For this project, I modified a Holga camera. The camera is a medium format, plastic lensed, toy camera. There is a switch to change the aperture, but on a stock Holga, the switch does nothing. The blade attached to the switch has a larger hole on it, so that when switched, the piece moves, but it effectively does nothing to the size of the opening. Additionally, it normally shoots 120 film, rather than your standard 35mm. I decided to modify this camera not only to improve its succeptibility to light leaks, and to make the aperture switch actually funtion, but also to shoot on 35mm film. The photos that follow illustrate my deconstruction, modification, and reassembly of my Holga. You may be able to tell that in trying to get the aperture blade to work properly, I broke the small little plastic peg which the switch pushes to cause the blade to swing over. I fixed this by taking a button, like the kind bands and various organizations tend to pass out, heated the pin up until it was red hot, and jabbed it through the plastic where the little plastic piece used to belong. The hot pin melted its way right through, I epoxied it in place, and used wire cutters to cut it to the proper size. It functions flawlessly, and I believe it is more durable than the original piece. Also, I should note that I enlarged the aperture by removing this ring that is just sort of fused or glued in place inside of the lens assembly. With a wider aperture now fixed in the camera, I epoxied the little ring to the swinging aperture blade. If I remember properly, I have roughly F8 and F11, selectable effective apertures, now that I have completed the project. In the final pictures, you can see where I have written down a chart of how many clicks it takes to advance to the next “frame” when shooting 35mm. There are further concerns about light leaks, due to the fact that there is a big red window on the back of the Holga, so you can see that I covered that with a piece of cardboard and duct tape, and covered it on the inside with a small piece of the fuzzy side of self-adhesive velcro.

This is the stock camera.

Here you can see the switch to alter the aperture.

This is the back of the stock camera.

Inside, stock camera.

Inside, with the 6x6 mask removed.

This is the 6x6 mask, prior to being flocked.

The shutter assembly

This is removing the shutter assembly, the two wires connect to the hot shoe and are used to trigger the flash.

Another shot of the lens and shutter assembly removed.

The lens assembly removed from the shutter.

The lens assembly, the aperture blade is clearly visible here.

The aperture blade removed.

Partially disassembled lens assembly. The ring you see to the right there is what normally sets the fixed aperture.

The high quality plastic lens, and the stepping portion of the lens assembly.

Flocking some of the shiny black pieces with matte black spraypaint.

Flocked 6x6 mask with fuzzy velcro applied to the edges to protect the film from scratching.

The flocked back.

Lens assembly reassembled.

Here you can see where I applied velcro straps as a safeguard to keep the back closed.

This is another view of the securing velcro.

Here is the altered and augmented aperture blade.

I made little tension clips from scrap metal (brass, I think), and I epoxied them as illustrated.

The camera loaded with its first roll of film, 35mm. The foam helps the film to stay in place, and the rubber bands on the take up spool are there to keep the film advancing straight across the film plane.

Here is a shot of the back, with my little written chart, and further attempts at sealing away the light.

Here I am with my new, modified Holga. (It feels a bit weird taking a picture of yourself using a digital SLR on a tripod, while holding a 20 dollar toy camera.)