My mini Holga 135 3D has arrived!

She's is tiny! Build quality feels nice and sturdy (for a plastic camera). She's My 1st 135 film Holga. Liking her
already, even before I've shot a single image :)
Here's how the diminutive 135 stacks up against her 120 big sister.
 

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New Holga 135 3D Camera! 35mm film

At around 70USD, the new Hoga 135 3D costs a bit less than it's big sister the Holga 120 3D. Running on 35mm will lower the ongoing costs for buying film and developing images. The smaller size no doubt makes her more convenient to carry around so will more likely be by your side, but most importantly to me, is if the 3D output is up to snuff? Will the reduced ocular separation and 135 film size hinder the 3D experience? There's a dinky mini 135 slide viewer for this camera too! It's SO cute... I want her NOW!

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Holga HPL-C Pinhole Lens Canon DSLR/SLRs

Recently bought a Holga HPL-C Pinhole Lens for Canon DSLR/SLRs. I'm sure they do a HPL-N too if you have a Nikon. Can easily find them on ebay for about 15USD before shipping. A pretty recent product far as I know, direct from the Holga factory themselves. Made in China.

(Bottom right clockwise >box & instructions lens>front cap>rear cap)


The lens body is cleanly molded in black plastic. No rough edges or anything. Lovely clean white lettering. Looks very smart. The hole itself is 0.25mm, again, using black plastic and mounts like any other lens on your DSLR body. The lure of infinite depth of field and all that... that's why I bought it, and it wasn't very costly.  Never dabled in Pinhole photography before and not that knowledgeable on normal non-pinhole photography either to be honest, but I'm learning.
By its nature of being teeny weeny aperture, you need long exposures to get a picture. An evening, indoor shot exposed for 19 sec produces image that reveal horrendous crap on my sensor I never knew I had (unless I'm mistaken). Like giant freaking alien ameobas floating around all over the place! OK so I have a tiny APS sensor, 400D that has never been cleaned in its 4 years of life and that probably does not help... but to the naked eye, the sensor looks pristine. Of course this is just the "naked eye" but like I say... What do I know about photography? Very little. So anyone with experience tell me this is normal to have pinhole photography show up tones of crap on your sensor you normally would never see taking pics through a real glass lens? I'll post up images shortly. It's fair to say this lens is an inexpensive accessory, but pretty bummed it made what I thought was my otherwise sound DSLR look filthy! Maybe the ameoba-fest is a look you are after? Not me though... I'm taking my camera to get it cleaned properly by Canon themselves and will see if it makes any difference. Check back with me later for updates.

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Winner of Nov 1st 2010 iShop2go contest is...

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New Gundam / Mech model painting contest! 1st Nov 2010 Deadline

Yes... you get to know about it here 1st! Another painting contest to get you up to speed... but with an added twist this time! You cant enter a kit that costs more than a recommended retail price of  700 Japanese yen.
Complicated? maybe.... I need your feedback. The idea is that you take an inexpensive kit and make it awesome. Inexpensive kits being mandatory levels the playing field so we have no Master Grades that may put the cheaper kit entries at an unfair disadvantage. You dont have to use a brand new kit purchase either... If you have an old First or No grade kit lying around unloved at home, that's perfectly fine for us that you make good use of them here. The theme we will adopt is an adaptation of a suggestion from www.youtube/user/GundamGuns  where you take any one country as the theme for your paintjob. ie, if you decide to use the United Kingdom as you country of choice... you could use the colours of the Union Jack  flag for the colours. BUT of course red white and blue are bog standard typical Gundam colours so that is no way enough to win by just entering a normal RX-78-2 in normal colour scheme! You'd have to add your own design paterns so that at a glance I can see that your robot represents the UK... Let your imagination run wild! It should be a blast to make entries for this and will be brilliant for us to judge too. Kinda like G-Gundam battle of nations or a Soccer World Cup event. Get the idea? I will allow also photo entries this time but you can do both YouTube and Photo entries if you want. The photos helps us get a better look at your work's end results whilst video is great... not everyone has a video camera and webcam vids can be a little hard to see details. Start your own Entry Thread and post your photo links here http://gundam-hub.techno-zone.net/gundam-world-contest-f4/2old4toys-ishop2go-gundam-contest-colours-of-all-nations-of-the-earth-t5.htm#6

No crazy physical kitbash projects! The main focus here is the paint-job design and execution
The prize will be yet again generously sponsored by the great folks at  ishop2go.com and helping us with the adjudication will be the return of the awesome Mokanaman!

The deadline is Nov 1st. If you want to enter just for fun and not for the prize, just let us know too!

FAQ:
Q. Can I use an SD kit? A. If it retailed for 800 Yen or less then yes.
Q. Can I use decals? A. Yes. Use of decals is allowed.
Q. I picked up this kit on-the-cheap for less than 800Yen but it's original retail is more. Is it valid for winning the contest? A. No but you can enter just for fun if you like (state this in the video!)

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