Diana F+ Part 1 The Camera: A Dozen of Possibilities

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The original Diana F is a plastic beauty from 1960s Hong Kong. The Diana F+ is a reinterpretation, which is in no way inferior to the old Diana. It´s so versatile with all the optional accessories and lenses like no other Lomography camera. And because of this, I will show you what makes this camera so special.

For all of you who love the Diana F+ like me, the “click-clack” sound of the shutter is just like music in our ears. When you hear that sound, you know that you’ve just created a Lo-Fi artwork. Due to the 75mm plastic lens, you get the dreamy pictures that are undoubtedly from a Diana: a little blurry with vignetted edges.

Credits: dopa

If you select the “N” mode, you can make some daylight photos with a shutter speed of 1/60s. The old Diana cameras were different from each other – not only with the camera itself but also with the pictures they produced. The speed of the new Diana F+ is nearly constant, so you don´t need to worry. The focusing is managed by a step less adjusting focus ring with a minimum distance of 60 cm (about one arm’s length.)

Otherwise, you can choose the Bulb mode “B” which allows you to make long exposures. The shutter will remain open as long as you´re holding the button. To prevent your finger from releasing the shutter during exposure, there is a little piece of plastic to keep the button pressed.

The Diana F+ has three fixed diaphragms with easily understandable pictograms. The pictograms help you to select the right settings (sunny f/22, partly cloudy f/16, cloudy f/11). In addition to these three diaphragms, there is also a pinhole setting (f/125), which allows you to make pin-hole photos without the lens.

Because the Diana F+ is designed for ISO 200 films, you have to choose the “partly cloudy” diaphragm by using an ISO 100 film to expose it correctly. With an ISO 400 film, the photo is overexposed on a sunny day, guaranteed.

If you like to take photos in the dark, you can use the Diana Flash+, which is included in some bundles. If not, you can buy it in the shop. The color filters allow you to add a burst of color in your pictures if you find the regular flash boring.

Otherwise, you could buy an adapter for a normal flash to use flashes from other cameras, too.

Unlike with the old Diana, you can choose between two square formats with some frames: with the 46.5 × 46.5 frame you can make 12 photos, with the 42 × 42 frame you can shoot 16 photos on a 120 film. Remember to set the window at the back to the right frame.

While photographing without any frame, the pictures will overlap a little, so you can make really impressive panoramas. The film transport is manual and is not linked to the shutter so you´re easily able to make multiple exposures.

The Diana F+ can indeed give you so many choices to shoot with but that’s not all! There is a wide variety of lenses and accessories to increase your shooting possibilities!

Please look forward to my other articles about this wonderful camera.


This article was written by Community member dopa. Get your own Diana F+ and upload your square shots to your LomoHome for your fellow analogue lovers to see!

written by dopa on 2014-06-27 #gear #review #set #format #diana #middle #deluxe #dozen #possibility

3 Comments

  1. dopa
    dopa ·

    Ich danke euch für die Übersetzung, @juflo 👍

  2. micky_s
    micky_s ·

    lovely jubbly! @dopa

  3. dopa
    dopa ·

    there are some more article in the series, but only in german , yet: www.lomography.com/magazine/search?query=Diana+F%2B%3A+Dutz…+

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