''ing up the role?

[Tim8tei]

Nevermind, I just noticed you have a movie for that. =)

[persiancl]

wow nice

I really want to play around with a Holga. I will definitely buy one

[sriramramgopal]

thanks a lot! and great work on the website too. has everything you could need.

[Richiewinterborne]

wait, don't you want light leaks on your film? isn't that what the holga is known for?

[JAStoxic]

after i saw no.1 & i took the picture, do i still need to wind in order to take the 2nd pic & so on, or dont need?

[Goholga]

Yeah once you have taken a photo on that frame you need to advance it to the next number to shoot the next

[MorganHillChristine]

@Goholga i haven't seen a number yet!!!!

[myoverkills]

How dark should the room be when I load? How bright is "too bright"?

[squarefrog]

If you are loading 120 roll film it doesn't have to be that dark. I've loaded outside in bright sunshine before.

35mm however, could do with being a bit darker. When you unload 35mm it needs to be pitch black.

[EVIEROXRAWR]

thanks for the vid... very helpful for my 120 CFN... any tips on loading film on the 35AFX? i've got one that won't seem to take a can of film no matter what i do... been to your website, btw... brilliant, mate... you make (most of this) holga experience of mine a bit more enjoyable... not too many AFXes info out there that i find useful...

[R4nd0mn33s]

avoid leaks you mean light leaks in pictures?

[squarefrog]

yep, but i've never experienced leaks purely from not taping up.

[danieltishbi]

thanks

[Sarapple]

should i wind more after seeing the number? or should i shoot the moment i see the number?

[squarefrog]

once the number is in the centre of the window, you are ok to shoot. Don't forget to wind on after clicking to avoid unintentional double exposures.

[hazellynutt]

the song is pressurizing me hahahaha

[OasisMed]

after loaded the film,i took one pix,turned the film advance knob slowly untill i saw a black dot.may i know what it means and how long i need to turn for next pix??

[terysugs]

what if the numbers are upside down? is it okay? :)

[squarefrog]

Yes that's fine.

[igonzob]

Thanks so much for the help!

My first Holga!

[zalby23]

hey, why didn't you put any battery?

[squarefrog]

because my holga doesn't have a built in flash, so therefore doesn't need batteries.

[joce1990]

this takes so bloody long to download!!!

[squarefrog]

well that's youtubes fault, not mine :)

[angel20ine]

thanks for showing how to load film into holga. it is awesome! may i know how do you load film into holga, given that the type of film is slide such as fuji,velvia slide film? thanks in advance. :)

[squarefrog]

slide film loads the same way.

[joce1990]

lol, tell me about it. I bought my very first Holga yesterday and this clip really helped.

thankyou :)

[Lizieeeeeeee]

this is why i love youtube*

the last comment was wrong lol

just one thing... i put the film in my camera and the numbers appeared... but upside down why? can you help me please? :s

[squarefrog]

dont worry this is normal

[Lizieeeeeeee]

thanks!

[Lizieeeeeeee]

this is way i love youtube! i hope i can do it now.

[jmoenylove]

Thanks for the video it was a great help

[belenmoltedo]

When you set the outside window up to 12, the numbers in the film disappear....so, how do I know how many clicks to wind to get to the next picture?

[squarefrog]

just keep winding, the numbers will appear.

[belenmoltedo]

No, they don't. They appear just when I put the window in 16. ¿?

[squarefrog]

they do.. a 120 film has 3 rows of numbers. 1 for 6x6 one for 6x4.5 and one for 6x9 or something. trust me.

[belenmoltedo]

Ok, I'll try!

Thank you very much...

[germy7]

I'm using provia 400f do i turn it until i see a black dot?

[germy7]

oh nvm! i just found out its actually as you said on the video, until it hits 1.

[squarefrog]

Great - glad you figured it out! Have fun shooting your film! You going to cross process the roll?

[germy7]

I think I'll process it normally just to see what it looks like!

But I'm just starting to worry. Sometime afterward the film back popped open (the two metal secures somewhow fell down), I saw how loose the film inside actually was.

Theres this little hole in the provia 120 film that I know is supposed to hook on to something, but I couldn't find it in the spool i was given.How should I secure the film onto the spool so that it can wind tightly and unload safely?

[basje00]

Thanks! This video was incredibly helpful :D

[acchanosaurus]

umm do i have to load a 120 film to holga in a dark place?

[squarefrog]

Not really, a shaded place will do. In all honesty I've loaded in bright sunshine before with no ill effects.

[fightdmnsfight]

the numbers on the film showing the window are upside down. are they just printed that way? i know i couldnt have put the film in upside down, or it wouldnt be across there the right way.

[squarefrog]

Its just how it is. You've done nothing wrong. I always find this question funny - I wondered exactly the same thing when I started out. But really if your pictures were upside down it wouldn't matter - you can just turn them round when looking at the prints :)

It'll make a lot more sense once you've developed a few films. Have fun!

[momojave]

I'm new to Holga, and pretty much real photography altogether, and was wondering, how many pictures does each roll of 120 provide?

[squarefrog]

Either 12 or 16 depending on which mask you use. 12 is the most common - for square pictures.

[sergelapelle]

How do you load if it is your first roll and therefore you have no empty take up spool to put in?

