Lomography Diana F+ Medium Format Film Camera

While I'm not normally a fan of film cameras, I couldn't ignore the siren's song of lomography. It promised to be so great--weird, unexpected aberrations and over-saturated colors sounded really fun. Plus there's a nice element of mystery to film photography that you just don't get with digital cameras.

For this, the Diana Mini mostly fits the bill. I didn't notice a lot the trademark vignetting or saturation, but my photos did have hints of that dreamy, lomographic look you'll get from this type of "toy" camera. The lens cap is pretty easy to lose, but I guess this can be easily fixed by drilling a small hole into the cap, tying a string through, then attaching to one side. Still, it would have been nice for the makers to do that themselves, especially with a plastic lens to care for.

My main issues with this camera may not actually be with the Diana itself.

As for development: it uses regular 35mm film, but developing the diptych photos (a cool feature for those of us who want as many exposures as possible) is really difficult. I think I scared the hell out of a photo technician. I've got an entire roll of photos that still need to go off to a pro photo lab so they can be hand-scanned.

Even the regular square format can be hard to deal with, given that most photo machines will scoot the image over to one side, thus cropping it by a millimeter or two. Better to specify that you need the image to be centered in the frame.

The camera itself performs poorly in low-light, but I didn't expect much out of it. After the first, ruined roll, I resigned myself to using the Bulb setting on all of my photos, and the results were much better. While it's billed as a great camera for carrying with you everywhere to shoot lots of photos, I think its poor low-light sensitivity is a big limitation, especially for people who don't feel comfortable shooting longer exposures (anything from 1/60 to 1/3 of a second, in my estimation) without a tripod.

For quite a short while now, I've been eying the awesome, lo-fi pics snapped by this remake of a cheap "toy" camera from the '60s. The whole "Lomo" philosophy of shooting random, impromptu photos is... there is no philosophy! Don't think, just shoot. Don't look at the big picture, just make a picture of what's in front of you. And these cameras, with all of their inconsistencies and unpredictability, really make it interesting and fun. From the "dreamy" plastic lens, to the old-school manual adjustments, to the delightful ratcheting winding knob, it's just low tech fun.

I'm loading my first roll up tonight, so it'll be ready to snap away on a little mini-road trip tomorrow. I can't wait to see what comes out...

See this camera, lots of photos taken by it, and more at www.lomography.com.

I've decided to go back to films. Photos are part of my life, but digital can't complete the "point & flick" as fast as The Diana can. Diana is a robust, simple, an anjoyable camera.I will add one more camera but costing lot lot more to my "ready-to-shoot-pack"​; cause the Diana make 'surprising' photos, and a surprise is a surprise, bad or good(often good actually).
This camera is making your life dreamy, and add a photo album back in your life. Honestly, you know you can print or have quality print with digitals but do you? Do you make photo-albums for, you, for your travels, for your kids. Unfortunately, i live in a small island far away from all countries, and the developments here or by mail ways are expensive.

A friend of mine who does photography loves this camera and taught me how to use it. It's simple and easy to use even for people who know nothing about photography. I love the "half photo" feature because you get so much more out of one roll if film and it's easy to take some really artsy pics. I definitely recomend this camera for anyone who just enjoys taking pictures.

Don't have a way to develop film?
120mm just costs to much?
this is the solution for you.
I am a professional photographer and was searching for something different. i don't have the time to develop film and don't want to change my expenses on a photo shoot.
a friend of mine showed me his wonderful Dianan F+ photos and i just fell in love.
now i can use the fantastic and unique Diana F+ Lenses on my Nikon DSRLs.