[mestregaea]

there's an empty take up spool that comes with a new Holga cam

[mondaymanic]

thanks! and ok i took of the tape but now its number 5 already. is the film damaged? or i can just continue ? sorry im new at this.

[squarefrog]

no you film will be just fine :) if you haven't already taken pictures, then you can rewind your film back onto the LEFT HAND spool. Do this in a completely dark room. If you do not have one then do it under the duvet/heavy blanket in your bedroom at night, with no lights on.

Otherwise just keep taking pics!

[sammy0312]

Hey... which is the best 120 film to get? I'm new to a Holga and the numbers confuse the hell out of me. Some say 400cn, some say 160, etc. Could you give me an exact name to go for? Thanks

[squarefrog]

Depends where you live and what you are going to be shooting. The safest bet is some 400 speed film. You can read more on my website. Don't worry about the brand just yet, just get a 400 ISO negative film.

[mondaymanic]

im using Hogla 120 CFN.. but i cant see the number one if i tape the red thing is covered by tape?

[squarefrog]

get rid of the tape over the window. you dont need it.

[LaLaLoveYa07]

where do you get your 120mm film? Im thinking about getting a holga and im not sure if i should get the 35mm or the 120mm

[ChicoEdge]

Go for the 120. I usually buy a few rolls when I make an order at Adorama or B&H, but Ritz Camera and Wolf also sell it.

[rellajjang]

Thanks for the video!

[ninjakay]

Oops - i left the counter thing on 16, I've taken a few pictures with it as well. is the film messed up now?

[squarefrog]

No - you'll just get some over lapping. It's a very very common mistake!

[maligla]

is the tape that important? i mean, are there often leaks?

[squarefrog]

Not with the newer holgas (120N, 120FN etc..)

[maligla]

cool. thanks :)

ur website is also very helpful. i'm reading it right now.

[ashleyapdls]

great help..thanks

[ashleyapdls]

great help..thanks

[shoespeak]

do you really have a tattoo of pi?

that is badass

[squarefrog]

yes i do

[butson89]

That is badass!

[lovelustlush]

(: i love it

[pp12021]

this is spartaaaaaaa!! :D

joking

seriously this is badass....

[animaljcrusty]

What happens if I don't use the mask?

[hoowq]

nice tats

[deeeeerocks]

hello, this may be a silly question but I just loaded my first roll of film and used the mask already inside, I didn't change it or anything. Do I set the film counter window to 12 or 16? Oh and I got the Holga CFN if that helps

[squarefrog]

I'm guessing you probably figured this out by now. Sorry I didn't see your comment earlier.

[swissmiss8]

Your videos are awesome. Thanks!

[sloaneranger]

Thank You so much for this helpful video. Cheers!

[psynema]

Not to sound too anal, but you should tape before you wind to number one, not after.

[squarefrog]

I suppose, but it doesn't really mater. I don't tape my Holga anymore as they don't really leak so much now.

[iheartmomo]

Thank you so much for making this video. You have made it easy for me to understand because I really didn't understand the instructions it came with. I got my first holga as a Xmas present from my boyfriend, and we both were stumped with the instructions.

Question: The instructions said to put some electrical tape on the ends of the batteries to prevent them from moving. Is that necessary even though my camera is a newer 120CFN?

[squarefrog]

If you don't use a mask in your camera then yes use electrical tape to hold the batteries in place. If you use a mask then it doesn't matter so much.

[n1cha]

I'm trying to load my film and i see the - - - sign from the red window. so is the 1 is 1 or that - - sign??

[n1cha]

thanks! just got my holga few days ago

[smellymax]

Hello square frog

I was watching this video and have been reading your website

I have bought a 120CFN Holga

I noticed that you put in the mask

Does that mean the one that

came in the packet will take square pictures?

still without having to take it out?

Thank You.

[squarefrog]

The mask marked '12' will take square pictures. Or you can take it out and still get square pictures - just make sure you tape up the edges to stop the film being scratched.

[smellymax]

Okay so thats all good.

So what if any are the benefits of

taking out your mask?

Thanks.

[squarefrog]

They are outlined on the website in the Masks article.

[oderfdog]

i notied u didn't fold up the tabs from the film box & put them under the spools to keep the tension. do u find u get a better result this way?

[squarefrog]

I found that the newer models (120N, 120CFN, etc) have enough tension that tho no longer need the cardboard tensioners.

[nitefirecouk]

very helpful, cheers :)

[rfpuyana]

Man thanks !! although I have a Diana the principle is the same !!!

[lexiepwns]

Thank you very much for posting this video. A friend gave me a Holga 120 CFN today, and I was having a lot of trouble loading the film. This video helped alleviate a lot of confusion. :D

[underamapletree]

thank you so much

i had trouble with loading until now

[discourse]

thank you very much! i was really stumped before i came across your instructions :)

[drvivekm]

Thanks! I had shot a roll of film on my holga some two years ago and hadn't used the camera since then. This video was helpful in learning it again...

[jarellanes]

thank you

[andersdosen]

Thanks a lot! Bought a Holga yesterday, and the instruction-handlet was so and so.. This is a good tutorial, I really appreciate it!

[golfpunkgurl]

i had no idea how to load film and this video saved me! thanks!!!!